When it comes to expressing human emotions art is an excellent vehicle to convey them, whether they are simple ones like anger or happiness to more abstract ideas such as existentialism, being connected to something larger than oneself or isolation. This work could also be about the artist mindset at the time he made this. Simply named Despair, 1890, by Auguste Rodin, (13 3/4 x 23 x 17 1/4 in. (34.9 x 58.4 x 43.8 cm)) shows a man lying on naked on a rock on his side with his head covered by his hand becoming the physical embodiment of it. From the figure’s fetal position, how the rock is carved and the other material that is used to make it helps add to the sense of dread. Unlike the classical Greek and Roman statues that depicted gods and
…show more content…
Light cascades onto the top of the figure showing the subtle details of the man’s muscles in soft highlights and shadows while the rock has a greater contrast between light and shadows and. The male body atop of the rock is similar to classical sculpture in how it there seem to be no visible marks from the artist leaving only a smooth finish, but unlike the art of antiquity, modern sculpture started to show more of the hand of the artist regarding how the marks are put down.When it come to this work, the marks from what one can assume were Rodin’s chisel can be seen as small parallel marks that can be throughout the surface of the rock adding texture. Other modern artists during Rodin’s life started to use art to express abstract ideas and Despair one of many works that he did that involved the human form. By just looking at this piece, it is not difficult to read the emotion that the figure is going through without reading the title, but without the title, it can have ambiguous meanings. Titles can be used to subvert a work of art, or the just describe it. Upon observation it seems that the title adds meaning the work, giving the word an image. Rodin was able to make an intangible feeling concrete by giving it a form. The lack of scenery helped bring attention to the
Light cascades onto the top of the figure showing the subtle details of the man’s muscles in soft highlights and shadows while the rock has a greater contrast between light and shadows and. The male body atop of the rock is similar to classical sculpture in how it there seem to be no visible marks from the artist leaving only a smooth finish, but unlike the art of antiquity, modern sculpture started to show more of the hand of the artist regarding how the marks are put down.When it come to this work, the marks from what one can assume were Rodin’s chisel can be seen as small parallel marks that can be throughout the surface of the rock adding texture. Other modern artists during Rodin’s life started to use art to express abstract ideas and Despair one of many works that he did that involved the human form. By just looking at this piece, it is not difficult to read the emotion that the figure is going through without reading the title, but without the title, it can have ambiguous meanings. Titles can be used to subvert a work of art, or the just describe it. Upon observation it seems that the title adds meaning the work, giving the word an image. Rodin was able to make an intangible feeling concrete by giving it a form. The lack of scenery helped bring attention to the