Skip to main content
Jan 7 - Apr 30, '17
Starting with Rodin brings together nearly 30 works of art from the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s permanent collection to reflect on the looming presence of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) in art history, his adaptation of earlier classical themes, and impact on later modernists.

The exhibition celebrates several recent donations to the Winnipeg Art Gallery, chiefly the French sculptor’s major bronze Danaïd (1889-90) from the Salgo Trust for Education, New York. Danaïd was initially modeled for inclusion in Rodin’s monumental Gates of Hell (1880-1917), but ultimately was left freestanding and unincorporated. The bronze depicts, with a frank eroticism that is still shocking, a femme fatal who, according to Greek mythology, murders her husband.

Rodin’s work is rife with classical references, and this exhibition brings together a wide range of experiences: artists and artisans from antique Rome, the Austrian Baroque (Paul Strudel), and French Neo-Classicism (Jean-Bertrand Andrieu), who through their rendering of the human form, anticipate the French artist’s singular approach. However, through his emphasis on the fragment, the erotic, and an aesthetic of the “unfinished,” Rodin is also widely credited as initiating modern sculpture. Visitors will also encounter the work of artists such as Florence Wyle, Henry Moore, Étienne Béothy, and other examples of European and Canadian Modernism.

 

New hours starting April 1
WAG-Qaumajuq recognizes that land acknowledgements are part of an ongoing dialogue with Indigenous Nations, and we are grateful to live and work on these lands and waters. Institutionally, WAG-Qaumajuq is committed to acknowledging our colonial history and we are actively working to interrogate the Gallery’s colonial ways of being.

WAG-Qaumajuq is LEED certified.

WAG - Winnipeg Art Gallery Outline
Winnipeg Art Gallery—Qaumajuq
300 Memorial Blvd
Winnipeg, MB
204.786.6641 // Gallery
204.789.1769 // Shop
Email Us
Tue-Thu // 11am–5pm
Fri // 11am–9pm
Sat-Sun // 11am–5pm
Closed Mondays