French sculptor, fellow artist of J.-B. Pigalle, J.-A. Houdon, E.-M. Falconet, who, unlike his renowned contemporaries, known primarily for their monumental works, is considered to be an unsurpassed master of chamber forms.
Claude Michel was born in Nancy; he was the last, tenth child of a wealthy merchant. In the Age of Enlightenment, he went through all possible stages of professional education.
Clodion\u2019s numerous machine sculptures, which, thanks to the virtuous possession of plastic means of expression, revealed the theme of love in the best way possible, corresponded to infinite joy, recreated the atmosphere of fest in the kingdom of flowering flora and lush nature, inhabited by its completely genuine creatures – river and forest nymphs, goat-leg satyrs, athletic build-up deities, air irises and sea naiads, long-haired bacchantes and curly putti. The scenes involving them are completely devoid of static, they are always very lively, moving. Even when they are seemingly immersed in the Morpheus\u2019 realm or resting, the sculptor is astonishingly able to create a sense of inner dynamics. His charming heroes are always entertained, always noisy and \u201cactive,\u201d in a state of raging procession or some endless dance circle.
Chamber sculptures by Claude Michel Clodion, mostly carved in precious marble and bronze, can now be seen both in valuable private collections and in well-known museum collections – Museum Island in Berlin, the National Art Museum of Belarus, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and many other museums representing French and European culture.
The small plastic composition \u201cDancing Bacchantes\u201d in the Museum of Russian Art in Yerevan presents a magnificent example of machine sculpture from the world famous master\u2019s creative flourishing time period. The sculptor, with subtle lyricism and apparent affection, conveys with a special dedication the images of several playful and captivating young women, recreates the perfect, beautiful and, full of life\u2019s currents, bodily forms of young frolic ladies dancing, albeit rapidly, strong, but rhythmically, feminine and graceful. The work is cast in bronze. But the harmonious figures, whose slender proportions and ease are underlined by a small, ardent and dashing walking figure a little further away, preserve, as it were, the porcelain-like \u201cfragility\u201d and \u201cmateriality\u201d of terracotta, \u201csucculence and delicacy\u201d of polychrome majolica.
Clodion at the Museum of Russian Art (A. Abrahamyan\u2019s collection): \u201cDancing Bacchantes\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-6670","authors","type-authors","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n