Still-life
with Statuettes and Rodin Bronze
circa 1920
Though they are frozen in
time, the strained, squirming figures in bronze release an energy of movement that
manages to upset the entire meditative mood of this still-life. Not only do
their bodies seem to be struggling against the confines of their own stiff
medium, but they are also trying to overcome their inevitably flat two-dimensionality.
Juxtaposed with solemn fellow sages they strive to keep alive a playful sense
of mischievous, rule-breaking freedom. Their lively gestures resist the genre
of the painting itself (as they embody anything but stillness) and they never
cease to spite the disapproving air of their contemplative, almost lifeless
neighbours. However, there is a sense of harmony derived from the apparent discord
between the figurines. One can imagine that the large crème-coloured backdrop
behaves like a sheet of rain that aims to cleanse and calm the scenery below,
and as a result its vast pure blankness merges with the ceramic sages and
becomes a single force of its own. It slowly wells around the bronze so as to pacify the figures' restless natures but also to beautify their stark
pyramidal shape, as well as allows the three statuettes to
maintain a diginified presence within their rather limited spaces so that they
may happily pursue their three-way tiff.
