Bacchante with Infant Faun after 1894

Curator: Here we have Frederick William MacMonnies' bronze sculpture, "Bacchante with Infant Faun," created after 1894, which resides here at The Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: The figure leaps out—alive and joyful. The contrast of the sinuous female figure and the chubby baby faun makes for an engaging composition. What stories hide within this dynamic bronze? Curator: Well, the sculpture depicts a Bacchante, a female follower of the wine god Bacchus, also known as Dionysus, in a celebratory pose, holding the infant faun. These Bacchanalian figures were associated with ecstasy, liberation, and a rejection of societal constraints. MacMonnies intended for this sculpture to be placed in the courtyard of the Boston Public Library. Editor: It is certainly quite provocative, particularly for that location! What symbols would viewers at the time have picked up on, given the sculpture’s placement in a civic space like a library? Curator: It became immediately controversial, considered unsuitable due to the nudity and overt celebration. The elites in Boston felt it promoted immorality and indecency, leading to its removal. The symbolism then becomes really interesting as we consider the Victorian era’s values. On one hand, we see artistic freedom and celebration, and on the other, censorship influenced by class and morals. The faun symbolizes unrestrained nature. Editor: It speaks of cycles of freedom and repression. A tension made even sharper given the subject matter itself. The bacchantes are, after all, icons of wild ritual and potent abandon. Their embrace, then, represents much more than motherhood. Curator: Exactly. And beyond that, it demonstrates the complex relationship between the public and its art, revealing how perceptions of morality and the role of art itself change over time and context. What’s radical at one moment becomes canonical the next, as they say. Editor: I think, regardless, viewers have felt—and will continue to feel—an intense mixture of attraction and perhaps some disquiet when confronted by the unrestrained figure. A very powerful bronze.