Volume 20, Issue 1 | Spring 2021

Editors’ Welcome
Rodin’s Family: The Intersection between Myth and Reality
by Pascal Griener
Once his reputation began to grow, the sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) turned his attention toward his self-image. In particular, Rodin established an artistic lineage in which he presented himself as the dual heir to Michelangelo and Dante, two of the leading figures of Italian art and literature. This article demonstrates that Rodin’s identification with an artistic genius and a prophetic poet can be understood not only as part of a trend in artistic circles during the nineteenth century but also as a direct consequence of his own upbringing and family background.
DOI
Monet: Le Boulevard des Capucines en Carnival
by Joel Isaacson
The first impressionist exhibition opened in Paris on April 15, 1874, at 35, boulevard des Capucines. Prior to the exhibition, Claude Monet made two paintings from that location, utilizing a vantage point from an upper balcony that provided a sharply angled view of the avenue below. This essay examines these paintings and establishes the work in the collection of the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, as a view of the boulevard during Carnival season and redates it to the late winter / early spring of 1874, affirming it as a key work in generating the early critical approach to impressionist painting.
DOI
Mobility, Meaning, and the Monumental Body: The Italian Origin of Two North American Cemetery Motifs
by Elisabeth L. Roark
An unusual monument marks the grave of Eliza Barnwell Heyward (d. 1871) in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC. It is a seated pre-pubescent girl, nude, and its base features the prominent signature, “A. F. Chevreux,” a local stonecutter. This study reveals that the sculpture was not designed by Chevreux but originated in the studio of Florentine Luigi Pampaloni. It examines the transnational mobility of nineteenth-century Italian academic sculpture, how the altered context of the US cemetery could produce radical shifts in meaning, and why Eliza’s family acquired a sculpture of a nude girl as her memorial.
DOI
New Discoveries
Japan through the Looking Glass: Uchida Kuichi (attributed), Vermilioned Bridge, Nicco (ca. 1872) and the Russell Sturgis Photograph Collection
by Nicole J. Williams
 
DOI

Supported by:

Terra Foundation Fellowships in American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum