Shining example of Art Nouveau here! In many ways, the whole movement was about the feminine ideal: flowing, feminine lines and ethereal idealizations. This bronze sculpture encapsulates both ideas in a very classical but (for the times) modernized way.
Tag: sculpture
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.
Tuesday
This statuette is tiny. Very, very wee. It is yet another case of ‘small but mighty’. For while it is tiny, it is absolutely gorgeous, delicate, and important.
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.
Friday
This Buddha has a facial expression like mine after working overnight for multiple days straight. However, this Buddha is also a lot prettier than I am.
Saturday
In a lot of ways, this is similar to elements of broader reaches of “African” art, but when you begin comparing it more closely, the comparisons become more caricatures than anything else. This is more expressionism than imitation; allowing for the expression of the artist’s worldview rather than imitating the viewpoints around him. It’s also bordering on cubism, but we’ll digress on the allusions to Picasso.
Friday
What I enjoy the most about this sculpture is the unstudied, unaffected aspects of it. The nudity is very natural, the curves very real. It’s only when you reach the facial features that you suddenly realize that the sculptor has gotten a little careless and his model’s face has become something more simplistic and expressionist than realistic.
Friday
This is another sculpture where you can feel the emotions that are meant to be communicated without any kind of extraneous filler nonsense. Rodin knew his shit.