Friday, April 30 | 6 pm | Free; tickets required | The Farrell Auditorium

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 Review 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 artists fascinated by Asia in the Belle Époque, including Émile Guimet, avid collector of Asian art and founder of the Musée Guimet in Paris.