[Study of a Sculpture]
This study of an academic sculpture by an unidentified artist may have been made by Eugène Druet, who worked with several sculptors besides Rodin.
As was common practice in record photography, the white plaster nude has been set against an opaque black background. The lateral lighting plays across the sculpture, giving the chalky plaster the sensuousness of human flesh. Despite this added dimension, the picture would not hold our attention but for the inclusion of the wrapping material, chain, and tackle at the left. The presence of these disturbing elements invests the image with an ominous tension, the ordinary trappings of a sculptor's studio transformed into sinister instruments of torture ambiguously related to the languorous figure lost in solipsistic reverie.
As was common practice in record photography, the white plaster nude has been set against an opaque black background. The lateral lighting plays across the sculpture, giving the chalky plaster the sensuousness of human flesh. Despite this added dimension, the picture would not hold our attention but for the inclusion of the wrapping material, chain, and tackle at the left. The presence of these disturbing elements invests the image with an ominous tension, the ordinary trappings of a sculptor's studio transformed into sinister instruments of torture ambiguously related to the languorous figure lost in solipsistic reverie.
Artwork Details
- Title: [Study of a Sculpture]
- Artist: Attributed to Eugène Druet (French, Paris 1867–1916 Paris)
- Date: ca. 1900
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 39.7 x 29.8 cm (15 5/8 x 11 3/4 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis Gift, 2005
- Object Number: 2005.100.621
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Eugène Druet
ca. 1900
Eugène Druet
1907–12
Eugène Druet
1910
Eugène Druet
before 1898
Eugène Druet
1915–1916
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