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.