Shape v. Surface
THE progress of European sculp- ture since 1900 is a curious affair. The public must find it hard to follow because exhibitions of modern sculpture, ideally by one artist in each case, are infrequent and rarely relate to the chronology of ideas. Much contemporary works is beyond clear appraisal unless we remem- ber the sequence that preceded it; and before describing Cesar's brilliant exhibition at the Hano- ver Gallery, it might be useful to go back to Rodin for a moment. In Rodin's final phase sculpture was almost synthetic with painting. Shape was invariably, eloquent and vital, but the surfaces of Rodin's later bronzes became increas- ingly charged with an almost independent life and excitement of their own : the surface heightened the meaning of form but did so in such an overwrought manner that the impact of the form itself was occasionally blunted. Sometimes, complete integration was achieved and in these works Rodin's genius reached its fullest expres- sion. Brancusi reacted against this manner, con- centrated entirely upon shape and left his bronzes and marble carvings with an immaculately smooth surface. An elaborately contrived surface was a barrier between himself and the form. Meanwhile, Gonzalez—Picasso's instructor in sculpture—was widening the truth-to-material field by experi- menting with wrought and beaten iron with which he expressed a whole range of ideas deriving mainly from African primitive art. Gon- zalez had a marvellous touch with his materials but again, like Brancusi, shape came first and surface was subordinate to it. Then Giacometti reversed the process by accentuating the im- portance of surface to such an extent that , his figures seem to materialise from the outside in- wards, instead of the form pushing outwards into space and arriving at a full and inevitable con- clusion with the realisation of surface. Once again, sculpture verges towards painting.
Cesar's work reveals an encounter between the tough, down-to-earth masculinity of Gonzalez, who made a world of explicit, adamant fetish symbols with great sculptural qualities, and the thin-blooded, nervous, attenuated hysteria of Giacometti. Cesar's figures partially reconcile these opposing visions. In his mid-thirties, he is still feeling his way and is clearly a born sculptor. The Sculpture Murale in his present show, together with L'Homme de Villetaneuse, Moulin a Vent and the radiant Valentin 3, is his most personal discovery. These sculptures soar up- wards, superbly poised and balanced, and are blessedly free from morbidity. Moreover, they work as sculpture all the way round, a rarer virtue nowadays than might be imagined.
BRYAN ROBERTSON
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