Fantasy and Reality: The Art of Johan Tobias Sergel

Though little known beyond his native Sweden, sculptor and draftsman Johan Tobias Sergel (1740–1814) was one of the most compelling artistic figures of the late eighteenth century. This exhibition—the first dedicated to Sergel outside Europe—will feature a selection of his drawings alongside sculptural works in terracotta, marble, and plaster.

Trained initially in Stockholm, Sergel spent time in Paris and, more importantly, over a decade in Rome, where his associates included a dazzling international circle of artists and patrons. Sergel’s sculpture was an important model for a generation of Neoclassical artists, but the artist’s personality is most evident in the drawings that constitute a virtual diary of his life, often in caricature. An extensive corpus of self-portraits will be joined by scores of surviving sheets that explore his artistic friendships, his relationship with King Gustav III and other figures at the court in Stockholm, and his common-law marriage to Anna Rella Hellström. His late drawings, made when Sergel was in poor health and in a state of depression, have been compared to those of Francisco Goya. Although his career spanned artistic movements from Rococo to Neoclassicism to Romanticism, Sergel also seems at times a modern figure, one whose life can offer a rich story to contemporary audiences.