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Rodin – Degas: Impressionist Sculpture

Exhibition passed: 24 September 2022 – 8 January 2023

• Included in general admission tickets
• Suitable for all ages
• Wheelchair accessible

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Rodin – Degas: Impressionist Sculpture

This exhibition brings together major sculptures by two of the towering figures in modern European art: Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) and Edgar Degas (1834-1917). It focuses on the artists’ representation of the human body and their expression of its energy through both dynamic poses and static poise. Both artists show human figures in energetic movement, stationary or poised for imminent movement. In every work, the energy contained in the body is powerfully conveyed.

While Rodin worked primarily in plaster and Degas in wax, all of the works in the exhibition will be bronze, ensuring a continuity in the material to emphasise the variation in the description of the body. Both artists used degrees of abstraction to create a realistic sense of the figure in space and both achieved a varied, textured surface to ensure the play of light across the sculptures added to their expression of energy and dynamism. The focus on the transient body and these expressive surfaces can be seen as the closest sculpture comes to the qualities of Impressionism in painting.

Supporters

With Additional Support from:

And The Rodin-Degas: Impressionist Sculpture Supporters Circle:
Stuart and Bianca Roden
Michael and Yvonne Uva

And The Holburne Director’s Circle, Patrons and Friends