New Exhibition at The Rodin Museum - 6abc Loves the Arts

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- The Rodin Museum has undergone another facelift, all to make room for its newest exhibition, an installation that focuses on the portraiture of the famed French sculpture for whom the museum is named.

Associate Curator Jennifer Thompson says Rodin had a keen eye for detail and would observe his sitters from all angles, even going so far as to take measurements of their heads. "He was a tremendous sculpture of portraits," says Thompson, "he would look at their ears, at the backs of their heads. He'd look down on them as a way of really gaining a real understanding both of someone's anatomy but more fundamentally of their personality and their distinct character."

But, Thompson says, not everyone who sat for Rodin was comfortable with his methods. Pope Benedict the 15th is said to have struggled with the process. "Because Rodin was very interested in looking at Benedict the XV from the back and from the side...eventually Pope Benedict XV asked Rodin not to return."

Rodin took the portrait back to France and completed it from photographs, she says, "and then eventually in 1971 Rodin's portrait of Benedict XV entered the Vatican collection."

The Museum has added nearly 40 works from the Rodin galleries. On top of that, there's iconic favorites like The Kiss and The Cathedral on display in the main gallery and in the gardens that surround the museum.

"The Rodin museum is just an extraordinary jewel box in Philadelphia," says Thompson, "It's a museum that you can enjoy in about an hour or so and come away feeling like you've learned something about Rodin, and maybe you'll learn something about Rodin's portraits."

The Rodin Museum offers daily tours and free sketch classes on the second Saturday of every month.

For tickets and museum hours, go to www.TheArtsInPhilly.org.