Challenging Our Conceptions of Beauty: Modern Sculpture

Transcription

1 Challenging Our Conceptions of Beauty: Modern Sculpture Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn The English Romantic poet, John Keats, defined beauty as truth. If you were asked to define beauty what would you say? If something is beautiful, must it also be pleasant? And who holds the answer to what is beautiful? Experts? Or can anyone decide on a personal level what he or she finds beautiful? The Venus de Milo is by most people, experts and non-experts alike, considered to be one of the prime examples of beauty. It is the idealised, classical expression of female beauty. The statue is not controversial. It corresponds to our conceptions of what is beautiful. In September 2005, the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant was unveiled on the fourth plinth of London s Trafalgar Square. This is a statue that challenges our traditional conceptions of beauty. Why? The statue portrays a naked woman. Most people would agree, however, that nakedness is not shocking in our days. The woman is pregnant with a bulging stomach. The American actress Demi Moore broke the barrier on pregnant women posing for photographs in 1991 when she posed for the cover of Vanity Fair. This, too, is not controversial. The woman is handicapped with no arms and short, undersized legs. This, most people would say, is controversial. Can a woman with physical abnormalities be the model for a work of art? And can the sculpture be considered beautiful? On her home page, Alison Lapper, who is herself an accomplished artist, writes. So much has been written and said about Marc Greek, 2nd Century BC: Venus de Milo CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE 387

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3 Quinn s statue of me in Trafalgar Square and I won t repeat it here. It s a controversial piece, but all I ask is that you go and see it and then make up your mind. What is your opinion of the statue? How would you describe it? Below you will find a newspaper article written on the occasion of the unveiling of the statue. Before the unveiling, the journalist expected to be disappointed. Read the article to find out whether she was or not. plinth sokkel accomplished dyktig unveiling avduking Bold, brave, beautiful Marc Quinn s sculpture of Alison Lapper has completely transformed Trafalgar Square Rachel Cooke Sunday September 18, 2005 The Observer (shortened) I expected to be writing about how much I disliked Alison Lapper Pregnant, the 12-ton, marble sculpture that now graces Trafalgar Square s fourth plinth. I had seen pictures of Marc Quinn s maquette of the piece and had thought the subject matter Lapper was born with no arms and shortened legs too deliberately controversial, too feebly didactic and, as a result, rather banal. But I should have known better. When it comes to sculpture, never underestimate the move from maquette to finished work. In the case of Alison Lapper Pregnant, something wonderful has happened in the zoom from miniature to massive, and it is not only the sheer scale of the thing (the statue is 3.55 metres tall and manages to feel even bigger) that demands a certain respect. White and dazzling, Quinn s sculpture has set a grey corner of a grey space unexpectedly ablaze. On Thursday, when the piece was unveiled, it was raining: driving, dirty rain of a kind that always feels singular to London. Beyond all the umbrellas, mayor Ken was droning on; I couldn t catch what he was saying. Alison Lapper Pregnant was swathed in stately purple cloth, like a giant competitor in a wet T-shirt competition. Most people, I think, just wanted Ken to get on with it, so they could race home, or back to their offices, and wrap themselves in a towel. Marc Quinn: Alison Lapper Pregnant, 2005 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE 389

4 But then the cloth came off and it was as if someone had switched on a light. Against a sky the colour of old underwear, a circle of buildings that might as well be built of concrete for all the life and warmth their stony facades exude, Quinn s womanly but warrior-like Lapper in marble from Pietrasanta, Italy, glowed like a beacon. Around me, the damp crowd started to smile and to talk. Quinn says his inspiration came from the fact that there was no positive representation of disability in the history of public art. Lapper says that she hopes the sculpture will make a difference it s inspirational. It puts disability and femininity and motherhood on the map. It s time to challenge people s perceptions of these things. I m hopeful it can make a difference. Looking at the statue, I wondered whether she might not be right about this (although) I hate overt messages in art But what strikes you about Alison Lapper Pregnant are its elegant proportions, the implacable rightness of the way his subject sits there. It brings to mind the classical statues that grace our greatest museums, other sculptures from other times which also have, whether by accident or design, missing arms and legs. Quinn s sculpture is very beautiful, and this is how it works on you, in insidious fashion. Lapper has written a book about her life, and knowing the details that her mother periodically abandoned her; that she is now a feisty single mother remind you of all that she has struggled against, of how vivid and extraordinary a person she must be. But I don t think they come in to play as you gaze on her outsize image in Trafalgar Square, though as a fighter, she takes her rightful place alongside the soldiers on the other plinths, Charles Napier and Henry Havelock. No, by choosing to portray Lapper naked and pregnant, Quinn has given us an Everywoman. You look at her face, her breasts and her swollen belly, and only afterwards do you wonder about her limbs. [ ] The arrival of Quinn s sculpture is an event, one that, through sheer verve and loveliness alone, seems to knock into a cocked hat the tired debate about what constitutes public art. This is public art, and let that be an end of it grace smykke maquette prøvemodell feeble tafatt didactic belærende/formanande ablaze i flammer swathe svøpe/sveipe exude utstråle / stråle ut beacon varde, lys overt åpenlys/openlys implacable uangripelig/ulasteleg insidious snikende/snikande vivid levende/levande verve kraft knock into a cocked hat slå sønder og sammen / slå i knas 390 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

5 Activities 1 DISCUSSION a) The artist Marc Quinn said that his inspiration came from the fact that there was no positive representation of disability in the history of public art. Do you think that disability should be represented in art? Explain your answer. b) Alison Lapper, the model for the sculpture, has said that she hopes the sculpture will challenge people s conceptions of disability, femininity and motherhood. In what way is the sculpture controversial in all three of these areas? c) The author says that she hates overt messages in art i.e. art that wants to communicate a moral. What is your opinion? Should art exist for art s sake alone or should it communicate something? d) What do you find out about Alison Lapper herself? Why does the author find it fitting that the statue is in the company of other famous fighters? Do you agree? e) Do you agree with the author that Quinn s sculpture is very beautiful? Why or why not? 2 PLASTIC ARTS According to the Wikipedia, Plastic arts are those visual arts that involve the use of materials that can be molded or modulated in some way, often in three dimensions. Examples are clay, paint and plaster. The plastic arts may refer to: architecture, ceramics, glass art, land art, metalworking, mosaic, paper art, the use of plastics within the arts or as an art form itself, sculpture, textile art and woodworking. a) Imagine that you have been given the task of working with one of the plastic arts. Which area would you choose and why? b) What would you strive for in your work of art? Design? Thought provoking art? Art that is pleasant to look at? Discuss. CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE 391