Page 59 - Studio International - July/August 1967
P. 59

Rodin  Figure Volante
             bronze, 8 x 14 in.
            The thirty-nine bronze casts on exhibition at
             ROLAND, BROWSE and DELBANCO include
             important studies for large set pieces (the Gates
            of Hell and the Burghers of Calais), some superb
             portrait heads, and a number of pieces which
             retain the spontaneity of handling and the
             invention of the sketch. The latter are among the
             most exciting and bring us closest to the tensions
            of the sculptor's practice. In more finished pieces
            like the small version of Le Baiser, or the large
             Torse de Jeune Femme, the accidents or creative
            gestures of Rodin's working methods are
            smoothed out and hidden beneath the skin. In
            works like the Figure Volante (illustrated here) the
            tense surface is enlivened with the sense of action
             in its making. A carefully modelled head of Cammille
            Claudel au Bonnet appears to have been hit with a
             mallet on one temple while the plaster was wet,
            leaving a flat surface which catches and reflects
            the light. It is as if the modeller's desire for motive
            form and surface were continually being over-ridden
             by the pure sculptor's instinct for invention. Among
            the studies for the set-pieces the superb Pierre
            de Wiessant Nu of c. 1885 stands out. Deprived
            of arms and head, the torso is both stable and full
            of potential movement. A study for the Burghers
            of Calais, it relates also to the Walking Man discussed
            in this issue by Professor Elsen and Henry Moore,
            and to the  John the Baptist.




            Relief Painting 1967 by Gabriel Caruana, one of the
            works included in an exhibition of work by 20 Maltese
             painters and sculptors at the COMMONWEALTH
            INSTITUTE from July 27 to August 27.
            The exhibition is organized by the Malta Society
            of Arts.
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