Gaudia Brzeska Redstone Dancer
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Gaudier Brzeska's Redstone Dancer of 1913
Gaudier Brzeska's Redstone Dancer of 1913
Henri Gaudier Brzeska's Redstone Dancer of 1913 (fig 1) is seemingly simple in composition. Devoid of almost all suggestions of detail, at first glance it could almost be perceived as the creation of an imaginative child constructing a monstrous form in their first pottery class at school. Ironically this childish naivety might not be far from the core of trying to uncover the true meaning of this strange yet wonderful work.
When deciphering a work by Gaudier Brzeska it is important to consider the fact that he regarded his work as many different styles amalgamated into one. However, his connections to the Vorticist Group were at the forefront of this amalgamation. The Vorticists were famed for the contradictive nature of their work. Brzeska's tendencies to switch from group to group depending on popular opinion of the time make it easy to place him in a specific movement or genre. Therefore, the headings 'modern' or 'primitive' are possibly the most accurate terms to use when describing his work, because of his abstract simplification, attention to material and his obvious influences from tribal oceanic sculpture; such as the heads of Easter Island and subsequently the works of artists like Paul Gauguin.
The sculpture itself seems to emerge from the plinth in which it dances. On an obvious level, it is a representation of the human form...