Collection record · Objects & craft
Solidarity
The collection record classifies this work as sculpture. It is dated 1898. Recorded culture or place: Belgium, late 19th century.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Solidarity
- Date
- 1898
- Culture / origin
- Belgium, late 19th century
- Materials and technique
- marble
- Dimensions
- Overall: 69.9 x 63.6 x 24.2 cm (27 1/2 x 25 1/16 x 9 1/2 in.)
- Artist / maker
- George Minne (Belgian, 1866–1941)
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1968.191
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
In 1898, the Belgian Labor Party commissioned George Minne to make a memorial for Jean Volders, the Socialist movement leader. Rather than making a traditional portrait, Minne represented the socialist ideal of prioritizing cooperation over competition, creating an allegory of brotherhood with two nude men standing in a boat, anxiously trying to keep their balance in a storm. The Labor Party disliked Minne’s design and withdrew the commission. In anger, Minne destroyed his nearly 10-foot-tall plaster model, but the artist’s friends and contemporary critics recognized the power of the sculpture. A smaller study survived and was later cast in bronze. This marble version is the only carved example of the composition known to have been completed
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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