About the Exhibition
Even today, a century and a half after its emergence, impressionism still fascinates people worldwide. Especially the paintings, with their loose, sketchy brushwork, bright palette and depictions of everyday scenes, are familiar to us all. The diversity of impressionism in sculpture, on the other hand, is a subject that has received far less scholarly attention to date and is unknown to the broad public. The show revolved primarily around five artists—Edgar Degas (1834–1917), Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), Medardo Rosso (1858–1928), Paolo Troubetzkoy (1866–1938) and Rembrandt Bugatti (1884–1916)—whose oeuvres represent the various manifestations of impressionist sculpture.
The exhibition united outstanding sculptures by the five artists and juxtaposed them with impressionist paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and photographs by Pierre Bonnard, Antoine Bourdelle, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Giovanni Segantini, John Singer Sargent and others. Encompassing altogether 160 works, it provided a comprehensive overview of the possibilities and challenges of impressionism in sculpture.
In addition to prominent international loans from institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, the Tate Modern in London, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris as well as numerous private collections, the exhibition also featured works from the Städel Museum’s own rich impressionist art holdings.
Curators: Dr. Alexander Eiling (Head of Modern Art, Städel Museum), Dr. Eva Mongi-Vollmer (Curator for Special Projects, Städel Museum)
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Sponsors & Partners
With support from
DZ BANK AG, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain gGmbH, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
With additional support from
Stadt Frankfurt, Städelfreunde 1815