Camille Claudel, l'ossessione di Rodin: "Mia feroce amica.."

"Mia feroce amica"...

Inizia così il grido d'amore disperato di Rodin a Camille Claudel nei primi anni della loro relazione.

Rodin fu presto affascinato da questa allieva che divenne sua assistente, amante e musa, mentre Camille Claudel, esteriormente è rimasta in completo controllo dei suoi sentimenti.

Consumato e tormentato da un amore ossessivo, lui la implora - "in ginocchio" - per facilitare la sua sofferenza dall'inizio alla fine di questa lettera, scritta in uno stile confuso, con la sintassi errata ed ortografia imperfetta.

Auguste Rodin | L'Addio, 1898

L'Addio (L'Adieu / The Farewell) è una celebre scultura realizzata da Auguste Rodin nel 1898.

L'opera è profondamente legata alla tormentata e dolorosa storia d'amore tra Rodin e l'artista Camille Claudel.

Per la composizione del volto, infatti, lo scultore ha riutilizzato un calco della testa di Camille con i capelli corti (risalente al 1884), aggiungendo davanti al viso due mani indipendenti e giunte, che evocano un senso di separazione, malinconia ed, appunto, un ultimo addio.

Auguste Rodin | L'Adieu /Farewell, 1898 | Musée Rodin, Paris

Ernst Barlach, lo scultore censurato dai nazisti

Ernst Barlach (1870-1938) è stato uno dei più importanti scultori, grafici e scrittori Tedesci, appartenente al movimento Espressionista.

Barlach nacque a Wedel nella Germania settentrionale, il più anziano di quattro figli della coppia formata da Johanna Luise Barlach e dal dottore Georg Barlach.

Frequentò i primi corsi di studio a Ratzeburg.

Restò orfano di padre durante questo periodo, nel 1884.

Antoine Jossé, 1970 | Surrealist sculptor

Antoine Josse is a French artist, born in 1970.

His paintings and sculptures express an irrepressible desire for lightness, escapism and to be able to dream the impossible.

The use of captivating and revealing motifs, along with the presence of human beings immersed in a dream-like landscape, convey a unique charm to his work.

His paintings are alluring for their atmosphere, evocative colours, and tumultuous skies.

The minuscule beings are settled in a desolated and dangerous world where the vegetation rapidly spreads, bringing to life dramatic reds, blues and greens, creating spectacular yet enigmatic feelings.

Love Letter from Rodin to Camille Claudel, 1886: "My ferocious friend.."

"My ferocious friend".... "

Thus begins Rodin’s desperate cry of love to Camille Claudel in the early years of their relationship.

Rodin was soon captivated by this pupil who became his assistant, mistress and muse, while Claudel outwardly remained in complete control of her feelings.

Consumed and tormented by an obsessive love, he implores her - “on his knees” - to ease his suffering from beginning to end of this letter, written in a muddled style, with erroneous syntax and imperfect spelling.

Rainer Maria Rilke / Rodin | Love Song, 1907

How shall I hold my soul and yet not touch

It with your own? How shall I ever place

It clear of you on anything beyond?

Oh gladly I would stow it next to such

Things in the darkness as are never found

Down in an alien and silent space

That does not resonate when you resound.

Auguste Rodin - Fugit Amor, 1881

Eva Antonini, 1961 | Figurative sculptor

Eva Antonini was born in Rapperswil-Switzerland, the place of her childhood and adolescence.

As a young girl, Eva reveals a natural proneness for molding clay, matter that later will be privileged in the creation of sculptures of medium and large dimensions.

From 1981-1985 she lives in Geneva, where she takes her first steps in the working world, following her diverse and complex education: language studies; singing, music and dance; a horizon of journeys, stays in England, Italy and United States with stops in the Middle and Far East.

L'Arte Topiaria 🌿/ Topiary

L'Arte Topiaria, ars Topiaria in latino, o Hedge sculptur, nata all'epoca dell'Antica Roma, è una forma della Scultura Vegetale.

Consiste nel potare alberi ed arbusti al fine di dare loro una forma geometrica, diversa da quella naturalmente assunta dalla pianta, per scopi ornamentali.

Si formano così siepi formali, oppure partendo da esemplari singoli o piccoli gruppi, soggetti con varie forme, astratte oppure di animali, oggetti, persone.

Le piante vengono fatte crescere a volte con appositi supporti metallici per guidarle verso la forma definitiva.

Randolph Rogers | Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii, 1859

"Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii" by Randolph Rogers (Waterloo, New York 1825-1892 Rome) was the most popular American sculpture of the nineteenth century.

According to Rogers, it was replicated 167 times in two sizes.

The subject was drawn from "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1834), a widely read novel by Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton, which ends with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in a.d. 79.

Rogers’s evocative portrayal of Nydia highlights her heroic attempt to lead two companions out of the burning, ash-covered city.

Michael Parkes, 1944 | Sculptures

Michael Parkes is an American-born artist living in Spain who is best known for work in the areas of fantasy art and magic realism.

He specializes in painting, stone lithography and sculpture.

He also creates limited-edition Giclée images.

He studied graphic art and painting at the University of Kansas and then travelled for three years throughout Asia and Europe.

Numerous international exhibitions underline the importance of Parkes' work.

Le Gallerie di Piazza Scala, Milano

Situato nel cuore di Milano, il complesso espositivo Gallerie di Piazza Scala propone un viaggio affascinante nell'arte del XIX e XX secolo.

Il polo museale si snoda attraverso quattro edifici storici della città.

Negli storici Palazzo Anguissola e Palazzo Brentani sono esposti 197 dipinti e sculture che partono da bassorilievi neoclassici di Antonio Canova, per toccare quindi le altre correnti che hanno caratterizzato le arti figurative italiane ottocentesche:

Ferrari Arturo - Via San Bernardino in Milano

Gustav Vigeland | Figurative sculptor

Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor.

Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his productivity.

He is most associated with the Vigeland installation (Vigelandsanlegget) in Frogner Park, Oslo.

The Vigeland installation made Frogner Park into Norway's most popular tourist attraction, and the park also contains Frogner Manor with the Oslo Museum and the Henriette Wegner Pavilion.

Vigeland was also the designer of the Nobel Peace Prize medal.

Cristoforo Stati | Orpheus with Violin, 1600-1601

Orpheus by Italian sculptor Cristoforo Stati / Cristofano da Bracciano (1556-1619), famous for taming beasts with his music, is here shown entertaining himself, his body swaying to the sound of the lira da braccio.

The statue was carved for the Palazzo Corsi, Florence. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Leon Richman | Figurative sculptor

Beginning in medium to large-scale marble figures, his passion to explore the beauty of the human form in all dimensions soon led him to a more pliable medium, allowing more freedom in the creative process.

The result has been an inspired body of work, each piece possessing its own unique spirit and personality.

Leon Richman is a California artist with a formal education from the renowned Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and years of practical experience in the field of commercial art, but his soul and passion have always been deeply rooted in the finer arts.

Carl Payne, 1969 | Figurative sculptor

British sculptor Carl Payne was born in Staffordshire.

During his education he studied Figurative Sculpture and began on his first commission in 2000.

Since then, Payne has compiled an extensive ensemble of commissions including 'Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross' and 'King George and Queen Mary' which were unveiled by George Best, Bobby Moore and Pele and by Princess Anne at Banbury respectively.

Today he has a wide variety of collectors throughout the world.

Antonio Canova | Drawing

Antonio Canova (1757-1822) used graphic drawings as the essential foundation for his Neoclassical marble masterpieces.

His sketches acted as a direct window into his creative process, transitioning from rapid, emotional thoughts into highly calculated, geometric structures.

Unlike his highly polished marbles, his initial sketches features rapid, loose, and gestural ink strokes.

He heavily used charcoal wash and cross-hatching to map out how light would fall on the three-dimensional stone surface.

Bruno Catalano, 1960 | Lo scultore dei viaggiatori

Bruno Catalano è uno scultore Franco-Italiano di fama internazionale, celebre per la serie di sculture in bronzo intitolata "Les Voyageurs" (I Viaggiatori).

Catalano è nato a Khouribga, Marocco.

La sua vita è stata segnata da un profondo senso di sradicamento: all'età di 15 anni fu costretto all'esilio dal Marocco insieme alla sua famiglia, sbarcando a Marsiglia con la speranza di una nuova vita.

Prima di dedicarsi interamente all'arte a 30 anni, ha lavorato come marinaio ed elettricista.

Influenzato da maestri come Rodin, Giacometti e César, ha sviluppato una tecnica unica che gli permette di creare figure umane con ampie porzioni del corpo mancanti, sfidando apparentemente le leggi della fisica.

Vassilis Antonakos / Βασίλης Αντωνάκος, 1980 | Abstract painter

Greek artist🎨 Βασίλης Αντωνάκος was born in Athens.

Art had always been an alternative way to express himself even since he was a child.

He attended the Vakalo Art and Design College and then he continued his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Athens.

Mostly being a self-taught artist with a wide range of work in painting, sculpting and stage design.

His first solo exhibition -titled "Faces"- took place in 2013 in Red Dot in Athens.

Tyson Snow, 1977 | Figurative Sculptor /painter

Award winning artist Tyson Snow has always had a passion for fine art and a desire for an outlet where he could create work that was powerful, personal and beautiful.

Tyson has worked tirelessly to improve that idea and has since found the pathway to success.

Tyson has focused on fine art for more than 10 years.

Allegory of Poetry

As a literary device, an allegory is a metaphor in which a character, place or event is used to deliver a broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.

Allegory (in the sense of the practice and use of allegorical devices and works) has occurred widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can readily illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.

Writers or speakers typically use allegories as literary devices or as rhetorical devices that convey (semi-)hidden or complex meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey.

Auger Lucas (French Rococo Era painter, 1685-1765) | An Allegory of Poetry