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Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood presents Modern Bronze, an exhibition of both fully abstract and figurative sculpture by European modernists Armitage, Arp, Etrog, Fontana, Giacometti, Greco, Maillol, Marini, Matisse, Moore, Picasso and Rodin, along with Hannes Harrs and Edoardo Villa who were among the founders of modern sculpture in South Africa.
This exhibition includes one of Giacometti’s classic standing figures. Posture relaxed but perfectly erect, arms at her sides reinforcing the verticality of the form, Femme debout, conceived circa 1947, echoes the archetypal, upright essence of Homo sapiens. Conversely, the larger than life sized Greco, Grande Bagnante II, conceived 1956-1957, is a masterpiece of movement: torqueing torso, head turning, followed by ponytail whipping around, forward foot turned in the direction of the rotation, all moving in one continuous motion. Though titled as a bather, the pose is more like that of a dancer, thus turning the commonplace act of bathing into an expression of beauty, i.e. art.
Among the most striking of the works in the exhibition is a large table top equestrian bronze by Marino Marini. Unlike the easily recognizable splayed horse and rider sculptures from the 1950’s, this work from 1942 is a horse without rider. The horse is graceful, surefooted and powerful, and despite the hardness of the bronze the surface is subtly textured, burnished and patinated to create a soft sheen not unlike that of a horse’s coat. This work conveys an almost mythic dignity as the horse gazes slightly to its left, making eye contact with the viewer at a certain angle where one is almost taken aback by the presence of the equine intelligence, which may be said to symbolize that of the natural world at large.
Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure No. 3 from 1952 is connected to ancient forms such as the famous Venus (Woman) of Willendorf, a fertility figure dating back some 25,000 years. These ancients lived not merely in close proximity to nature but as an integral part of it, and Moore reminds us of this. His iconic theme, the reclining female figure, reveres the female form as the source of life. This particular example is especially elegant with a grace that can perhaps best be described as absolutely natural, yet the addition of draped clothing also references classical Western civilization. Here it may be noted that Moore and Marini, who were friends, shared a common interest in the roots of Western civilization and its relationship with nature.
A strong parallel can also be drawn between Moore and Aristide Maillol. Both were largely concerned with the female form, and both were preoccupied with the issue of volume – the space within the surface of a form. Maillol’s work may be said to temper the sometimes wildly abstract tendencies of Rodin, retaining a consistently direct connection with the naturalistic figurative tradition of Western realism. Maillol is represented in this show by Petite Baigneuse Accroupie, an idealized (romantic) female form, and two Rodins are exhibited as well.
Arp’s Cristal from 1938, though a small piece at three inches tall, has a monumental quality about it. Built of pyramidal forms, it is stable while reaching toward the heavens. Its clean design, which is characteristic of Arp’s work, anticipates the minimalist movement of the late 1950s by almost twenty years. Counterpoint to the Arp and of similar scale is a signature piece by the contemporary Italian master Lucio Fontana. He presents a geode like form in two pieces, as though broken in half by a geologist’s pick: heavily patinated on the outside; a gleaming copper within. The signature aspect of this form is the enigmatic hole that pierces it, like the bullet holes in some of his canvases.
Sorel Etrog, born in Romania in 1933, and long a resident of Canada where he is now a national treasure, is represented by Ariana (Big Queen), an abstract figurative form with sweeping lines not unlike those of a Hellenistic sculpture, crowned with a complex ornamental composition of textural tresses and bonnet like curves. The fluidity and statuesque quality of this roughly four foot tall form give this work a grace that is indeed regal.
The works in this exhibition, those discussed here and those omitted, document the rise of abstraction and also the synthesis of abstract and figurative concerns, not only in terms of the juxtaposition of realism and abstraction but also as regards the use of refined techniques such as patination, modeling, crosshatching and other subtle means of creating surfaces and forms that are essentially abstract in even the most figurative of these modern bronze sculptures.
Lee Spiro, Director |
