Page 28 - Studio International - January 1966

and bread) in the shape of a bushel of ears of corn and element; they are a formal invention dictated by the
a cluster of vine shoots, we are aware of yet other inner need of the artist and the serious motif. They
points of contact between Manzú and Anton Webern. are realistic in their directness and simplicity.
Webern's music reaches the ear as a pattern of Looking at this work we understand, we contemplate,
geometrical figures in sound, symmetrical at times, we even worship. For the artist is a deeply religious man
asymmetrical at others or, rather, asymmetrical within a whose religion is the appreciation of the value that is
symmetrical framework. Apart from this special organisa- life, and the symmetry and asymmetry of forms are like
tion of sound Webern had an intuitive understanding gentle admonitions leading us into the core of the
of the negative component of music, silence, which he artist's credo as a man. He expresses the belief that
incorporated organically into the dialectics of his 'life is the only value', in its full truthfulness,
compositions. Furthermore he was steeped in tradition, without any antiquated rhetoric and only through the
and admiring as he did Debussy's free inventive spirit, beauty of natural forms and his deep feeling as a
he reacted strongly against all forms of inherited sculptor. 'When I work', he once said to me, 'I never
rhetoric in his effort to restore the power of pure sound, think of art or of artistic problems, I think always only
the pure beauty of sound for the love of it. of man'. In this he links up with the times when art
Manzú's Door of Death overwhelms us with its calm was a true and sincere communication of human
nobility. The bronze, of a light golden colour, is precious knowledge, the knowledge of living and dying, of
but restrained in its effect. There is no horror vacui. The love and hate, of body and soul.
beauty of the empty space is here employed as a The inner side of the door, originally plain, was
compositional element like the pause in music. ultimately adorned with a group of figures depicting
The large oblongs at the top of the door are easily the initiation of the Second Ecumenical Congress by
readable and depict the death of Mary (with Angels) Pope John XXIII. Cardinals in line, so typical of
and the death of Christ (with Eve). Below them are Manzú's work, move toward the Pope, who sits on the
eight small squares with historical and mythological far right of the narrow composition. It is an elegant
scenes : the deaths of Abel, of Joseph, of St. Stephen, of and at the same time descriptive panel of unique
Pope Gregory VII, apart from natural scenes, i.e. the beauty. On the right the Pope receives the homage of
four types of death in everyday life : death by violence, the Negro Cardinal Rugambwa ; on the far left the
in the air, on earth, in the water (the latter finally figure of the priest who seems to leave the panel
replaced by the death of Pope John XXIII, who died in symbolises the death of the artist's friend and adviser,
1963), all at eye-level or below. They are embedded in Monsignor Guiseppe de Luca, who died in 1962,
the empty surface of the beautiful metal doors. Or before the door was finished, and to whom the door is
rather, the low reliefs of actual events are fixed upon dedicated.
the door plane in such a way that no frame separates The complex history of this work lies outside the
them from the main surface with which they share the scope of this study. Suffice to say that the first com-
same beauty of material and colouring. Like strong petition was held as far back as 1947, and that in
accents in their high relief and full plasticity are the 1948 Manzú was one of twelve sculptors invited to
symbols of the Eucharist that serve as handles, and produce a maquette of the complete door, together
the symbols of death in animal shape at the bottom of with studies of details and a design for a second door.
the door. They are like forte 'tonal' accents leading the He received the commission in 1952. The theme for
observing eye into the 'pianissimo' of the narrative of Manzú's first door was 'The Glory of the Saints and
The opening of the
Second Ecumenical Congress 'that high Capital, where Kingly Death keeps his pale Martyrs in the Teaching and Confessing Church'. The
by Pope John XXIII court in beauty and decay' (Shelley), and enforcing motif underwent several changes until it reached the
The two panels are on the inner
n
side of The Door of Death meditation. Those accents do not add any 'baroque' final stage in which it was cast in 1963.