The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Bacchanale

Bacchanale

1917
Location: ET East Terrace

Did You Know?

A second version of this life-size sculpture was installed in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, where it was destroyed during the Second World War.

Description

While visiting London, sculptor Malvina Hoffman was electrified by a dance performance featuring Anna Pavlova and Mikhail Mordkin, two highly acclaimed Russian ballet stars. Together the dancers presented a bacchanale, a work inspired by the legendary followers of Bacchus, the ancient Roman god of wine. In this uninhibited and erotically charged piece, both dancers cavorted on stage, their movements accented by grasped veils of gauze. Hoffman’s Bacchanale is her vibrant interpretation of the performance, capturing a fleeting moment in permanent form.
  • George S. and Harry D. Kendrick, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Solender, Katherine. The American Way in Sculpture, 1890-1930. Cleveland, OH: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. cat. #46, p. 46, repr.
    Ausherman, Maria, Masters of Shape: The Lives and Art of American Women Sculptors. (Novato, CA: Goff Books, 2022). Mentioned p. 128; reproduced pp. 128-29.
    "New Bronzes in the Garden Court." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 8 (1917): 147-48. Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: p. 147 www.jstor.org
  • Object in Focus: Malvina Hoffman, Bacchanale. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 8-March 10, 2002).
    The American Way in Sculpture 1890-1930. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 12-October 19, 1986).
  • {{cite web|title=Bacchanale|url=false|author=Malvina Hoffman|year=1917|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.384