Dimensions: object: 1918 x 533 x 464 mm, 98kg (Gross 209kg)
Copyright: © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is Ossip Zadkine's "Venus," a wood sculpture residing in the Tate. I'm really drawn to the way the wood grain is so visible, it makes her feel very grounded and raw. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Notice how the visible tooling on the wood, the artist's labor, becomes integral to the final form, challenging the idealized "Venus" by emphasizing its material origins and the process of its creation. How does this interplay of material and subject affect your understanding of the work? Editor: It makes me think about the artist's hand and the physical effort involved in bringing this form to life. It's not just about beauty, it's about the work. Thank you. Curator: Exactly, and by extension, it invites reflection on the social and economic context of artistic production itself. The choice of wood, the visible labor—all these elements speak volumes.
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A Russian émigré, Zadkine arrived in Paris in 1909 and became associated with Cubism. In the 1920s, he became interested in arts outside the academic canon, favouring the elongated forms of Romanesque statuary. He made large-scale wooden sculptures drawing on techniques of Russian folk decoration, and exemplifying the immediacy of ‘direct carving’. Venus embodies the impact of these varied sources, so that the classical ideal of beauty is invigorated by raw simplification. Gallery label, September 2004
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