DOI Heft:
No. 372 (March 1924)
DOI Artikel:Binyon, Laurence: Gustav Vigeland
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21399#0146
“BROTHER AND
SISTER.” (GRANITE)
BY GUSTAV VIGELAND
town nor country—common to the fringes
of modern cities. a a a a
But within those gates, what a magical
contrast! Almost totally unprepared, I
seemed to step within a mind at work ; not
a mere spectator from without, but as if
sucked into a vortex of creative thoughts.
Outside was the casual, the unformed, the
half-planned, accepted as part of daily
existence ; here was the shaping will, the
vision, the imagination, which seizes on the
stuff of life to form it into significant
reality. I saw group beyond group ; they
seemed at first sight almost numberless :
and though not arranged in order, but
set one beside another as they had been
finished, yet as the eye rested on each in
turn the impress of definite aim was so
strong that one was deeply conscious of the
ordering mind. There were about twenty
groups in bronze. Each of these sculptures
was in the form of a springing tree, among
the stems of which were nude shapes of
youth and manhood and motherhood, and
old age, and clustered frolicking children.
One felt in contact with an intensely
GUSTAV VIGELAND. BY
LAURENCE BINYON. a a
THE name of Gustav Vigeland is known
to few in England, nor, I think, is it
known to a wide public on the Continent,
greatly honoured though it be in the
sculptor's native Norway. Yet Vigeland is
assuredly one of the greatest of living artists.
Never shall I forget the winter day, when
on the outskirts of Christiania I was taken
(a not often granted privilege) to see the
open-air workshop where are assembled
the many groups in bronze and granite
destined for the great Fountain which one
day will be a glory of that city. It was a
strange sensation that seized one on
passing through the wooden gate and
entering the sort of sloping yard lined with
sheds in which these sculptures stood.
Outside, the road passed over featureless
undulations ; some small scattered trees,
a building here and there ; a few workmen
going about their business ; in the pale
November sunshine it all had that un-
finished, nondescript appearance—neither
‘LOVERS.” (GRANITE)
BY GUSTAV VIGELAND
SISTER.” (GRANITE)
BY GUSTAV VIGELAND
town nor country—common to the fringes
of modern cities. a a a a
But within those gates, what a magical
contrast! Almost totally unprepared, I
seemed to step within a mind at work ; not
a mere spectator from without, but as if
sucked into a vortex of creative thoughts.
Outside was the casual, the unformed, the
half-planned, accepted as part of daily
existence ; here was the shaping will, the
vision, the imagination, which seizes on the
stuff of life to form it into significant
reality. I saw group beyond group ; they
seemed at first sight almost numberless :
and though not arranged in order, but
set one beside another as they had been
finished, yet as the eye rested on each in
turn the impress of definite aim was so
strong that one was deeply conscious of the
ordering mind. There were about twenty
groups in bronze. Each of these sculptures
was in the form of a springing tree, among
the stems of which were nude shapes of
youth and manhood and motherhood, and
old age, and clustered frolicking children.
One felt in contact with an intensely
GUSTAV VIGELAND. BY
LAURENCE BINYON. a a
THE name of Gustav Vigeland is known
to few in England, nor, I think, is it
known to a wide public on the Continent,
greatly honoured though it be in the
sculptor's native Norway. Yet Vigeland is
assuredly one of the greatest of living artists.
Never shall I forget the winter day, when
on the outskirts of Christiania I was taken
(a not often granted privilege) to see the
open-air workshop where are assembled
the many groups in bronze and granite
destined for the great Fountain which one
day will be a glory of that city. It was a
strange sensation that seized one on
passing through the wooden gate and
entering the sort of sloping yard lined with
sheds in which these sculptures stood.
Outside, the road passed over featureless
undulations ; some small scattered trees,
a building here and there ; a few workmen
going about their business ; in the pale
November sunshine it all had that un-
finished, nondescript appearance—neither
‘LOVERS.” (GRANITE)
BY GUSTAV VIGELAND