Reims Rocks!

the smiling angel

The front entrance is studded with figures. Life size figures flanking the entrances, and little tiny figures all along each segment of the entry arches. A lot of restoration work ahead.

Look at the graceful poses, and you know right away the woman to the right is the older one.

These are a little more stiff but cool in their quirkiness. I like the little landscapes they stand on.

I guess this is Abraham getting ready to sacrifice his son?

Wow. All I can say is wow. The sculptures covering the cathedral are very expressive. This is unusual as far as cathedrals go. The smiling angel is down right famous for the very fact that there on a cathedral is a smile. How unserious, how not all about the martyrdom of christ the bravery of christian soldiers, the heavy wisdom and absolute power of Moses handing down the laws of God. All that real human emotion I guess doesn't fit into the narrative of a absolute all knowing God, and right behind him the absolute all powerful king and church. Anyways the sculptures are really stunning in their expressiveness and naturalism. Very beautiful. Time however is eating away at the stone, and at this level of expression every detail counts. There were displays inside the church about how they are restoring the sculptures using the latest laser reconstruction technologies. The process looks time consuming, but is well worth it. It was also a little sobering to see that even stone is not permanent, and over hundreds of years it too will literally melt away. The cathedral in Reims is well worth the visit, it truly is a wonder.

Sculpture

Broke out the clay, navajo red to be exact. Maybe making something from the Navajo soil will ward off the evil spirits of winter. Actually I wanted to do a sculpture of Anika before I start working and lose all my spare time. I made one of Pascal a long time ago, so it was Anika's turn finally. When Tessa gets here it'll be her turn.

Anika really liked her 'head', and she asked to make a sculpture herself. We decided to make a head of Cinnamon our Alameda cat. It came out pretty good. Gotta find a place in Wien to fire these babies up!!

In the Kunst Historische Museum they have a sculpture room full of, I think, mostly Roman heads. Some of them are so realistic, and specific, or individualistic it's remarkable. Walking around the room, between all the different heads is quite an experience - the verisimilitude of the many heads all in one room and mounted at eye level, make you feel like you're walking through an ancient cocktail party where all the guests, besides yourself, are mysteriously frozen still. Will they suddenly break their frozen state and begin chattering away?

I prefer the heads that are less idealized, i.e. not the perfect women's head which unfortunately start to all appear the same. The children, and adolescent heads are remarkable for their liveliness, and individuality. One of the woman's head's haircut reminds me of a famous Matisse sculpture, all curvy and massive. There were also a couple of men's heads which looked like the models were former boxers, one in particular with its nose accidently broken off, was even more expressive of the beaten worn boxers visage because of the accidental nose damage.