DOI Heft:
No. 215 (February, 1911)
DOI Artikel:Benoit-Lévy, Georges: A Swedish sculptor: Carl J. Eldh
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20972#0051
A Swedish Sculptor, Carl J. Eldh
"BRITA" BY CARL J. ELDH
of old the custom in Athens, so also the Scandi-
navians of to-day love to spend hours in the open
air, in the sunshine, untrammeled and unfettered
by clothes. None of our expensive " cures " which
nowadays it is the fashion to follow in the various
medical establishments, nor the thousands of pre-
scriptions for which we hurry to the doctors, can
equal the action of the sunlight and the air upon
our naked bodies. We breathe through every
pore of the skin, and it was simply with the object
of developing to the full the respiration and of
perfecting the harmonious attitude of the body
that Ling introduced the so-called Swedish Gym-
nastics—a reminiscence of the customs of ancient
Greece.
Another consequence of this conception of the
nude is that, feeling no shame for their bodies,
Scandinavians find in reproductions of the human
form one of the most perfect examples of artistic
manifestation. There is no need for further com-
ment to accompany the studies of the nude which
we reproduce, the marble Linnea, the charming
Innocence, and I would also mention Eldh's
masterly figure in bronze, of a young girl, and the
statuette known as The Critic. One notices the
perfect form of these young Swedish girls, how
natural and unaffected they are; for, like the
young maidens of Greece in the Golden Age, the
women of Scandinavia disdain the use of that
unnatural instrument of torture, the corset.
In contrast to these sculptures of the nude, a
homage to life in all its beauty and all its purity, I
would mention another work by Eldh; it shows
us a poor creature with looks cast downwards to
the ground, with bent back, dragging her weary
steps along the pavement of a great city. What
an expression of hate, of sadness, of despair in her
shifty eyes, what degradation and what a sorry
spectacle! Sincere, as always, Eldh has but repro-
duced what he has seen, what it is possible every
"BRITA" BY CARL J. ELDH
of old the custom in Athens, so also the Scandi-
navians of to-day love to spend hours in the open
air, in the sunshine, untrammeled and unfettered
by clothes. None of our expensive " cures " which
nowadays it is the fashion to follow in the various
medical establishments, nor the thousands of pre-
scriptions for which we hurry to the doctors, can
equal the action of the sunlight and the air upon
our naked bodies. We breathe through every
pore of the skin, and it was simply with the object
of developing to the full the respiration and of
perfecting the harmonious attitude of the body
that Ling introduced the so-called Swedish Gym-
nastics—a reminiscence of the customs of ancient
Greece.
Another consequence of this conception of the
nude is that, feeling no shame for their bodies,
Scandinavians find in reproductions of the human
form one of the most perfect examples of artistic
manifestation. There is no need for further com-
ment to accompany the studies of the nude which
we reproduce, the marble Linnea, the charming
Innocence, and I would also mention Eldh's
masterly figure in bronze, of a young girl, and the
statuette known as The Critic. One notices the
perfect form of these young Swedish girls, how
natural and unaffected they are; for, like the
young maidens of Greece in the Golden Age, the
women of Scandinavia disdain the use of that
unnatural instrument of torture, the corset.
In contrast to these sculptures of the nude, a
homage to life in all its beauty and all its purity, I
would mention another work by Eldh; it shows
us a poor creature with looks cast downwards to
the ground, with bent back, dragging her weary
steps along the pavement of a great city. What
an expression of hate, of sadness, of despair in her
shifty eyes, what degradation and what a sorry
spectacle! Sincere, as always, Eldh has but repro-
duced what he has seen, what it is possible every