Friday, May 14, 2010

AIC: Solitude of the Soul [By Lorado Taft]





I'm inexplicably and incredibly drawn towards figural sculptures.. As such, the Sculpture Court is one of my favourite places at the Art Institute.. as least, as of now!!! And in the Sculpture Court, there are two pieces that I am particularly fond of..
- The Solitude of the Soul - By Lorado Taft
- The Sun Vow - By Hermon Atkins MacNeil..



Although, the story behind "The Sun Vow" is very clear, there is no story behind "The Solitude of the Soul", there's a concept which Taft explained as..
"The thought is the eternally present fact that however closely we may be thrown together by circumstances.. we are unknown to each other."
And that somewhat philosophical concept renders the sculpture to multifarious interpretations.. That's part of the allure of this piece, apart from the underlying fact that it's a beautifully chiseled piece.. a hallmark of Taft's craftsmanship!

The images below are arranged in an anti-clockwise manner..
Click on any image for an enlarged piece..






















For more on.. [click on the link].
# The Solitude of the Soul - By Lorado Taft..
# The Sun Vow - By Hermon Atkins MacNeil..
This is my second post on the "Solitude of the Soul".. The earlier post [link above] has some full length images..

For more on.. [click on the link]..
The Art Institute of Chicago...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I saw this sculpture for the first time yesterday. It is truly a masterpiece; I circled it many times. It is similar in execution to a Michelangelo.