“Figure in the Garden” Exhibition
The Museum of Modern Art
This event has ended.
This summer’s Sculpture Garden installation brings together figurative works from the late 19th century to the present day. Making its debut in the Sculpture Garden is Figurengruppe/Group of Figures, by contemporary German artist Katharina Fritsch (b. 1956). Conceived in 2006–08, the work features nine life-size sculptures of, among other figures, St. Michael, a Madonna, a giant, and a snake, all rendered in precise detail and finished in bold colors. Religious symbolism and references to mythology abound, yet any fixed meaning remains open and elusive. Group of Figures is joined by earlier works such as Auguste Rodin’s heroic St. John the Baptist Preaching (1878–80) and Aristide Maillol’s pensive Mediterranean (1902–05). Striking a casual pose in his derby hat is Elie Nadelman’s Man in the Open Air (c. 1915), and perched atop a tall pedestal is Gaston Lachaise’s open-armed, voluptuous Floating Figure (1927). Perennial favorites like Picasso’s She-Goat (1950) and Miró’s Moonbird (1966) are on view as well, in addition to works by Renée Sintenis, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, and Tom Otterness.
[Image: Katharina Fritsch “Figurengruppe” 2006–08 (fabricated 2010–11). Bronze, copper, and stainless steel, lacquered, dimensions variable. Gift of Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann (Laurenz Foundation). © 2011 Katharina Fritsch]
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Schedule
from May 20, 2011 to July 17, 2013