I’m not convinced that Joan of Arc would’ve looked attentive as she listened to the heavenly voices. Certainly not like this, in a raptly ecstatic state. It’s vaguely pornographic. It’s also vaguely creepy, as she’s portrayed as far more innocent as she was, but that’s definitely the 1880s hypocritical morality coming out to play.
Tag: marble
Monday
Mmmm, traditional Greek sculpture. Let’s just admire it. I really don’t need to make pithy commentary, do I?
Sunday
I’d really like to think that this dude was the winner of some slam-dunk poetry recital ala a rap battle where they went toe to toe in a ring duking it out over the gods or some hot guy’s body in verbal deference. Because it makes me smile.
Sunday
It still astounds me that people can take a block of stone and go, “Hey, there’s a person inside of here.” And then chip away at that block of stone until there’s literally a sculpture of a person sitting there. I don’t even know how they do it. It’s a special kind of magic.
Saturday
This is another one of those problematic American sculptures that smacks of institutional racism but at the same time is breathtakingly beautiful for what it is and the sheer bloody talent that went into the piece. It isn’t ideal, nor is it idealized except in the artist’s eyes, and it should be said as such. In fact, the features are over-exaggerated in a way that even the ancients would likely have cringed at and thrown away; instead, it is an approximation of an approximation and rather more like an idealized caricature of a female form than any idealization of a modernization. It even has a bit of the post-impressionism expressionism or slightly pre-Art Deco about it without really managing to be any of those things.
Saturday
Pointing out an important distinction between yesterday’s sculpture and today’s sculpture: yesterday’s was made by a woman and today’s by a man. Yesterday’s was fully clothed; today’s has a breast hanging out. It’s pretty much like that across the board when you put artwork side by side: even nudes of the same relative time period are generally partially or artfully draped more often in female-driven works v. male-driven ones. Also, I’m not sure what a boob hanging out has to do with faith as a virtue, even in a classical sense of morality, so I’ll just leave that hanging out there like the proverbial elephant in the room.
Friday
To be honest, there are very few American sculptors. There are even fewer American sculptors of the feminine persuasion. Feminist feminine sculptors can probably be counted on one hand. And, boy, do we need more of them if this is what they can achieve.
Monday
Unlike yesterday’s Buddha, our Bodhissattva today is rather the worse for wear. However, it is still intricately carved and beautiful. The detailing of this carving is truly on par with, if not exceeds, the work of the greats of the Italian Renaissance.
Sunday
Our friend here is exquisitely carved from the finest marble. He is very important in that everything about him is symbolic and beautiful, as well as extremely important to the spirituality of the Buddhist religion. Plus? very serene and calming.