DOI chapter:
Chapter V The Statue of the Bust and the Ideal Figure
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65493#0154
112
THE SPIRIT OF
a Rogers group, say the Wounded
Scout in the Swamp ?
The answer depends entirely upon
the artist. We have no right to dic-
tate his manner, but we demand that
beneath the manner there shall be
sound construction as well as feeling:
we ask also a knowledge of ensemble,
of silhouette. The impressionist style
is a fine instrument in the right hands.
But in the hands of mediocrity, this
style of sculptural language performs
the third and most regrettable function
of all language, that of concealing the
lack of thought. The result is what
Mr. Grafly might well call “union-suit
sculpture.” Between the Devil of a
prosaic literalness of rendering, and
the deep sea of a sloppy and would-be
poetical impressionism, the genius of
the sculptor is our only salvation. Im-
pressionism ill-handled will not save
from the commonplace either a group
or a figure. While the problem of the
V
THE STATUE AND THE BUST
THE SPIRIT OF
a Rogers group, say the Wounded
Scout in the Swamp ?
The answer depends entirely upon
the artist. We have no right to dic-
tate his manner, but we demand that
beneath the manner there shall be
sound construction as well as feeling:
we ask also a knowledge of ensemble,
of silhouette. The impressionist style
is a fine instrument in the right hands.
But in the hands of mediocrity, this
style of sculptural language performs
the third and most regrettable function
of all language, that of concealing the
lack of thought. The result is what
Mr. Grafly might well call “union-suit
sculpture.” Between the Devil of a
prosaic literalness of rendering, and
the deep sea of a sloppy and would-be
poetical impressionism, the genius of
the sculptor is our only salvation. Im-
pressionism ill-handled will not save
from the commonplace either a group
or a figure. While the problem of the
V
THE STATUE AND THE BUST