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First Rodin Exhibition in Hawaii Opens at Honolulu Museum of Art

The Foundation’s newest exhibition of Rodin sculpture, Auguste Rodin: The Human Experience, Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections, opened July 22 to members of the Honolulu Museum of Art. More than 150 members attended the early evening reception, their opportunity to view the much-anticipated show before it opened to the general public.

The Museum, which looks equally to Asia as well as to the Americas and Europe in its collections, programming, and visitors, provides a unique opportunity to highlight Rodin’s popularity in Japan both during and after his lifetime. Plus the Museum has a cast of one of the artist’s earliest pieces, The Age of Bronze, as well as sculpture by students of Rodin and other artists influenced by him.

On opening day the Museum presented Foundation Director and Exhibition Curator Judith Sobol live for ten minutes on its Periscope; she spoke about the exhibition and fielded questions in real time from viewers. While there Judith also spoke with the Museum’s docents and presented a public program on the creation of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor’s remarkable collection of works by Auguste Rodin. She also explored the artist’s singular achievement in transforming traditional sculpture into modern sculpture and his influence on sculptors working today.

The Honolulu Museum of Art is complementing the Rodin exhibition with specially-guided Touch Tours for the visually impaired, sketching in the gallery, and yoga sessions that explore Rodin’s expressive use of the human body. The show will be there until January 10, 2016.

PHOTOS top left: Foundation Trustees Michele Geller and Suzanne Fisher. Top right: Honolulu Museum of Art member Randy Moore (who with his wife Lynne Johnson is among major supporters of the show) with Rodin’s Monumental Head of Jean d’Aire. Bottom left: Foundation Vice President Ryan Fisher and Honolulu Museum of Art Director Stephan F.F. Jost. Bottom right: Honolulu Museum of Art Board Chair Violet Loo, Foundation Executive Director and Exhibition Curator Judith Sobol, Ryan Fisher, Michele Geller, Suzanne Fisher, Honolulu Museum of Art Curator of European and American Art Theresa Papanikolas. (Photo credit top left and middle horizontal: Ryan Fisher. Other photos: Honolulu Museum of Art/Shuzo Uemoto photographer.)