Kristushoved 1930

Here we have Kristushoved, a plaster sculpture made by Niels Skovgaard, at an unknown date. The way the sculptor has worked with the plaster, pushing and pulling, feels so process-oriented. Looking at it, I can really feel the materiality of the plaster itself. It’s not trying to be something else, like marble, it's rough and unrefined. You can almost see Skovgaard’s fingerprints in the texture. Notice the hair, it has a beautiful, almost chaotic energy, with deep crevices and sharp ridges. It’s not just hair, it’s a physical expression of form. This roughness, especially around the beard, gives the piece such a raw, human quality. Skovgaard reminds me a little of Medardo Rosso, both sculptors who embraced the immediacy of their materials. Both artists were more concerned with capturing a fleeting impression than creating a polished, idealized figure. In the end, it's this imperfection that gives the sculpture so much of its power. It leaves space for our own interpretations, our own feelings about what it means to be human, to be spiritual, to be present.