Fast becoming one of the nation's premier destinations for Rodin sculpture, the North Carolina Museum of Art has installed 10 additional sculptures by the celebrated French artist in the Museum's West Building.

On loan from Iris Cantor's private collection, the sculptures went on display Friday, Sept. 2, alongside other works by Rodin in the Mmuseum's collection. Two of the works are installed outdoors in the Rodin Garden, and eight are on view in the Rodin Court.

David Steel, NCMA curator of European Art, who selected the loans, notes that the 10 "represent some of Rodin's most important and beautiful works," and that they enhance and complement the 30 bronzes given to the museum by the Cantor Foundation that were installed in the West Building on the occasion of the new building's grand opening in April 2010.

"We are extremely grateful to Mrs. Cantor for continuing to share her world-renowned collection of Rodin with this museum and the people of North Carolina," said Lawrence J. Wheeler, director of the North Carolina Museum of Art. "Her generosity has placed the North Carolina Museum of Art among the best collections of Rodin sculpture in the United States."

In making the loans, Iris Cantor, who during the years 1946-1996, with her late husband B. Gerald Cantor, amassed the largest Rodin collection in private hands, acknowledged the continuing interest in making Rodin's transformational sculpture available for the public to see.

Many of the treasures lent by Cantor directly relate to works already in the museum's Rodin collection. A rare marble sculpture of Eve and a monumental sized bronze of Eve, standing 68 inches tall, join the museum's smaller Eve. The Cantor-owned "Final Study for the Monument to Balzac" complements the two studies for the same commission on view, and the "Monumental Torso of the Falling Man" is installed near the NCMA's "The Falling Man" and "I Am Beautiful" ("Je suis belle").

Three of Rodin's monumental "Burghers of Calais: Eustache de St. Pierre, Vetu, Jean d'Aire Nude, and Pierre de Wissant, Vetu" join the two large Burghers (one of them lent by Cantor) already on view, offering visitors a unique -opportunity to see life-size versions of five of the six individual -figures that comprise Rodin's famous -monument.

The remaining works on loan include "Walking Man," a "descendant" of the museum's "Egyptian Striding Figure"; "Torso of the Walking Man"; and "La France," Rodin's portrait of his lover Camille Claudel, installed near the museum's bust of Rodin created by Claudel.

The -majority of the works will be on view at the museum for a minimum of two years; the marble Eve and the "Final Study for the Monument to Balzac" have been promised for at least six months.

The exhibition of these 10 works was made possible by First Citizens Bank.

The museum is home to the largest collection of Rodin sculpture in the American South. Visitors can see the works for free among the museum's permanent collection in West Building.

The museum recently opened its new gallery building, home to the permanent collection.

The North Carolina Museum of Art, Lawrence J. Wheeler, director, is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh.

For more information about the museum, visit www.ncartmuseum.org.