A Very Long Engagement: Nineteenth-Century Sculpture and its Afterlives

Presenting more than a dozen statuettes from the Museum’s collection, this exhibition invites viewers to experience a century of European and American sculpture, dating from 1890 to 1990.

The works on view are not merely representational, but interactive. As one moves around Pierre Auguste Renoir’s bronze relief Danseuse au Tambourin, the figure appears to dance. Some works, such as Alfred Gilbert’s tiny, dazzling Offering to Hymen, prompt us to telescope our attention from the larger form to minute and semi-abstract details. Visitors to the exhibition will be rewarded by an intimate and prolonged engagement with the works on view. Slow down and look closely: these sculptures subtly perform their magic.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.