Rodin : A Magnificent Obsession

by Kirk Varnedoe, Rachael Blackburn, Aida Audeh

The work of the master French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) is instantly recognizable throughout the world. This is due in no small part to the proselytizing efforts of B. Gerald Cantor (1916-1996), widely acknowledged as the preeminent collector and proponent of Rodin in America during the second half of the twentieth century. He purchased his first piece, a bronze of The Hand of God, in 1946, after being profoundly moved by seeing a marble version of it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. For five decades, Cantor focused all of his efforts on researching and acquiring works by Rodin. Joined by his wife, Iris, in 1977, they built the largest and most comprehensive private collection of Rodin sculpture, drawings, prints, photographs, and memorabilia. Of the approximately 750 works that the Cantors collected, including casts of each of Rodin's major monuments, The Monument to Balzac, The Gates of Hell, The Burghers of Calais and The Monument to Victor Hugo, 450 have been given away to over 70 museums around the world. Lavishly illustrated, A Magnificent Obsession chronicles the growth of the collection, offering a comprehensive overview that includes works bequeathed to the Cantor Foundation from the Cantor personal collection, as well as new insights into Rodin's working methods and the histories of his most famous masterpieces.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

John Kirk Train Varnedoe was an American art historian, the Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art from 1988 to 2001, Professor of the History of Art at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and Professor of Fine Arts at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts.