by Maria Porges
Painter Gustav Klimt (1840-1917) and sculptor Auguste Rodin (1862-1918) met only once, at the Vienna Secession’s “Beethoven Exhibition” in 1902. Though both were famous proponents of avant-garde ideas, they were from different generations and cultures. Rodin, regarded as the “Parisian Michelangelo,” was deeply admired by Klimt and his fellow Secessionists, who had left the (older and more conventional) Austrian Artist’s Union to explore more progressive ideas.
Considering the seemingly inescapable influence of Klimt’s art in present-day Austrian culture — decorative motifs based on his work are said to be as ubiquitous there as Impressionist waterlilies are in Paris — it’s hard to imagine the artist as a revolutionary, but– like Rodin—that was once the case. In Klimt and Rodin: an Artistic Encounter, the Legion of Honor brings these two back together again, at the 100-year anniversary of both of their deaths, placing two and
The exchange is fascinating, and would be even more so if there were actually enough works by Klimt to fully flesh out the comparison. Still, this is the first West Coast show to include paintings by the Austrian artist — the Getty had a drawing show in 2012 — and includes many works that have never been exhibited in the US before. It’s best to savor what’s there rather than bemoan what’s not.
To clarify the perimeter of the show and help viewers find all of the Klimt/Rodin pairings and comparisons on view in six galleries — in three large and three small rooms— the floors in these areas have been temporarily covered with gray carpeting. Though slightly odd and possibly a first for the Legion of Honor, this seems like a pragmatic solution to traffic issues, if nothing else. Two shows earlier this year that featured contemporary artist’s work in dialogue with Rodin’s — namely, Urs Fischer and Sarah Lucas — involved a certain amount of hunting for the works on display (and, no doubt, asking guards endlessly where the pieces were, until they were driven to distraction). If you fully explore the carpeted areas you know you are going see the whole show, including a wall of drawings and watercolors hung in one of the Legion’s period rooms, where the low lighting is appropriate for these delicate works.
This is one of the places where works from the two artists work meet most directly. Drawing was a crucial part of daily practice for both, and three watercolor sketches by Rodin portray the female figure with a virtuosic economy. One of these, Standing Female Nude (1915) is half
Oddly, the inscription, dated 1927, describes the drawing being given as a gift by one Rodin supporter to another as a “rare souvenir.” In fact, some 10,000 works on paper by Rodin survive today. Klimt, though far less prolific, is well known for his startlingly explicit sketches of female nudes, several of which can be seen here, side-by-side with Rodin’s (erotic/ pornographic) study Nude with legs spread. Additional drawings have been installed in the cases in the two tiny hallway spaces that adjoin the main gallery.
The Secessionists had voted Rodin in as a “corresponding” member of their group in 1898 and included his work in their shows from that year on. Rodin did not attend either the Secessionist shows or his 1901 Vienna exhibition. In the end, his single appearance in the Austrian capital in 1902 was more an accident of transportation than anything else: the shortest path back to Paris from Prague, site of another show, lay through the Vienna. Still, it was the source of great excitement.
The largest gallery in the museum, also the center of this exhibition, focuses in part on this visit by Rodin to the Secessionist show. That year, the exhibition took the great German composer Beethoven as its central theme, offering an interplay of sculpture, painting, decorative arts and music in a Gesamtkunstwerk —a total work of art. Klimt’s contribution was a 112-foot-long frieze around three walls. Spectacular

Several other notable Klimt works in this room include The Virgin (1913), an astonishing tapestry of color and pattern that pictures a dreaming girl and six additional (semi-naked) female figures, lying together in a sumptuous, sensual heap of pattern and color. Across the room, in Baby (Cradle) (1918), the infant subject seems almost to be an afterthought, pushed up to the top edge of the painting– merely a pretext for painting the pile of exotic, expensive-looking bedclothes that threaten to envelop it. The Rodin Mother and Child nearby, while thematically related, could hardly be more different in its portrayal of familial affection.
The third gallery is less about “artistic encounter” than it is about parallel paths. Klimt’s landscapes and society portraits are strategically placed around the room, near various Rodin works. Pretty, mosaic-like pictures of Austrian scenery seem somewhat far afield from the two artist’s shared interests or concerns, but, as the text panel in the gallery points out, landscapes
Like landscapes, portraits were a reliable source of income—for both artists, in this case. Rodin’s commissions were not only for busts of society women like Eve Fairfax, but for public figures like politician Henri Rochefort or writer Victor Hugo, both represented here by handsome works in bronze and marble. Klimt, in contrast, was much more dependent on his wealthy patrons after his defection from state support to found the Secession. (Vienna lacked London and Paris’s gallery/dealer system, making artistic success outside of official channels that much more problematic.)While the society portraits in this show are not the best-known paintings within this part of Klimt’s work, they are striking examples—from the unfinished painting of the
The inclusion of a large photomural of Medicine (1889-1901) places an unfortunate emphasis on how few Klimt works there are, period. Part of a commission, this controversial Klimt work was included in the 1901 Secessionist exhibition, but later perished in a 1945 fire, set by retreating German SS forces to prevent it from falling into enemy hands, after it had previously been seized, in 1938, by the Nazis from its Jewish owners. The artist’s lifetime output was only about 400 paintings — roughly a single year’s work for Picasso, as Fine Arts Museum’s director Max Hollein quipped at the press preview. Still, this knowledge makes the 30 works presented in this show seem more significant, and the opportunity to examine them firsthand, that more precious. Even if the pretext of this show seems a bit precarious at times, in that examining the “encounter” of the two artists’ works can only go so far, the chance to see Klimt’s mastery of shimmering pattern and gorgeous, golden surfaces first hand is worth the high price of admission. And this entire year, with its four exhibitions of Rodin’s work—from a complete reinstallation of the museum’s holdings to the shows featuring dialogues with three other artists—has been a great opportunity to renew acquaintance with the French sculptor.
The reinvention of the Fine Arts Museums and in particular the Legion of Honor continues, with upcoming exhibitions of work by Lynn Herschman Leeson and Julian Schnabel, not to mention a historical exhibition centered around the rake Casanova that will include whole rooms of stuff — 18th century paintings, furnishings and even costumes. Stay tuned.
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“Klimt and Rodin: an Artistic Encounter” @ the Legion of Honor Museum through January 28, 2018.
About the Author:
Maria Porges is an artist and writer who lives and works in Oakland. For over two decades, her critical writing has appeared in many publications, including Artforum, Art in America, Sculpture, American Craft, Glass, the New York Times Book Review and many other publications. The author of more than 100 exhibition catalog essays, she presently serves as an associate professor at California College of the Arts.
This looks like a great show. Thanks to Maria Porges and her excellent reviews. I can't wait to get down there and see it. I think the SFFAM is killing it with their exhibitions.