Rodin: Truth Form Life Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections

The Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame is proud to present a first for Southeastern New Mexico and the surrounding regions.  From May 23 through August 11, visitors can see RODIN: TRUTH FORM LIFE/ Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections.  This special exhibit is a retrospective of the popular French artists’ work using 22 pieces from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections and organized and made possible by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

“Rodin is the father of modern sculpture,” says Erin Anderson, Interim Executive Director of the Museum.  “This exhibit allows our visitors to follow his train of thought from early in his career up until the end.”

Eschewing tradition methods, Rodin let his models inspire the creative process rather than telling them a specific pose to strike. Rodin’s genius lay in his ability to model sculpture that captured the moving and evolving figure and that combined bodies in ways that expressed emotions and provoked responses.  “You may be familiar with The Thinkerby Rodin,” mentions Mary Lyle, Director of Education at the Museum.  “While The Thinker is not a part of this particular exhibition, you are able to see how Rodin created a sculpture that so uniquely captures the consternation of man’s existence.”

Never-before has anything like this been presented in Southeastern New Mexico.  “We are honored to have the opportunity to work with the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in order to bring this exhibition to Hobbs,” explains Anderson.

Do not miss this exhibition at the Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame from May 23 through August 11, 2019.  Come on out for a free opening reception on Thursday, May 23 at 5:30pm.  Refreshments will be served.  Parental discretion is advised as some of Rodin’s subject matters are adult in nature.

THE IRIS AND B. GERALD CANTOR FOUNDATION

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation promotes and recognizes excellence in the arts and enhances cultural life internationally through its support for art exhibitions and scholarship and for the endowment of galleries and sculpture gardens at major museums.  Most unusual for a philanthropic foundation, the Cantor Foundation also owns this significant collection of Rodin sculpture.  During the last four decades it has loaned individual works and entire exhibitions to museums in more than 160 cities in Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and the United States.  Nearly eleven million people have seen these shows.

The Foundation also actively supports healthcare, with a current emphasis on comprehensive women’s clinical care facilities. Indeed, through its support of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center in Los Angeles and the Iris Cantor Women’s Health Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York, the Foundation pioneered a new model for clinical care for women that provides “one-stop shopping,” as Iris Cantor describes it. 

The Cantor Foundation is chaired by its president, Iris Cantor.  Its offices are in Los Angeles.  The Foundation’s Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Judith Sobol, organized this show. More information about what the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation does and the achievements of its founders is available at www.cantorfoundation.org.