The Artist and His Model 1921

Dean Cornwell painted this scene of an artist and his model, capturing a timeless tableau of creation. Here we observe the dynamic interplay between the sculptor and the sculpted, and how the artistic subject and object blur into one another. Consider the figure of the artist himself, standing in contemplative pose beside his creation; this pose echoes the classical motif of the artist as both a craftsman and a visionary. We see faint traces of the same posture in Renaissance self-portraits and even in ancient depictions of mythical figures. Yet, the symbol of the artist gazing upon his model also reveals a potent psychological tension. In the act of creation, the artist projects his inner world onto the external form, blurring the boundaries between reality and imagination. Such projections are not static, they are in constant flux, reflecting and refracting the anxieties of its creator.