LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.- Friend and associate of princes, statesmen, and the great intellectuals of his day, Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) is widely acknowledged as the greatest portrait sculptor of the 18th century. The Getty Center’s winter Premiere Presentation, “Jean-Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment”, November 4, 2003 through January 25, 2004, is the first major international exhibition of the great French sculptor’s work.

More than 70 Houdon sculptures, created in marble, bronze, terracotta, and plaster, have been brought together for the first time in nearly two centuries, demonstrating the remarkable degree of insight and physical accuracy that the sculptor incorporated into his art. The exhibition also marks the first time Houdon’s magnificent bust of “Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré” will be seen by the public in more than 200 years. Recently acquired by the Getty, the newly rediscovered bust was last exhibited in 1785. Focusing on Houdon’s key fully documented sculptures, the exhibition features vivid portraits of the prominent intellectual, political, and military figures of the Enlightenment—including leaders of the American Revolution—as well as charming portraits of children and works depicting allegorical and mythological subjects.

“Houdon’s talents as a sculptor brought unparalleled sensitivity and invention to the sculpted portrait,” says Deborah Gribbon, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum and vice president of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “He created iconic images of the most notable figures of his day. His portrayals open a window for us onto the Enlightenment, a momentous era that changed the way people thought of themselves and their potential to change the world.”

Houdon’s busts and statues, full of vitality and brimming with personality, have helped shape the modern-day view of such Enlightenment heroes as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire, Molière, Denis Diderot, and many others. The exhibition focuses on Houdon’s ambition to create a “gallery of great men” in the tradition of ancient Rome and the Renaissance, and makes clear his central position and influence in the European art world of the late 1700s.

From the work that first won Houdon his fame, “L’Ecorché” (1767), to vital and realistic busts such as “Benjamin Franklin” (1779) and “Thomas Jefferson” (1789), to his mythological subjects such as “Morpheus” (1777) and Diana (1782), and later works like “Napoleon Bonaparte” (1806), Houdon’s finest sculptures are presented in all their expressive power and luminous realism.

The Getty Center’s presentation will include an entire room devoted to Houdon’s realistic and engaging depictions of children. Busts of Houdon’s young subjects will be installed at a child-friendly height, allowing kids to encounter these portrait sculptures face to face.

The Getty exhibition brings together Houdon sculptures from the Louvre in Paris; the National Gallery of Art in Washington; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Hermitage in St. Petersburg; the National Museum of Stockholm; the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon; the Villa Borghese in Rome; the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in California; and nearly 40 others around the world.

The Houdon exhibition comes to the Getty after being on view at the National Gallery of Art. Following the Getty showing, it will travel to the Musée national du Château de Versailles from March 1 through May 30, 2004. Guest curator for the exhibition is Anne L. Poulet, curator emerita of European sculpture and decorative arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, who will become the new director of the Frick Collection in New York in October.

The exhibition is organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; and the Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, and l’Etablissement public du musée et du domaine de Versailles. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.