[Study of a Sculpture]

Attributed to Eugène Druet French

Not on view

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.

[Study of a Sculpture], Attributed to Eugène Druet (French, Paris 1867–1916 Paris), Gelatin silver print

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