On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Richard Wagner
Modeler Jeanne Itasse French
Emile Muller French
The female sculptor Jeanne Itasse used industrial ceramics to create this eerily life-like depiction of Richard Wagner, the controversial composer whose music inspired both contempt and devotion in late nineteenth-century Europe. The piece was shown at Maison Bing’s first exhibition in 1895, which introduced Art Nouveau to Paris. The unnatural color of the posthumous portrait calls to mind the greenish tinge cast by the gaslights that illuminated Parisian nightlife, from dancehalls to the opera.
