When installing Rodin, The Human Experience, University Museums curators Richard Waller and Elizabeth Schlatter would place a sculpture on a pedestal, walk across the room, and look. Then they’d rotate it to the left, stand back, and look again.
Over and over, they’d repeat this process, changing, studying, trying again.
It was only a few degrees, but every shift showed a new profile, revealed subtle details and beautiful contours, and fostered a new appreciation for the artist’s genius.
Curators can spend hours searching for a position that elicits different effects with light, color, and texture. But museums also guide us through stories that draw on our diverse perspectives. A scientist might see Rodin’s “Three Faunesses” and think about how metal will flow through a mold to cast a shape. An artist might be drawn to the interplay of muscle and bone while a dancer is moved by Rodin’s ability to capture a body in motion.
Museums inspire us to experience art in ways that are uniquely our own, and encourage us to converse with one another and with the beauty that surrounds us.