Claude Michel, called Clodion

photograph of terracotta sculpture of a naked embracing couple surrounded by cupids
Clodion Terracottas from North American Collections
to

This important exhibition of terracotta sculptures by the French master Claude Michel (1738–1814), called Clodion, included eleven works from North American museums and private collections, and two signed and dated works in The Frick Collection: the Satyr with Two Bacchantes (1766) and the Zephyrus and Flora (1799). Executed from 1765 to 1802, the terracottas in the exhibition span nearly all of Clodion's long career, from the early productions of his Roman years to work executed during the reign of Napoleon.

Marble bust of a woman glancing over right shoulder with long, curly hair pulled back and leaves adorning her garment
Enlightenment and Beauty: Sculptures by Houdon and Clodion
to

Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828) and Claude Michel, called Clodion (1738–1814), were two of the foremost sculptors in France during the late eighteenth century, and the Frick housed an important group of their works. In 1915 founder Henry Clay Frick acquired Clodion’s terracotta Zephyrus and Flora and, the following year, Houdon’s marble bust of the Comtesse du Cayla. Other works that were subsequently added to the collection were shown together for the first time, highlighting the artists’ expressive ranges, as well as their defining contributions to the sculpture of Enlightenment-era France. MORE »

Marble bust of a woman glancing over right shoulder with long, curly hair pulled back and leaves adorning her garment
Enlightenment and Beauty: Sculptures by Houdon and Clodion
photo of sculpture of nude huntress carrying bow on table in gallery
Frick Collection Welcomes Public to View Newly Reopened and Refurbished Fragonard Room
video still of Xavier Salomon and clock sculpture
Cocktails with a Curator™: Clodion's "Dance of Time"

In this week’s episode of Cocktails with a Curator™, toast the new year with Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he examines a masterpiece of both sculpture and clockmaking: The Dance of Time, by Clodion (Claude Michel) and Jean-Baptiste Lepaute. In this 18th-century timepiece, three terracotta nymphs or Hours dance in a circle around an exquisite mechanism enclosed in a glass globe.

Link to video of Anne L. Poulet lecture
Anne L. Poulet: "Sculpture of Houdon and Clodion: Reflections of Antiquity"

Houdon and Clodion are among the greatest French sculptors of the late eighteenth century, as well as the creators of works featured in the Frick's special exhibition Enlightenment and Beauty. As students in Rome in the 1760s, both were schooled in Greek and Roman culture and studied vast collections of antiquities. Yet what they absorbed from their training and the paths they chose to follow were quite different. This lecture explores the sculptors' respective sources of inspiration and patronage. This lecture is made possible by the Robert H.

Link to introductory video for the exhibition 'Enlightenment and Beauty: Sculptures by Houdon and Clodion'
Enlightenment and Beauty: Sculptures by Houdon and Clodion

Anne L. Poulet, Director Emerita of The Frick Collection, introduces the current exhibition Enlightenment and Beauty: Sculptures by Houdon and Clodion, on view at the Frick until April 5, 2015. This video will be on view in the Music Room at the Frick during the run of the exhibition.