Studio: international art (87.1924)

GUSTAV VIGELAND

serious, deeply-brooding spirit. I was
vaguely reminded of figures sculptured on
Gothic cathedrals. I mean it was a like
kind of inspiration that seemed to possess
these forms ; something utterly unlike the
most of modern art, so consciously pre-
occupied with itself and so rarely capable
of being absorbed by a great theme. Here
was an artist who seemed lost in his work,
as in something greater than himself.
When I turned to view the larger groups
in stone, the impression was still more
overpowering. In these colossal groups,
carved out of pale grey granite, there was
a volume, a latent force, that was irresist-
ible. The born sculptor was manifest.
Each separate conception was of the stone,
stony, as if his thought could not express
itself in any other medium. Here again was
all humanity, the inexhaustible human
form, young with tender curves, massive in
the strength of its prime, rigid and gaunt
with old age. The swell and curve of limbs
had at times an extraordinary grandeur.
Everywhere was the passionate force of
imaginative creation. The immediate effect
was to make me feel as if I were flat as
paper. At the same time one was conscious
of a great exhilaration. 000

“THE WORLD BEFORE
THEM.” (GRANITE)
BY GUSTAV VIGELAND

“SISTERS.” (GRANITE)
BY GUSTAV VIGELAND

A few of these groups are here repro-
duced. Some are still uncompleted. It is
interesting to compare the plaster models
with the same groups carved in granite, and
note the enhancement of the final form,
which is also the form of the original
conception. Truly Northern, Vigeland
holds fast to reality and to the Norse
character of feature. There is sometimes,
I feel, a certain disparity between the heads
of the figures and the rest of the body. But
on first encountering the work of a master,
who wants to criticise i I felt only enriched
and invigorated. 0000
I know nothing of Vigeland's career
except what is told in M. Vidalenc’s
“ L’Art Norvegien Contemporain.” He
began life as a sailor, but while still
a boy was illustrating Dante. At eigh-
teen he was a sculptor. Now fifty-four,
he is still in full vigour. Though he
has produced more than three hundred
sculptures—bas-reliefs, portraits, monu-
ments—his best is probably to come. For
he seems to be of that truest type of artist
who is always growing, moving forward,
careless of past achievements, indifferent
to outside opinion and to fashionable
“ movements ” of the day. He studied in
Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, Italy; he is
widely read but remains profoundly
original. The race of great creators, fecund
and prodigious, is not exhausted ; it lives
to-day in Gustav Vigeland. 0 0

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