Sculpted to perfection
on some of my favorite statues around the world
There’s something completely magnificent about a good sculpture. It can be realistic, it can be symbolic, it can be neo-realist. But what it needs to do is to stir something inside. Something which stops you in your stride, and makes you want to linger, and think, and immerse yourself in.
The tragedy is that though I stay in one of the most culturally-aware cities of the country, which also has one of the most creatively-charged festivals of the world, when it comes to sculptures it has some of the saddest statues ever created.
But luckily, one travels, one sees. And the experiences stay. The ones I enumerate bin this newsletter are not necessarily all seen by me - but which I find completely fascinating.
Do tell me about your favorite statues, and if possible share photographs.
It was overwhelming to see Rodin’s The Thinker in Musée Rodin in Paris (as a counterpoint, if I may add, to the massive underwhelming feeling on seeing Monalisa!!). What I love about the statue is that it is not only about a man who is lost in thought, but that his powerful body gives the feeling that he will take action, whatever the conclusion of his cogitations.
In the gardens where this statue is displayed there is a bench opposite it. I must have spent the longest of time just gazing at it. I told my tennis-crazy son that this is the meeting I have treasured, the way he might treasure a meeting with Roger Federer.
Melancholy, a sculpture created by Albert Gyorgy, can be found on the shores of Lake Geneva. I couldn’t have described this statue better than this -
“For anyone who has ever felt the loneliness of a 100 rooms, or the weariness when you’ve lost the battle; for anyone who is so bereft that they feel like an empty shell or to those who found themselves dissolving over the loss of something so precious; György is speaking to you for he knows exactly how that feels.”
Christ of the Abyss is one of the most unique bronze statues in the world. Crafted by Guido Galletti in 1954, it was placed on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea—between Camogli and Portofino on the Italian Riviera—where it stays to this day, embraced by the azure waters.
The bronze likeness of Jesus Christ was placed upon the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea as an honor to Dario Gonzatt, the first Italian to use scuba diving gear. It was installed 17 meters under the waves in August of 1954, where it stays to this day.
This immense sculpture called “Colossus of the Apennines” was created almost 450 years ago by Flemish sculptor Giambologna as a symbol of Italy's Apennine mountains. It's nearly 45 ft tall and was commissioned by Francesco de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1579.
The sculpture was originally placed within the niche of a rock that made it appear as if it was emerging from the surrounding stone. The statue is pushing down onto the mouth of a beast from which water flows.
What’s exceptional about this piece is that you can go inside of it. There is a network of grottoes and passageways within the sculpture. Frescoes used to adorn the walls but have since eroded away. There were also two working fountains and a chamber within the colossus’s head that would be able to fit a small orchestra. Also within the head is a fireplace, and when lit, the smoke would escape through colossus’s nose.
Among the many statues of Jesus Christ installed around the world, the sculptural image of the Redeemer in the Italian city of Maratea, at the very top of Mount San Biagio, is distinguished not only by its size (the 68 feet figure is installed at an altitude of 1000 feet above sea level), but also the unusual performance. The Lord is depicted by the sculptor standing with his back to the sea, arms outstretched (their span is 60 feet). Tilting his head slightly, the Son of God looks at the Basilica of San Biagio and the pilgrims climbing the mountain along the winding mountain road.
We had passed this statue when we saw it in Istanbul, as someone’s flippant love for cats, but were completely floored when we heard the story. They made this statue to honor a famous stray cat that used to sit in this position and watch the passers by. The cat’s name was Tombili and the statue was made by the artist Seval Şahin. Talk about tributes!!!!
A fascinating aside -
One month after its installation the sculpture went missing. A comment from Turkey MP Tuncay Özkan: “They stole the Tombili statue. They are enemies of everything beautiful. All they know is hate, tears and war”. The statue was safely returned a short time later.
Sculptor Rajiv Anchal spent 10 years sculpting this mind-blowing statue of Jatayu, the giant eagle of Ramayana who fell while fighting against Ravana, to save Sita. This is found in Chadayamangalam village in Kollam district, Kerala
This is the biggest sculpture of a bird in the world, stretching 200 ft from tail to head and built on top of the 1,000 ft-high Jatayupara towers.
Statue of Unity is stunning. Full stop. It's the tallest statue in the world: standing at 597 ft tall, it's nearly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty. The statue is located in Gujarat on the Narmada River facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam, about 100 kilometres southeast of Vadodara.
Apart from being a befitting tribute to Vallabhbhai Patel, one of the greatest leaders of India, who unified the country to what it is today, it is also an incredible engineering marvel.
I had to share this fascinating short video about its making which is as compelling as this fabulous statue is.
Nobody portrays loneliness and desolation better than Bruno Catalano. This sculpture is a part of a series called The Travelers. Each piece in the collection tells a story of journey and self-discovery, embodied in the figure of a traveler with significant portions missing from their bodies.
You can find the statues all over the world - I have seen them in Venice, Budapest and Paris.
I urge you to read about Bruno, and particularly this series - a good place is to do so is here.
This is really funny!!! We saw Victor Noir's grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery, and were completely intrigued by what people were doing to it!
After he was killed by Prince Pierre Bonaparte, a cousin of the French Emperor Napoleon III, journalist Victor Noir became a symbol of opposition to the imperial regime, and for some reason his tomb has evolved into a fertility symbol. The lips and trousers' bulge on the grave are noticeably shiny because visitors kiss his face and rub the genital area for fertility blessings.
I remember seeing Head of Franz Kafka in the Old Town Square in Prague. It is 35 feet tall and includes 42 rotating pieces, and the outdoor kinetic sculpture was made by artist David Černý.
Anybody who has read even a bit of Kafka would be able to relate with the distortion and the symmetry of this moving sculpture, as it turns, moves away, reflects the world around, almost breaks apart, and then falls into place.
Wikipedia gives me this fascinating nugget -
The kinetic sculpture is 10.6 metres tall and made of 42 rotating stainless steel panels weighing 24 tonnes in total. Each layer is mechanized and rotates individually. Inside, there are 21 motor modules and 1 kilometre of cables. The programming of the sculpture's movements can be changed and the artist can create new choreographies. The flip side of this is the high maintenance, as servicing must be done every fortnight.
And to end with a bit of fun. I have not seen this personally, but have read about it, and thought would share it here!!
A Peruvian municipality located on the country's Pacific northern coast has caused quite a stir with its latest artistic erection. The town of Moche erected a monument honoring a pre-Incan culture, known for its proclivity in producing sexually explicit ceramics.
Hoping to bring in tourists, the town added the statue of an indigenous Mochica man with a giant penis, to its list of attractions.
The statue, a replica of a pre-Incan Mochica ceramic, like those usually found in tombs in this region, is made of glass fiber measuring three metres tall and whose phallus measures a whopping 1.5 metres in length.
This has attracted so many tourists that the city plans to make nine additional erotic Mochica-inspired statues throughout his city!!
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