France Pavilion (B):
Rodin Sculptures’ World Expo Dream

194 X 130 cm     ac     2010/5/14

In the 1900 World Expo held in Paris, more than 100 distinguished sculptures by August Rodin (1840-1917) including The Thinker, Kiss, and Bronze Age (which is currently showing in the Shanghai Expo) enlightened the art exhibition of the Paris World Expo at the turn of the century. His beautiful artwork was cherished and appreciated by the whole world.Art, from the beginning, has been an inseparable part of the World Expo. The first Expo, held in London in 1851, even with the title “The Great Exhibition of the Worlds of Industry of All Nations,” still contained 500 sculptures as one genre among the four. The next World Expo in 1855 in Paris exhibited 5,000 artworks of 2,054 artists from 29 countries, and the Art Palace stood side by side with the Industry Palace. Ingre, Delacroix and Corot were the most famous artists introduced by the Event. In 1867, another World Expo in Paris made Jean-Francois Millet famous, as did the Expo in 1900 for Rodin.

In Chinese architecture, it is common to place sculptures that bless or “chase away evil” upon the midline of the temple or palace roofs. In this artwork, Dr. Chen put Rodin’s Thinker and Kiss upon the roof of the “Red Crown Gate” of the Chinese Pavilion a pictorial expression of a combination of the East and West culture, of past and modernity, coming together. This juxtaposition also suggests the shift of the World Expo coming from Paris to Shanghai, from the West to the East, towards a united world in harmony.The sculpture Kiss represents the union of the male and female, while the sculpture The Thinker represents a human being meditating upon the meaning of life, culture, humanity’s fate, etc. Now with such wide-spread globalization, all human beings share a common destiny and future, it is up to all of us to come together such as at events like the World Expo, in consciousness and cooperation to promote progress towards a better life, better world, and better future together.Since “Better City, Better Life” is the main theme of the Shanghai Expo, then Chen’s idea of a “Better City, Better Life through Art” will surely be a fine point at the Event.