The Venus sculptures bring to my mind Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which all kinds of mythical beings change into something else. These are great-
I find the WWI-statue quite kitschy. The style is ideological, reminiscent of things like socialist realism, for example. It therefore fails its purpose of honoring those who fought and died in the war, by presenting (or pretending) a clean-shaven picture off what actually was pure horror for all involved. You can see it is a lie and because of that, it insults them instead of honoring them (at least that is what I think about this type of sculpture).
Interesting take on it. That’s not what I see. The actual sculptor who designed it literally served in this unit as a sergeant. And amongst the seven men, the three front men are charging and on the offense, two to the left are preparing to launch a grenade and the two to the right depict one man carrying a wounded comrade. I guess, for me, the ‘seven’ represent the overall experience, and especially as the sculptor himself had such intimate knowledge of the unit, I have to feel that quite a bit of it is genuine. As for ‘clean-shaven,’ that was much more the style at the time for American men, as opposed to say, the Civil War, which definitely allowed for longer hair and beards, goatees, etc…
I’ve never been to New York, but I’d definitely like to. Your photos are superb.
Aww, thank you ~ I hope you do make it here at some point!
Sooner than later!!
The Venus sculptures bring to my mind Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which all kinds of mythical beings change into something else. These are great-
I find the WWI-statue quite kitschy. The style is ideological, reminiscent of things like socialist realism, for example. It therefore fails its purpose of honoring those who fought and died in the war, by presenting (or pretending) a clean-shaven picture off what actually was pure horror for all involved. You can see it is a lie and because of that, it insults them instead of honoring them (at least that is what I think about this type of sculpture).
Interesting take on it. That’s not what I see. The actual sculptor who designed it literally served in this unit as a sergeant. And amongst the seven men, the three front men are charging and on the offense, two to the left are preparing to launch a grenade and the two to the right depict one man carrying a wounded comrade. I guess, for me, the ‘seven’ represent the overall experience, and especially as the sculptor himself had such intimate knowledge of the unit, I have to feel that quite a bit of it is genuine. As for ‘clean-shaven,’ that was much more the style at the time for American men, as opposed to say, the Civil War, which definitely allowed for longer hair and beards, goatees, etc…