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The source material for Judith Shea's Post Balzac is a sculpture of the famous French writer Honoré de Balzac that the master sculptor Auguste Rodin made in 1898. Shea credits Rodin's portrait with marking the beginning of modernism in sculpture and revisits the theme of modernity 100 years later. Rodin's sculpture depicts Balzac in a commanding gesture actively wrapping himself in his heavy writing robe with his chin proudly raised; Shea's robe stands like an ancient column, completely static and conspicuously empty. Shea offered the following explanation, "I wanted to address how, at the end of the last [19th] century, there was both romance and optimism for the next century. I wanted to ask, 'Where are we a century later?' This century's technical innovations have brought horrors, with the level of destruction we are able to do. The coat is hollow-a metaphor for the condition of the spirit, for emptiness." Viewers should also note the XX inscribed on the pedestal, a reference to the 20th century as well as the double negative.
Published References"John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park", Lea Rosson DeLong, ed., Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, 1923, 128-129
Published References"John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park", Lea Rosson DeLong, ed., Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, 1923, 128-129
DimensionsOverall: 100 × 28 1/2 × 28 1/2 in., 2000 lb. (254 × 72.4 × 72.4 cm, 907.2 kg.)
Accession Number 2015.23
Classificationssculpture
CopyrightJudith Shea
P.O. Box 1086
New York, NY 10008
jshea@nyc.rr.com
judithshea.com
Provenance(Max Protetch); John and Mary Pappajohn [Purchased from previous, 1991]; Des Moines Art Center [Gift from previous, 2015]