well worth seeing

I went with my dad today to the Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy.  It runs until 9th December, but I'd been meaning to sneak in a visit before the end of this month because that's when my gift membership runs out, which by mutual consent my mother is not renewing.  Dad asked if he could come too, having read a rave review in The Economist, so off we went.

It is a really good exhibition, and very well worth seeing.  Some of the objects are beautiful, and some interesting rather than aesthetically delightful (though beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder).  They span five millennia and almost every continent, and are arranged thematically, with heads in one room, groups in another, animals together, and so on.

This produces some fascinating juxtapositions.  A tall, thin figure made as a votive offering dating from prehistoric times stands just across the room from a lanky Giacometti man in a cage.  Had Giacometti seen such ancient figures, or was he reinventing an image that had occurred previously in the history of art?

I was too mean to buy a catalogue (you have to draw the line with art books somewhere) but things that have stuck in my mind include:

Portrait of an artist made in the last century.  His head is modelled from a palette board and his legs seem fused with those of his easel, as if painter and work were one.  His whole air is joyously jaunty.  I'd have liked to take that one home.  It would look very nice in the garden.

A late  Renaissance life size sculpture of a turkey that looks astonishingly modern.  If I hadn't read the caption I'd cheerfully have believed that it was made last week.

The remains of a dancing satyr (head and torso plus one leg) that were dredged up from off the coast of (I think) Sicily, that greets you on the way in.  There is so much movement in his dance.

A strange little prehistoric wheeled chariot with warriors and antlered beasts, found at a Danish burial site.  The beasts could have been knocked out at any time during the Sixties.  Once you've got a good design formula then why change it?

The mysterious buddhas.

The Nigerian masks.

And so on.  There are lots of good things, and for enthusiasts of the male body some very buff nude torsos.  I think the things that moved me least were the vast statues of biblical and mythical figures standing lecturing or slaughtering each other, as the case may be.  My favourites seemed to include the quirkiest, and those portraying animals.

A display in one room explains different casting methods, including how in lost wax casting you can avoid destroying the original model, which I think I almost followed, except that I am still confused about how the final cast object is hollow, and not filled with clay or plaster.  I should have bought the book.