The Wall Street Journal is captivated by the Paris branch of Gagosian gallery’s juxtaposition of empty theater and seascape photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto and heroic sculptor August Rodin. Although many dealers and advisors have remarked upon the decade-long trend among collectors for eclectic pairings across periods and genres, few dealers have pursued the idea in this manner:
Though the gallery declined to reveal the prices, 12 Sugimoto prints are available for purchase. The three Rodin sculptures are for display only.
In featuring the work of the 62-year-old Mr. Sugimoto alongside that by Rodin — who died in 1917 and whose sculptures set the standard for big outdoor art for decades — it sets up the contemporary with the established classic.
Mr. Sugimoto’s photography-based art is renowned both for its conceptualism and technical achievement. […] A 1.5-meter-by-1.8-meter image, “Black Sea, Ozuluce,” one out of an edition of five, sold at a June 2008 auction at Christie’s for 646,050 pounds (US$1.3 million).
Physically dominating the space are three figurative sculptures by Rodin – “Three Shades” (1880) “Monument to Victor Hugo” (1897), and “The Whistler Muse” (1908) – all cast in brass, in the monumental style for which the sculptor became famous. The first two are borrowed from the private holdings of the American couple Gerald and Iris Cantor, the biggest individual collectors of the French artist’s sculptures. The third is on loan from Paris’s Rodin Museum.
When Sugimoto Met Rodin (Scene Asia/Wall Street Journal)