Leonardo

Sculpture: My Outlook and WorkAuthor(s): Eugen CiucaSource: Leonardo, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Summer, 1974), pp. 239-241Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1572897 .

Accessed: 13/06/2014 13:05

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The MIT Press and Leonardo are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toLeonardo.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.49 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:05:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Leonardo, Vol. 7, pp. 239-241. Pergamon Press 1974. Printed in Great Britain

SCULPTURE: MY OUTLOOK AND WORK

Eugen Ciuca*

1.

I believe that the surest way for portraying the essence of a subject, idea or theme in sculpture, what has been called the attainment of artistic truth, is by treating it as explicitly as possible. This is not easy to do, oftentimes requiring a long period of study and trial.

Constantin Brancusi has provided examples of this approach. For example, he developed the theme of 'The Kiss' in a series of sculptures begin- ning with a piece at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, called 'Le Baiser' (1908), and ending with 'Portal of the Kiss' (1936-37), which is at Targul Jiu in Roumania. During three decades he returned to the theme time and time again. Each succeeding

* Roumanian sculptor living at 21 Shore Lane, Bay Shore, NY 11706, U.S.A. (Received 4 August 1972.)

Fig. 1. 'The Cry', bronze and wood, 190 x 80 x 45 cm., 1963. (Photo: V. Malcoci, Bucharest, Roumania.)

piece was more and more simplified. In the earlier ones the heads, eyes, mouths and breasts of the embracing couple were clearly indicated. Later the two heads were reduced to a single circle divided by a single vertical line.

Brancusi's simplifying process for crystallizing a theme can be taken as a kind of dematerialization of it to arrive at a synthesis. My approach to sculpture is quite different in that I try to materialize a theme. I start with a very simple sculptural repre- sentation. In my piece 'The Cry', for example, I used a shape resembling a mouth opened in a cry of pain or lament (Fig. 1). I may then vary the shape, with the intent of making it as clear and illustrative as possible.

2.

There is an aspect of figurative sculpture that I believe has not been sufficiently studied and exploited and that is the way to give artistic expression to the wide variety of human moods and responses to conflicts in life.

The distress of Dante over evil in The Divine Comedy has long obsessed me as a sculptor. The sculpture I call 'Dante Alighieri' was guided by the following thoughts (Figs. 2 and 3). The piece is organized along the vertical in such a way as to draw the attention of a viewer to something in the sky to which Dante is pointing. This evil something is approaching, causing him to turn his head away.

In addition, the planes of the figure are oriented in a way that I feel convey his mood of urgency and distress. My study of examples of the works of sculptors of ancient Egypt and Greece and of Renaissance Italy has led me to use a certain orientation of planes in my works to give a feeling of various kinds of moods. The figure is mounted on a large twisted pyramidal base that is com- patible with the orientation of planes of the figure.

3.

Many sculptors have conveyed a feeling of motion or movement in figurative works, for example, Myron in his 'Discobolus', Athenodorus,

239

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.49 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:05:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Eugen Ciuca

4.

The Venice Biennale, in spite of many criticisms of its mode of organization, is one of the indicators of trends in contemporary art in various countries. One of the trends in sculpture in recent years has been the construction of objects of very large or monumental size. Unfortunately, I find that many

Fig. 3. 'Dante Alighieri, monument, 1,57 x 1,65 x 7,85 m., 1967. (Pontelongo, Padua, Italy.)

Fig. 2. 'Dante Alighieri', plaster model for a monument, 107 x 22 x 21 cm., 1952-53.

Hagesander and Polydorus in their 'Laocoon' and Boccioni in his 'Muscoli in Volo'. Boccioni's piece gives the impression that it is about to fly away from its base. Such sculptures generally possess one or more of the following features: (1) The axes of major elements intersect at an oblique angle; (2) patterns of elements are repeated; (3) lines are given a sharp break and (4) the piece is made to appear off balance. Myron's 'Discobolus' is an example of a sculpture that is primarily devoted to giving a feeling of motion. Relevant to the above discussion are Refs. 1, 2 and 3.

The sculptures of athletes in action I made with the Roumanian sculptor Emil Mereanu for a stadium at Bucharest incorporate the features mentioned above for giving a feeling of motion. These features may, of course, also be used in non-

figurative or abstract sculpture as can be seen in the works of Angela Gurria, Clement Meadmore, Mohamed Melehi and Jorge Dubon shown in the article on 'The Route of Friendship' by Mathias Goeritz in Leonardo [4].

!

, ., ? ,. . . { ... < i a. . h

.. .. . I - ! o

k h

; /M

Fig. 4. 'At the Gate', wood and stone, 26 x 27 x 20 cm., 1959. (Photo: C. Gink, Budapest, Hungary.)

240

n-1- -l- IN

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.49 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:05:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Sculpture: My Outlook and Work

statues one finds in public places are merely scaled- up small works for which the sculptors did not take into account the effects produced by large dimensions. Michelangelo in his 'David' was clearly conscious of its intended dimensions. When I made 'Dante Alighieri' (Figs. 2 and 3), I also kept its intended monumental size constantly in mind.

Most recently I have been concerned with the fact that sculpture is usually made with the intent of a viewer's looking at it and responding to it as an outsider. The question I have posed to myself is whether a kind of sculpture can be made that will lead a viewer to feel that he has become a part of it both physically and emotionally. Many artists have raised this question and answers have been proposed, for example, in the form of objects that can be transformed or controlled by a viewer and objects in which a viewer can walk about or

climb in [5, 6]. An example of a work of mine at model scale that I made to bring about greater viewer participation is shown in Fig. 4. At full scale, it is intended to have a height of 3.40 m.

References

1. M. Blaszko, Sculpture and the Principle of Bipolarity, Leonardo 1, 223 (1968).

2. A. Brenner, Concerning Sculpture and Architecture, Leonardo 4, 99 (1971).

3. N. Konstam, A Case for Figurative Art Today, Leonardo 4, 109 (1971).

4. M. Goeritz, 'The Route of Friendship': Sculpture, Leonardo 3, 397 (1970).

5. W. Gaudnek, Polymorphism in Painting Through the Use of a Labyrinth, Leonardo 3, 149 (1970).

6. A. Hutchins and G. S. Metraux, Sculpture: Trans- formables with Permanent Magnets, Leonardo 4, 279 (1971).

D

241

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.49 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:05:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions