Houdon at the Louvre: Masterworks of the Enlightenment

Houdon at the Louvre: Masterworks of the Enlightenment

High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Through Sept. 7

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Jean-Antoine Houdon “brought his subjects to life with skill and subtlety,” said Catherine Fox in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A delightful new exhibition at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art “does the same for him.” The 18th-century sculptor was sought after by kings, presidents, and prominent thinkers, so this selection of astonishingly realistic busts on loan from Paris’ Louvre “brings you face to face with the movers and shakers of the Enlightenment.” Contemporaries considered Houdon’s portrait of George Washington, on display here, to be the first president’s truest likeness (it later was the model for the U.S. nickel). Nearby sits philosopher Denis Diderot, wigless and looking pensively into the distance. In a flirtatious bust of French actress Sophie Arnould, “one breast coyly peeps out of a bodice.” The delighted actress reportedly had 30 plaster copies made and distributed to her lovers.

“Houdon’s human figures are full of passion, of personality,” said Willard Spiegelman in The Wall Street Journal. Their accuracy reflects near-scientific observation: He precisely measured subjects’ faces and often took molds. Yet his ability to make faces life-like “is due to two simple tricks of the trade that Houdon seems to have perfected”: crafting convincing eyes and mouths. “Can you remember the last time you saw teeth in a sculpted head?” Some Houdon sculptures have them. Likewise, Houdon created “recognizable eyes” by carving circles that resemble an iris and pupil (most previous sculptors left their sculptures’ eyes blank and blind-looking). All that’s best in Houdon’s work comes together in his sculpture of Ben Franklin. “The doctor’s eyes sparkle but maintain a vigilant skepticism,” his lips part slightly. We even notice a dimple.