We’re proud to celebrate the centenary of the sculptor August Rodin (1840-1917). Did you know

We’re proud to celebrate the centenary of the sculptor August Rodin (1840-1917). Did you know that the American sculptor Malvina Hoffmann was a pupil of Rodin? Like many other artists of the period, Hoffmann trained abroad, studying briefly in Italy and then residing in Paris from 1910 to 1914. There, she sought out the famed sculptor and, after five unsuccessful attempts, Rodin finally agreed to accept her as a student.Although Hoffmann would go on to pursue different subject matter, she shared her teacher’s commitment to the human form. Martinique Woman, on view in the American galleries, is one such example. Commissioned by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and exhibited there from 1933 to 1969, it is one of approximately 104 sculptures conceived as part of a pseudo-anthropological project known as “The Races of Mankind,” which documented racial “types” from around the world. This powerful portrait bust of a woman from the Caribbean island of Martinique reflects careful attention to anatomical and physiognomic details. While the smoothly contoured stone represents a departure from the animated and often rugged surfaces of Rodin’s sculptures, Martinique Woman pays homage to Rodin through its meticulous realism and expressive power.Posted by Margarita KarasoulasMalvina Hoffman (American, 1885-1966). Martinique Woman, 1928. Black metamorphic stone, 22 x 14 ¼ x 15 ¼ in., 158 lb. (55.9 x 36.2 x 38.7 cm, 71.67kg). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 28.384. © artist or artist’s estate  -- source link

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