International studio (36.1908/1909(1909))

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BY GF.ORGE GREY BARNARD
itsetf—tha.t is, iife as seen by the ordinary every-
day eye of hurrying people. And that, too, is the
reason why these hgures rivet the eyes of the pass-
ing casuai man or woman as do few hgures in reai
life, and it is a matter of no surprise that at hrst
giance they seem strange, fLlling the ordinary spec-
tator with a feeling of doubt, of uneasiness and
wonder as to whether, after all, this is not a far-
fetched and hyperboiical presentation of life, so
different is it from the truth they are accustomed
to. But, be it remembered, just so diSerent is ail
great revelation in comparison with the every-day
journalism of iife. In a world of subterfuge, of
cross purposes and deception, nothing is stranger,
more shocking than the unsophisticated childlike
truth of the simple person whose method of ap-
proach is always direct and straightforward. When
this spirit is carried into art, as in the case of Bar-
nard, it wili inevitablv produce great work if the
means of expression is sufhciently deveioped, and
just as inevitably will it be art that wiii be misun-
derstood and fatseiy interpreted by the smaii—for
a time, but only for a time.
In the scuipture of Barnard, as in the work of
Rodin, we see a vital, aimost consuming energy
that appears to bestir itseif within the clay or
marble as it dows out in the unduiating, rhythmic
movements of thews and muscles, in the sugges-
tions of the deiicate vet withai powerfui bony
structure of the body under its hnely drawn cover-
ing of soft desh and smooth enveiope of skin, as
in the prostrate hgure of the where

mystery of light in the shadows—be-
comes his true vehicie of expression
wherewith he reveals whatever life
holds for him of beauty, of grace, of
dignity. This sense of the right use of
iight achieved a sort of cuimination in
the Two which was modeled in a
semidark studio where the models had to be
ied to their model-throne by Barnard, whose eyes
atone pierced the gioom. But even he, with his
catiike perception of the most deiicate nuances
of iight, was abie to see oniy the essentiai form,
the elemental vigor of the hgure before him,
which is the secret of the utter simpiicity and
strength of his work. Where the contour of the
body was reveated to him round and smooth
and glowing with iight, he piied on his wet clay;
and where it lay obscure, enfolded in shadow, he
scooped out the ciay until the hgure under his
hands grew into the image of the living, breathing
figure before him; and it happened not infrequently,
toward the completion of his task, as he walked
back and forth with eyes half shut, putting on a
dab of clay here, taking away a portion there, that
he wouid mistake the tiving modet for the hgure
into which he was breathing the breath of life, so
closeiy did he approach that outer and mysterious
verge on which trembles the spirit of iife: hence, the
energy and throbbing verisimiiitude of ali his
figures. They are bathed in a light and atmos-
phere that reveal the organic principles of iife in
a manner more urgent, more compeiiing than Hfe

FAN

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