Member Lecture—The Mist and Music of the Body: Auguste Rodin’s Unexpected Encounter with the Dancing Shiva in Belle Époque Paris

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Join guest lecturer Nartana Premachandra, writer, performing artist, and president of Dances of India in St. Louis, for a surprising history of Auguste Rodin and the Dancing Shiva.

In 1911, French sculptor Auguste Rodin unexpectedly received 27 photographs of ancient bronze sculptures of the Dancing Shiva from the Paris-based review Ars Asiatica along with an invitation to write about them. In this lecture, Premachandra explores the origins of this mysterious, dynamic, and rhythmic figure; examines Rodin’s response to it; and introduces other figures fascinated by Asia in the Belle Époque, including Émile Guimet, avid collector of Asian art and founder of the Musée Guimet in Paris.