The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon presents “Pose and Variations: Sculpture in the Age of Rodin,” an exhibition that brings together Parisian sculpture from the era of Auguste Rodin. Featuring around 30 works from the museum’s own holdings and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, the show examines how 19th-century French sculptors approached the pose as a central expressive device.
The selection includes works by Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828), Paul Dubois (1829–1905), Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–1875), Aimé-Jules Dalou (1838–1902), Edgar Degas (1834–1917), Denys-Pierre Puech (1854–1942) and Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). Together, these pieces trace how artists borrowed from classical mythology and then transformed inherited postures into distinctly personal statements.
A key focus of the exhibition is the creative process: small plaster studies and models are displayed alongside the finished sculptures, allowing visitors to follow each artist’s development from preliminary idea to completed work. This juxtaposition reveals variations in gesture, weight, and emotional emphasis that define each sculptor’s approach to pose and composition.
In addition to the displayed works, the museum is offering a program of related activities. Guided tours and performances titled Formas de Dizer will be presented on Sundays from December 16 to January 20, 2019, performed by dance students from the Faculdade de Motricidade Humana. The curatorial team and invited speakers will also contribute to the public program: curator Luísa Sampaio will give a talk on November 21; presentations by Julião Sarmento and Rui Sanches are scheduled for November 30; and a panel with Penelope Curtis, Amélie Simier, François Blanchetière and Arie Hartog will take place on January 25, 2019.
By combining canonical works with intimate studies, “Pose and Variations” offers a focused look at how 19th-century sculptors negotiated tradition and innovation. The exhibition highlights the technical experimentation and expressive choices that made the period pivotal in the history of modern sculpture, inviting visitors to consider how posture, movement and materiality shaped each artist’s visual language.