On the eve of the Year of the Dragon, Shanghai will embark on an artistic journey full of Europa style. On January 16, 2024, the Shanghai Art Museum officially announced that it will usher in a blockbuster new exhibition "Eternal Love" 19th Century European Classic Art Exhibition, focusing on the outstanding works of dozens of European 19th-century art masters, including Auguste Rodin.
Since its completion in 2019, the Shanghai Art Museum has always adhered to the core concept of "Shanghai School", created a Shanghai-style cultural highland, and continuously introduced top artists, top cultural forms, and top-notch exhibition resources, so that more world-class high-quality culture and art can enter the vision of the public. As a blockbuster exhibition that has been in the making for nearly a year, the Shanghai Art Museum has specially cooperated with the Rodin Art Center (China Pavilion) to select 50 classic European sculptures, paintings, and furniture artworks from the 19th century with the theme of "Eternal Love", so that the masterpieces of Auguste Rodin, Giovanni Antonio Labus, Carl Johann Stanhausel, Martillan Moreau, Jean Baptiste Capo and other art masters can enter the blue bricks and tiles of the Shanghai Art Museum. Art treasures from the golden age of European sculpture meet with the Shanghai Art Museum with the charm of the south of the Yangtze River, hoping to become a desirable art feast in Shanghai in the Year of the Dragon.
One of the most exciting aspects of this exhibition is that it will allow the audience to enjoy the works of Jean Baptiste Capo and his student Auguste Rodin.
Jean Baptiste Cabo, the inheritor and rebel of classicism, absorbed the sculptural techniques of both French and Italian styles, and his works are vibrant, rhythmic, and beautiful. The exhibition will feature a number of his portrait sculptures such as "Fiancée", "La Balembella", "The Prince and His Dog Nero".
Auguste Rodin is a master of traditional sculpture art, a pioneer of modern sculpture art, and one of the most familiar European sculptors to Chinese audiences.
In addition, there are two other exhibits that are also exciting: the imposing "Bronze Flower Pot" and the huge "Enamel Box".
The imposing "bronze planter" refers to the large bronze pot "Andromeda" completed in Antwerp in 1883 by the Belgian artist Pierre Alphonse Burgett. Two years later, in 1885, the work was exhibited at the International Exposition of Fine Arts in Antwerp. This large bronze bowl ornament rests on an octagonal base and depicts the story of the Greek hero Perseus who defeated a sea monster and rescued the Ethiopian princess Andromea. The basin ornament vividly portrays the image of a hideous and rough sea monster, a beautiful and soft girl, and a brave and fearless hero, which is highly dramatic and fascinating, and reflects the superb skill of modeling. The work is 240 centimeters high, and the octagonal base alone is 95 centimeters high, which is stunning. It is also the most important work of Pierre Alphonse Bergert, and in terms of volume, form and craftsmanship, it can be regarded as an outstanding representative of the revival of sculpture in Belgium after 1880.
The huge "enamel box" was designed by Charles Lebec, the greatest enameller of the 19th century. Created in the seventies of the nineteenth century, this large enamel jewellery box, 28.5 cm high, 56 cm long and 42.5 cm deep, has a long octagonal base, an open top, a rounded edge of the lid and a gyro-shaped quadrug. This extraordinary piece is a special personal item from patron Alfred Morrison to artist Charles Lebec, a testament to his lifelong love and affection for his wife, Marbel Morrison.
Just like Pygmalion in Greek mythology, the European masters of the 19th century gave all their energy, all their passion, and all their love to the statues, giving the still stone and bronze infinite vitality and infinite possibilities, and fixing the love of art and life in "eternity". The theme of the exhibition is "Eternal Love", which is a collective tribute to the golden age of European sculpture and the masters of this period.