Male sculptures in Brussels (2)

Today you will discover another selection of some male sculptures seen in Brussels these days, either outside in parks, botanical garden, streets and places, or inside the Royal Palace.

First, the Botanical Gardens, where 52 sculptures were commissioned when it was created in 1826. Two majors sculptors, Constantin Meunier and Charles van der Stappen, leaded the overall design, with the help of numerous Belgian sculptors, around the theme of vegetals, but also animals, and working people.   Here is the 'Laurier' (Laurel) made by Julien Dillens.

On the square 'Vergote' where several Art Deco houses are present, there is this monument sculpted by Charles Samuel, called the 'Monument au Génie', in memory of the last wars (1914-1918 and 1940-1945).

The "Palais des Académies" which today is the Royal Academy of Sciences, helds several sculptures around his classical building, which at the beginning used to be the house of the Prince of Orange, a few years before the creation of the Belgian nation.

The next door Royal Palace has a beautiful, although anonymous, marble sculpture of a Bacchus in the main entrance hall.

In the Cinquantenaire park, where the Art & History Museum is located, there is the 'Pavillion Horta' built specifically to protect the extremely large and imposing 'bas-relief' sculpture made by Jeff Lambeaux, called 'The Human Passions'.

Another Art Nouveau 'bas-relief' is visible on the Town Hall, offered in 1899 by a group of artists to thank Charles Buls, Brussels mayor (Bourgmestre) during almost 20 years, from 1881 to 1899, who actively supported the arts in Brussels and ensured many historical places were kept and maintained.
Designed by the architect Victor Horta, and the sculptor Victor Rousseau, it represents a nude young man holding an oil lamp, you can see also other interesting details.

Sources
Human Passions
Botanical Gardens

Male art & gay art collector's interview 1 - Ivan & Florent

This Summer, you will discover some portraits in the form of short interviews (10 questions) of male art collectors. We will start with Ivan & Florent, young gay couple living in Bordeaux, fabulous port city in the South West of France.

If you would like to share your experiences in collecting male art, feel free to contact us!

Q.1 Could you tell us why you appreciate male art, and if you have a preferred medium ?

I&F : We appreciate that art because of the male nudity, his expressed strength, and sensuality, and also his ambiguity. Sculpture is the medium that represents the best these criteria, both on a tactile and visual point of view. Photography and painting are also two interesting media to express or transmit all these sensations.

Q.2 Among the art pieces you purchased, could you describe one or two ?

I&F : A sculpture in bronze, representing two men, lying on a bed, huddling together, one in peace, the other one protective. And last acquisition : a stunning bronze table, showing three naked men, back to back, with busts leaning forward, and their feet behind, as if walking.

Q.3 Do these pieces have a link, or similarity ?

I&F : They both represent the male strength, his masculinity, but also his fragility.

Q.4  Which is your favourite ?

I&F : A bronze sculpture acquired in St Martin, that we are now fixing on a frame, and that will remind us unique moments.

Q.5 What were the elements that triggered your acquisition ?

I&F : We both had a common crush on it, and we always function that way for art.

Q.6 Is there a male art piece that gave you a very strong feeling or emotion ?

I&F : Yes, a painting, a nude man giving the baton relay to another nude man. Because it shows the continuity of life towards the infinity, and also the transmission.

Q.7 Is there an artist who made a deep impression, or left his mark on you ?

I&F : The only artist we met is J-Chris in St Martin. He impressed us with his passion, and his way to look at male art.

Q.8 Is is (still) difficult to display male art in your home ?

I&F : We do not give the choice. People do like us because who we are. They need to appreciate us also inside our home! The art pieces present in our home represent us, and give even better hints about our personality. Today, male art is not linked anymore to the 'obscene'.  Like female art, it is getting closer and closer from a full acceptance of gender.

Q.9 What would be a piece of male art you would love to see ?

I&F : We would love to acquire a very 'rough' piece, not polished, not structured, who could leave lots of space to ambiguity and allowing each of us a full imagination.

Q.10 What are the ways you use to be aware of male art various expressions ?

I&F : Mainly the web, and some magazines.

Thank you Ivan & Florent!

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If you would like to share your experiences in collecting male art, feel free to contact us! 

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Oreste, muscular young naked hero, by Pierre-Charles Simart

Pierre-Charles Simart is another French sculptor (1806-1857), born in Troyes, who moved to Paris at the age of 17, thanks to a scholarship. He won a Prix de Rome 9 years later.

Back from Rome, he sculpted major pieces in Paris such as a Napoleon statue, and several for the Louvres (Sully pavillion, Denon pavillion, ...). Among his teachers, lets name Ingres.
Simart himself also teached at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

The bronze sculpture below, in Troyes, is from the mythology story of Oreste, searching help from Pallas.

The same sculpture was sculpted in marble and is located in Rouen (below).

Oreste - marble statue - detail

  Below is an old drawing made by the French painter Paul Flandrin (1811-1902) who, like the sculptor Simart, had the same teacher (Ingres).

Drawing from Paul Flandrin (1811-1902).

 And a contemporary version was made by Pierre & Gilles, with their painted photography of Oreste in 2013, displayed at the Galerie Daniel Templon (Paris). The model was Staiv Gentis.

Oreste, by Pierre & Gilles, 2013.

Sources:

Wiki source

Extrait de la Revue des Deux Mondes 

Eternal Optimist

Mitoraj

Igor Mitoraj died this month (the 6th) in Paris at the age of 70. I always had an interest in his sculptures. Below are some of his works, often linked to the beauty and sometimes fragile aspect of the male face and body.

'Hermanos' from Mitoraj - displayed in Agrigento

Igor Mitoraj, of Polish origin, was born in 1944 in Germany, and moved to France at the age of 24. He then spent 4 years in Mexico, as he had a strong interest in Precolombian arts, and started to sculpt at that time. Back in Europe, he will go often to Italy from 1979, starting to sculpt marble, while still doing bronze and clay sculptures. In 1983, he opens his studio at Pietrasanta, famous for his marble quarries and workshops.

It is amazing to see that many of his giant works fit perfectly both in a very contemporary surrounding like the French Paris area of La Defense, or among old historical sites like the Valley of Temples in Agrigento (Sicilia). A part of eternity...

'Tindaro' by Mitoraj - 1997 - La Defense - Paris

'Icaro caduto' or 'Fallen Icarus' bronze by Mitoraj

Photo by Fernando Castilla

Photo by Giovanni Ricci Novara

'Angelo / Visita a Maria' marble by Mitoraj - Museo del Vaticano

'Angelo' bronze by Mitoraj - 2006 - Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli - Roma

'Christ' bronze by Mitoraj - 2006 - Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli - Roma

 

'Torso' bronze by Mitoraj

 

 

'Torso d'Icaro' bronze by Mitoraj - photo by Fernando Castilla

 

 

'Cacciatori di Adriano' bronze by Mitoraj - 2000

 In 2002, he displayed some of his sculptures at the Valley of Temples in Agrigento (Sicilia - Italy). This can be seen in this video.

The Apoxyomenos from Croatia

 

Discovered in 1996 by an amateur scuba diver, 45 meters below the surface, it took three years to successfully take the statue out of the water, near the Croatian island of Losinj / Vele Orjule, in the Adriatic Sea, thanks to the Croatian archeologists together with specialists from the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, Italy.

The Croatian Apoxyomenos is a bronze statue dating back to the 2nd century BC. It is considered one of the few great works of ancient bronze that has ever been fully recovered.

 

After seven years of conservation and restoration, the work, marked as an Underwater Heritage Site by UNESCO, was exceptionnally presented during 3 months at the Louvre Parius Museum early 2013.

 

600 years BC, Greeks knew how to cast bronze, and used it a lot for their statues. Most of these sculptures, mentioned by the writers from that era, disappeared, as bronze was reused to produce coins, plates, arms, Tools. This Croatian statue is therefore a rare testimony about their art.



Close to 2 meters high( 1.92m), with red cupper inserted for the lips and tits,  this statue is an 'apoxyomenos', which in old greek means an athlete, busy cleaning his body with a 'strigile', a metallic scraper, in order to remove the mixture of oïl and sand and sweat that sticks to his skin. Athletes of Antiquity exercising naked and outdoor coated their body of an oïl, which, during the athletic exercises, mixed with the sand of the palaestra.





The moment chosen by the artist is the one that occurred after the exercise : the head of the athlete down to the hands betrays a specific gesture. This subtle composition allows the observer to enter within the privacy of a gyum scene, and allows us to understand how the ancient sculptors were keen observers of male nudity.

picture Marie Lan Nguyen

 This statue was only displayed twice abroad : in Florence in 2006, and Paris in 2012/2013.

 



From research undertaken so far it is presumed that the statue was part of a Roman cargo ship, which sailed to large northern cities, uch as Aquileia, Ravenna or Pula, or to a refine place outside 
 cities, such as a luxury villa on the island of Veli Brijuni in the bay Verige.



Videos:
Videos of this discovery can be seen here and here. The Louvre Museum ceremony, with both French and English parts, explaining this discovery and the larger context, is to be seen here.




Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini - the sculpting technique (2)

The bronze casting

Before carrying out the casting, it is necessary to bury the mold. As it is so high, and as the molten metal is to be poured from the top so that it reaches by gravity the lower parts of the statue, there is no alternative but to bury the mold at the foot of the kiln where the metal will be melted. In addition, it provides a protection against potential mold burst when the two tons of metal will be poured. And it also contributes to a slower cooling of the metal, as the mold is uniformly isolated, so it improves the chances for the metal to reach the most remote areas.

Metal poured into a mold - Chammings sculptor workshop

 It took six months to bury the mold and build the huge furnace where the metal was melted. With  picks and shovels, to a depth of about four meters, the pit is ready. The mold is then lowered using a winch and a massive scaffolding. It was critical to avoid any shock to the mold as a crack would have forced to start over. After several attempts, Cellini, with its workers and with strong ropes, succeeds to position the mold in the bottom of the pit.The furnace itself was manufactured with the utmost care, taking into account the choice of bricks, their disposal, the general shape of the furnace, the volume needed to accommodate the entire metal, the necessary openings for pouring and combustion of the metal and the opening hole to pour the metal into the mold.

Cosme 1 de Medicis, portrait by Pontormo - 1518

Five years had passed since Cosimo had commissioned Cellini 's Perseus . The tension was high with the Duke. Cellini was the subject of a conspiracy with his project that all qualified as foolish and undoable. Nevertheless, Cellini resists, his glory and honor is at stake if it fails, he would be banished from Florence and could no longer perform his job.The day of casting, the mold is buried with a mixture of soil and sand. The openings in the mold are extended with stoneware pipes so that they are not obstructed by the soil and allow the evacuation of air and gas. It is important to proceed with the casting as soon as possible before the moisture attack the mold. Ingots of copper, brass and tin (two tons in total) are arranged in the furnace. Cellini's entire team is at work .

The fire is lit and the metal begins to melt and boil. But the oven gives off so much heat that the thatched roof starts to burn. The rain, which began to fall, helps to contain the fire, however, it threatens to penetrate into the mold, which must be avoided at all costs. A battle against the fire starts immediately.

After several hours of hard work, and Cellini close to exhaustion, the molten bronze began to coagulate, making it impossible to flow. Cellini throws into the furnace oak logs that generate more heat. He managed to break the bronze crust that formed on the surface, but the overheated oven cover explodes and revives the fire. They need to cast as rapidly as possible. The metal is too thick and does not flow fast enough. Cellini then added tin and finally the mold begins to fill. All the metal contained in the furnace is used. The mold is completely filled. The cast is completed.

After two days of cooling, the mold is cleread from the soil around it, and taken out from the pit with the same winch that was used to take him down. Cellini begins to break the mold to reveal the statue. As Cellini had expected, only the right foot of Perseus - the most remote area from the opening hole - had not received enough metal. The following months will be devoted to the completion of the foot, to cast the sword and helmet wings and sandals, to fix them to the statue, to carve the damaged details from the melting and then the surface polishing.

The Base

Cellini had planned to complete his work with a majestic marble base three meters high. He set four niches of about one meter on each side of the rectangular block. In the niches, he created and displayed statues of Mercury, Minerva, Jupiter and Danae with her son Perseus.

The block itself is carved with various motifs like shaped garlands, ram heads, shells and goddesses' busts. The finishing touch is a bronze bas-relief depicting Andromeda liberation by Perseus, on the stand base.

Unveiling

It took another five years to complete the base and install it under the arcade of the Loggia dei Lanzi. The transport of the three heavy sections, Medusa, Perseus and the base is delicate and difficult. It also attracts curiosity. Cellini resists the pressure to disclose his work until all pieces are linked together. The tarp covering the work is finally withdrawn on April 27, 1554, nine years after the order. Without ceremony, Perseus appears to the crowd of onlookers. It is triumph. Cosimo I even expressed his satisfaction at Cellini.

However, the payment for the statue is a cause of further tension between the two men, because of poorly conducted negotiations. Cellini will never get any more order of that importance. Now considered a genuine masterpiece and a technical major achievement, Perseus always throne to its original location. The work has been the subject of a restoration in 2000, for the 500th birthday of Cellini.