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By Kent Larsen
Rodin Back in Utah -- Uncensored
Rodin Back in Utah -- Uncensored
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The University of Utah's new Marcia and John
Price Museum Building opened Saturday with an exhibit of over 70
works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, giving Utah residents the
chance to see "The Kiss" one of four Rodin works withheld when a
smaller traveling exhibit, "The Hands of Rodin, a Tribute to B.
Gerald Cantor" was presented at BYU's Museum of Art. BYU's decision
to withhold the four works led to widespread surprise in the media
and expressions of embarrassment among BYU-trained artists.
The new exhibit, "Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor
Collection," consists of 70 works including "The Kiss," a sculpture
of a nude man and woman kissing that is one of the most famous of
Rodin's works. The University's Utah Museum of Art is only the third
venue in the United States to get this traveling exhibit. The works
come from the world's single largest collection of Rodin's works,
including more than 300 sculptures and a total of 750 items including
drawings, prints, photographs and memorabilia collected by the
Cantors since 1945. The scuptures are casts of Rodin originals, with
some of the items cast after the artists's death, and a few cast as
recently as 1992.
For some visitors to the Museum on its opening day, Saturday, "The
Kiss" was the most important work to see. "We wanted to see the
uncensored Rodin," said Carol Martin-Mahoney, who brought her
daughter and grandchildren to the museum opening. "The Kiss" along
with "Saint John The Baptist Preaching," "The Prodigal Son," and
"Monument to Balzac," were all pulled from BYU's exhibit in late 1997
and January of 1998. But "The Kiss" is the only one of the four
pulled works in the current exhibit.
BYU's Museum of Art opened the "Hands of Rodin" exhibit October 27,
1997 without the four sculptures, leading to a storm of controversy
and criticism. At the time, the museum's director, Campbell Gray,
defended the decision by saying that the works would offend community
standards. "We have felt that the nature of those works are such that
the viewer will be concentrating on them in a way that is not good
for us," he said. "Sure, it could reflect negatively on the museum
but the integrity of the exhibit is so much more important."
The Cantor Foundation's then acting director, Rachael Blackburn, said
that the foundation was shocked at the decision, "We haven't had any
other institutions that felt the need to not exhibit any pieces by
Rodin. I can't say that we weren't surprised. We were," she told the
Associated Press at the time. Local art lovers accused the museum of
censorship, but Gray claimed that the decision was more complex than
that. He said that the museum was expressing the feelings of the
school, the LDS Church and much of the community. He added that the
museum and BYU are representatives of the LDS Church, and said those
works would be disrespectful to the church and the community.
The decision drew a protest from 200 students at BYU, who held their
protest in spite of being told they had to wait five days for a
permit. In the end BYU President Merrill J. Bateman said
responsibility for the decision ultimately rested with him and said
that the thousands of elementary school children that visit the
museum each year were a major factor in the decision.
The Utah Museum of Art's curator of exhibitions, David Dee, says that
Rodin shouldn't be a controversial artist today, "As a museum, our
purpose is to educate and inspire and play an important role in
visual arts in Utah. It's certainly not to incite controversy. Given
the broad acceptance and universal esteem of Rodin's work -- I mean,
he's not considered a controversial figure in today's art world -- I
think the show stands completely on its own," he said.
Sources:
One for the Rodin
Salt Lake Tribune 3Jun01 D3
By Elizabeth Neff: Salt Lake Tribune
Museum to show Rodin uncensored
Provo UT Daily Herald (AP) pgA5 2Jun01 D3
The Associated Press
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