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Volume I
Issue 7
November 1999 |
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Reuben Nakian - Yesterday and Today [Part Three] by Robert Metzger
[Part Two of this article, in the 12 October Newsletter, sees Nakian into the 1940's and 50's, making his first explorations into monumental sculpture. Part One of this article, in the Newsletter of 8 September 1999, describes Nakian's youth and artistic training, and his noteworthy portrait busts. Ed.] Descent's subject concerns the Passion of Christ, His suffering, death and resurrection and surely was Nakian's most intense involvement with religious themes and one of his most overwhelmingly ambitious works. Descent from the Cross grew out of an original idea by the artist to create three separate pieces of sculpture: "The Crucifixion," "The Entombment," and "The Resurrection." After considerable struggle and effort with these separate but related themes, Nakian achieved a profound synthesis of all three in this single work. The forceful abstract construction, composed largely of vertical and diagonal elements, combines in this sacred image the experience of personal anguish, transforming sacrifice and spiritual exultation. The forms bear witness to both action and reaction, to light and dark, and to the concepts of the human and the divine. The towering central form of Descent embodies the spirit of both "The Crucifixion" and "The Resurrection," while the lower supporting forms reinforce physically and symbolically the feeling of verticality and ascendancy. "The Entombment" is evoked when experiencing Descent close up and gazing directly within the massive depth of the sculpture through the leaning textured bronze blocks. Descent is one of the few examples of public statuary in the twentieth century which possesses the emotional pull to place it in the long tradition of great funerary art. The symbolic forms of the cavernous tomb and of the stone being removed from the sepulcher entrance are simultaneously evoked. Although Descent is decidedly abstract, Nakian preserved the emotional geometry of Peter Paul Rubens's painting of the same subject in the Antwerp Cathedral. The pyramidal arrangement of forms is retained by Nakian and presented with startling freshness and vitality. The diagonal figure of Christ being lowered from the cross by attendants once again possesses awe-inspiring power. Both Rubens's and Nakian's works are expressions of deep spirituality, and the two inspired artists are joined in an unbroken affirmation of faith by a power that transcends three centuries. Descent was created in the mercurial, wet medium of plaster, yet the resultant rich surface texture of bronze suggests the cut and feel of hard granite. Nakian was well aware of this apparent paradox of materials while developing the work and used it to impressive advantage. When viewed from across the cathedral plaza in midtown Manhattan, the jagged silhouette and rough-hewn quality of the forms eloquently capture the scope and monumentality of this profound subject. Nakian's interest in religious subject matter goes back to the mid-1930's when he worked on several versions of St. Peter Denying Christ, a motif he returned to in the late 70's. It relates to his other Biblical themes, The Incredulity of St. Thomas, The Flagellation of Christ, Herodias, and The Dance of Salome, in which he also took a renewed interest. Nakian successfully captures the moment of St. Peter's turning in response to the sudden realization that the prophecy of his denial of Christ is unfolding, as behind him on top of a Roman column, the cock is crowing. A second, smaller vision of this theme utilizes a horizontal composition of an agonized, recumbent St. Peter burdened with the weight of the world and with the cock perched on his neck. The monumental Denial of St. Peter of 1978 echoes Rodin's immortal tribute to Balzac, as do the smaller versions of Herodias. Nakian's emphasis is on the didactic gestures of St. Peter and Herodias, whereas Rodin de-emphasized details in his subject's cocoon-like robe to focus the viewer's attention on Balzac's head. After the completion of Descent from the Cross, Nakian again broke new ground, ever remaking and refining the classical-Renaissance-Baroque tradition in a contemporary way. All of his small three-dimensional sculptures were modeled in clay and most of his late large sculptures were made in plaster over Styrofoam, instead of burlap. The intent was to cast these works in bronze. The smaller bronzes achieve majesty and power which are not dependent on size and amplitude. These inventive works which exalt the past and present, convey Nakian's deep understanding of the bonds between myth and life. With characteristic freshness, he repeatedly reinterpreted classical subjects, concentrating on the glorified female form which reinvigorated his art and life. Especially in many or these late works, the figure remains paramount, and the cylindrical, tumescent limbs of undraped nymphs and goddesses are vigorously captured. Specifically, the incredible series of small bronze works of Leda have a cinematic quality similar to Nakian's lively pen and ink drawings of the same subject. These pieces, taken in ensemble, constitute a continuous film sequence beginning with the flirtation of foreplay and ending with the seduction and departure. The large 1977 bronze of Leda and the Swan relates to the smaller bronze versions of the same theme in its classical hedonism and freedom of expression. It is a high point of Nakian's oeuvre and presents the moment of departure of the swan for Mt. Olympus after he has ravaged Leda. The two figures happily break from one another as a natural reflex following their intense sensual experience. The ebullient and inflamed Leda possesses the freedom and joy of the Victory of Samothrace.
Her "contrapposto" pose, characteristic of seventeenth-century Baroque art, evolved from Michelangelo to give vivid expression to passionate feelings. The turn of her curvilinear torso in opposition to the spiral twist of her legs elevates the high emotional content of the work. The electrically charged space between the two figures further heightens the drama. The baroque image of Leda is strongly contrasted with the rectilinear, broken, and jagged Cubist-like forms of the soaring swan. These two seemingly opposing styles harmonize magically in this work. The explicitly phallic form of the swan, pointing away from Leda, swoops up "like a Concorde jet." The swan has been reduced almost to the point of abstraction and reads as a text of geometric invention. Many of the late works dating from the mid-70's reflect a lighter, more humorous side of Nakian's personality and might be described as his "joie de vivre" works. Characteristically playful and joking, Nakian had a way of putting people at ease with his understated wry humor and friendly smile. The series of small clay sculptures, drawings, reliefs, pottery, and lithographs display a loose hold on the artist's fantasies, freely associating mortals, goddesses, nymphs, satyrs, goats and dolphins in a carefree eroticism that may be closer to the all-American pinup than to the philosophical underpinning of Greek classicism. The content of these works is more allusive, less specific, and decidedly more hedonistic and buoyant than in his earlier ruminations on Greco-Roman mythology. [This essay is the third of four parts, adapted from Robert Metzger's catalogue essay for the exhibition, Reuben Nakian: Centennial Retrospective at the Reading Public Musum, Reading, PA (10 October 1998 - 10 January 1999) and at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (6 February - 4 April 1999). Part Four of Four will appear in the December Newsletter. Ed.] About the author: Robert P. Metzger, Ph.D. is Director, Chief Curator and CEO of the Reading Public Museum. Prior to his current position, he served as the Director of the Center Gallery, Bucknell University and the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art (Ridgefield, Connecticut) and as Director of Art at the Stamford (Connecticut) Museum. He was a Professor at both Bucknell University and Pennsylvania State University and an Associate Professor at the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut). Robert Metzger received his Doctoral Degree in Art History from the University of California at Berkeley.
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