Solidarity
Medium
marble
Dimensions
69.9 × 63.6 × 24.2 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Accession Number
1968.191
Tags
male
About this artwork
In 1898 the Belgian Labor Party commissioned from Minne a memorial for the Socialist leader Jean Volders. The sculptor decided that an allegory of brotherhood—consisting of two nude youths standing in a boat, anxiously trying to keep their balance in a storm—would be more appropriate than a traditional portrait of the deceased. The Labor Party disliked the design and refused to have it executed in stone. In anger, Minne destroyed his large plaster model, but a smaller study remained in his studi...