Elizabeth Lunday's Blog, page 12

RT @ARTnewsmag: A new Goya? Oh…

RT @ARTnewsmag: A new Goya? Oh boya! And the subject is an American….http://j.mp/omDOND

Borglum, sculptor of Mt Rushmo…

Borglum, sculptor of Mt Rushmore, was the son of an ex-Mormon and his second wife, who was expelled from the family when Dad left the faith.

On the blog: the best name in …

On the blog: the best name in American art, Mount Rushmore (began on this day in 1927) and postmodern irony. Whew! http://t.co/rz9dTQt6

Looking at Art: Gutzon Borglum's "Abraham Lincoln"

Gutzon Borglum has possibly the best name in American art history. I think it makes a great alternative for curse words in a house with small children: "Gutzon Borglum!!!" you exclaim after you spill Dr Pepper down the front of your shirt. Borglum is most famous for Mount Rushmore, which he began sculpting on this date in 1927. The man liked to think big. Not many people look at a mountain and think, "Yeah, I can work with that."

Borglum first achieved fame in 1908 with his Bust of Abraham Lincoln:

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Borglum always worked on a grand scale–the head is 40 inches high–and the work has a monumentality about it. Borglum carved the sculpture directly from the marble, which was unusual. Most sculptors of the era first modeled in clay, then created a plaster cast, then transferred the shape of the plaster to the marble. Often the actual work in marble was done by assistants rather than the artist him- or herself. Auguste Rodin, the French sculptor, had a whole team of expert craftsmen who would carve his works. But Borglum liked the free expression of working directly with the stone.

He also liked to preserve the sense of the stone itself. Notice how the head of the president emerges from roughly carved rock. The unfinished surface extends up the sides of Lincoln's neck to his hair, particularly on the left side of the face; the ear on that side lacks definition and seems at first an accident of the chisel.

This brings us back to Rodin, actually. Rodin was the first 19th-century sculptor to leave portions of stone unfinished, a practice that shocked French audiences when he first tried it. But then Rodin did a lot of shocking things, like make his figures seem muscular and alive rather than overfinished and bloodless. Borglum met Rodin in the 1890s, adopted a similar style and brought it back to the States. It became hugely popular, in part due to the force of Borglum's personality and his knack for attracting followers. An entire school of sculptors began creating similarly forceful, often oversized works. Much of the commemorative sculpture in the U.S. was created by Borglum or his friends, including numerous Civil War and World War I memorials and some of the most visited sites at the Capitol.

Bust of Lincoln has undeniable force. Lincoln's face is lined and his eyes heavy-lidded and downcast, but the set of the jaw and jutting underlip make the president as stern as he is solemn. The work is undeniably Lincoln—the president's son declared it the best portrait of his father he'd ever seen—but it is also our idea of Lincoln: burdened and suffering yet resolute. The result is realism heightened with emotion, drama, even theatricality. I think it's a better representation than the one on Mount Rushmore, which seems a little too perfect and idealized.

Borglum isn't much to our taste these days. He seems overblown, showy. We're too ironic for Borglum and his wholehearted earnestness. Isn't Mount Rushmore in some way embarrassingly dorky? And it irritates us that he only presents the heroic side of history–it annoys us that there's no indication that Washington and Jefferson had slaves or that Lincoln suspended Constitutional Rights. We're so aware anymore.

It comes down to history. The century separating us from Borglum is a vast rift. He was premodern, we are postmodern. I admit to finding Borglum and much of his work a bit . . . ridiculous. (A mountain? Really?) But when I shut off the postmodern, oh-so-aware sensibility for a moment and really look at the Bust of Lincoln, I find it moving. A suffering yet resolute hero. Maybe a hero that we still need.

I love my doctor. When he open…

I love my doctor. When he opens the exam room door he says, "Why, hello there!" in a tone of delighted surprise, despite holding my chart.

This whole thing where I can't…

This whole thing where I can't breathe through my nose is getting OLD. #grumpy

Started using time-tracking so…

Started using time-tracking software, and when you hit "Log Hours" it announces something different each time. Today: "Bingo Bango!" LOVE.

I have to remove 60 words from…

I have to remove 60 words from my draft. Any suggestions on which ones to yank? #amwriting #amediting