Page 23 - Studio International - November 1965

David Hayes stone figures once upcn a time served as models for His looming black stabile commands immediate
Torso 1965
Forged steel countless students. It accounts for the presence of attention not only because of its scale, but because of
90 cm. high Gaston Lachaise whose colossal bronzes, particularly the way it curves out into the open courtyard space.
of female nudes, impressed the generation maturing The late David Smith does not fare as well. His highly
between the wars. The same is true for John Flannagan, burnished steel totems looked naked in this ancient
a primitively vigorous stone carver, and Elie Nadelman, setting, their sharp-edged rigour somehow dulled by
an elegant modeller whose doll-like acrobats were the large museum building and the towering trees.
once the rage of New York. Smith's work was conceived to be seen either against
Once past the historical necessities, the exhibition the long horizons of the neighbouring fields near his
takes a turn to the contemporary scene, including upstate studio, or in the context of modern urban
artists of all ages who joined the international movement architecture. This occurred to me only as I looked, with
to rid sculpture of its academic habits and free it from disappointment, at the three pieces I had admired
established idioms. when they were exhibited in a New York gallery.
One of the most distinguished of these rebels, On the other hand. lsamu Noguchi's three millstone
Alexander Calder, stands very well on the stone shapes, one in stone, one in iron and one in bronze,
courtyard behind the main building of the museum. stand to one side. quietly commanding and more

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