OSSIP ZADKINE, quotes on his sculpture art by the Russian-born sculptor-artist facts
Ossip Zadkine (1890 – 1967, quotes on sculpture art and life. In his early Paris’ years Zadkine was a rather orthodox Cubist; later he got strongly influenced by African art. Also classical mythology inspired then his sculpture art, like the figure Orpheus. Many of his statues were ordered in the Netherlands, where Zadkine was more popular than in France itself. Moreover, Zadkine was in Paris a very popular art teacher for young Dutch sculptor-artists.
* At the bottom art links for more biography and life facts of the Russian-born artist Ossip Zadkine; – the editor.
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Ossip Zadkine: Daphne in bronze,1958 |
Ossip Zadkine, quotes on sculpture art and painting, by the famous sculptor
– Whatever the apparent aim of the artist, he is called upon first to move the spectator, after having been himself struck by a design or color composition which may or may not have a relation to natural objects. His predilections, his preferences, crystallize afterwards in the choice of means to interpret those natural objects; these means are always, obligingly, of imaginary essence.
* quote on the role of the artist, by Zadkine, he made in 1944 in New York, just after the end of the German occupation of France, taken from “Artists on Art – from the 14th – 20th centuries”, ed. by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, 1972, London, p. 429
– In my own researches and findings I have always insisted on plastic and sculptural values, and also on what I call a poetic climate. The object, whether it is a book, a bottle, or a human body, once it is visualized and expressed by means of clay, stone, or wood, ceases to be a document and becomes an animated object in stone, wood, or bronze and lives its independent life…
* art quote by Ossip Zadkine, in 1944 in New York, from “Artists on Art – from the 14th – 20th centuries”, ed. by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, 1972, London, p. 430
– I do not believe that art must develop on national lines, but I am convinced that there never was and never will be an international art. There is and was French, German, Italian, and Flemish art. But I deny those specific definitions so fashionable with adepts of fascism which make of every country an hermetic cell from which all foreign artists are excluded.
* artist quote by Ossip Zadkine, (1944), taken from “Artists on Art – from the 14th – 20th centuries”, ed. by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, 1972, London, p. 430
– The sculptors of the cathedral porches of the Middle Ages already knew that we can identify many legendary figures by their attributes, not their physical appearance. How is one to recognize Orpheus without his lyre, or Saint Lawrence without his grid? At the same time it seems a bit absurd, In an art that claims to be realistic, to have Orpeus always carrying his lyre, like a German businessman his briefcase. There must have been moments when Orpheus and Saint Lawrence left their lyre or their grid at the checkroom, for instance…
* quote by Zadkine – circa 1960, on the sculptors of the roman cathedrals, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 153
– As a matter of fact, these attributes are their fate, no longer separate objects they can carry… …part of their actual presence. I try to signify this by reorganizing the objective form of such a legendary figure so as to create an allegorical form that is complete in itself, no longer requiring an attribute that must be carried like the German businessman’s briefcase; the lyre becomes part of the poet’s presence, its text written all over his body, as if tattooed on his skin.
* art quote by Ossip Zadkine on how sculpting legendary figures, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 153
– It is in a sculptor’s interest that there should exist a close relationship between his art and that of the poet. Otherwise, his sculpture may lack human or emotional content and become too strictly architectural. We sculptors pay a heavy price for the limited freedom that we enjoy as a result of our being able to create in three dimensions; we must sacrifice color and whole realms of subject matter, such as landscape, that scarcely lend themselves to a representation in three dimensions.
* a quote – Zadkine explains the important connection between the sculptor and the poet, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 153
– Because the scope of the sculptor’s subject remains so limited, we must be careful to concentrate as much meaning or emotion as possible in the few forms that remain at our disposal.
* artist quote by Zadkine, on the limited scope of the artist, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 153
– Were I to concentrate exclusively on the body of Prometheus, I would be seriously limiting the scope of my rendering of the demigod; but because I concentrate also on the myth of Prometheus, on all that the great poets have written about him, I expand the meaning of the demigod’s physical form and try to communicate… …the basic message of the legend of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and taught man to cook his foods, to smelt metal ore and to forge his tools and weapons.
* important quote by Ossip Zadkine on the danger of the limited scope of the artist and the strength of the myth, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, pp. 153-154
– But a sculpture which sets out to achieve the same ends demands an almost unbelievable effort of concentration. Practically non of the episodes or moments of such a legend, (as Prometheus, fh) really lends itself to sculpture, and the sculptors of the nineteenth century were often quite careless or foolish in the choice of the moment which they set out to represent. Their works could thus become cluttered with all sorts of narrative details which detract from the monumental quality of the whole… …That’s why, in my ‘Prometheus’, I represent the fire as an integral part of the presence or appearance of the hero; he stands there before us in all his awe-inspiring grandeur, a human figure that seemed in the eyes of the men who first saw him to be actually consumed by the fire that he was bearing.
* quote, in which Ossip Zadkine explains his way of representation of Prometheus in his sculpture, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 154
– …So I alternate my aims; at one time, I concentrate on poetry, on a more expressionist kind of sculpture; at other times on form – I mean on a kind of sculpture that concerns itself with formal relations rather than emotions or ideas. I suppose that this principle of alternating my aims leads to a kind of oscillation in the evolution of my own particular style as a sculptor, but I feel that it prevents me from repeating myself.
* art quote by Ossip Zadkine, illustrating the balance of the artist in the evolution of his art style – circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 154
– Fortunately, a sculptor’s style and aim are, to a great extent, dictated to him by his materials. To make a sculpture seem at all moving or inspiring, an artist must, of course, be gifted with a certain personality that speaks movingly through the subject and materials of his work. But het must select appropriate materials, and use them appropriately, too… …My materials often dictate my change of aims, and I choose to work in a different material much as a man may suddenly feel an appetite for a change in diet.
* sculptor quote by Ossip Zadkine, on the dictating power of the material in the act of creation, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, pp. 154-155
– At first, I thought I had found in this second figure (a bronze Orpheus, after his return from New York, 1944, fh) the perfect solution, but a surprise awaited me. One day my coal merchant delivered to me, here in my studio, some wood for heating; among these logs I found a rudimentary but completely mysterious wooden figure of a man. He seemed to be walking in great strides, his torso suggested by only two simple boards which, in their structure, were very much like an ancient lyre. I immediately began working on a new ‘Orpheus’, in which the instrument had truly become part of the man.
* artist quote on Orpheus by Ossip Zadkine, describing the surprising power of the material of wood as inspiring source for the creation of his third Orpheus, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, pp. 154-155
– But Orpheus has always haunted me, and I am not so sure I’ve exorcised his spell on me. For all I know, I may yet be tempted to try a sixth or a seventh ‘Orpheus’ in years to come. Besides the scale of each figure makes it necessary to conceive it differently.
* art quote by Zadkine on the haunting force by the figure of Orpheus in his artistic life, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 155
– My huge monument to the bombing of Rotterdam (1940 by the German aircraft, fh), for instance, was the third and final version of this figure. Once the model had been accepted in principle and the scale agreed on, I began working on a new version of it, conceiving it to a great extent in terms of the effects of the changes of lighting in which such a monument would been seen in the open air. (name of this monument in Dutch: ‘De verwoeste Stad’ – it means in Dutch: Destroyed City, fh)
* sculptor quote by Ossip Zadkine on his war monument – a sculpture of Orpeus – for the bombed city-center of Rotterdam, circa 1960, from “Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century” Edouard Roditi, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, London, 1990, p. 155
Ossip Zadkine, short biography and life facts of the famous sculptor, taken from ‘Art directory’ online
Ossip Zadkine was born in Vitebsk, Belarus on 14 July 1890. In 1905 his parents sent him to his mother’s northern English homeland. He called himself Joe Zadkine until 1914. After attending the polytechnic and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, the young artist went to Paris in 1909. There, he enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts which he quits again soon after in order to work as freelance artist.
In 1911 Zadkine took part in the “Salon des Indépendants” for the first time and one year later joined the cubists. World war I left its traces in his person and his work. He found initial fame in Belgium and Holland, later in France, England, and America. Already during the 1920s retrospective exhibitions of his work took place.
In 1942 Zadkine fled to the United States. He worked in New York, Arizona and North Carolina. Ossip Zadkine returned to the liberated Paris in 1945, and worked as lecturer at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière from 1946 to 1958.
In 1950 Zadkine was awarded the first prize for sculpture at the “Venice Biennale” and in 1960 the “Grand Prix de la Sculpture” of the city of Paris. In the 1960s he reached the peak of his fame. His works travelled around the world in countless exhibitions and Ossip Zadkine worked at home on graphic series, monumental sculptures and book projects.
Zadkine died in Paris on 25 November 1967.
Zadkine’s early work was crucially inspired by Auguste Rodin as well as the cubists, who’s principles he translated into sculpture. As of about 1920 he rejected cubist use of forms and acquired a softer style. The 1940s saw the characteristic erosions and perforations of his sculptures. “Stadt ohne Herz” (Heart-less City) of 1953 may be seen as his principal work, a memorial to the destruction and rebuilding of Rotterdam. Ossip Zadkine was married to the painter Valentine Prax (1899-1981) who, in 1978, bequeathed two of Zadkine’s former studios as well as the main body of his works to the city of Paris as a basis for the foundation of a future Zadkine-museum.
art-links for more biography and life information on the sculptor-artist Ossip Zadkine
* Ossip Zadkine, his biography story and personal life facts, on Wikipedia
* images of his sculpture and painting art, chronologically, on WkiArt
