Man Tying up a Bear 1906

Carl Bonnesen's bronze sculpture, "Man Tying up a Bear," presents a moment of intense struggle and raw physicality. The artist's hands, or rather, the marks and impressions his hands left on the clay, capture a visceral energy that really speaks to artmaking as a process. Look closely, and you can almost feel the tension in the figures' muscles, the bear's desperate thrashing and the man's focused exertion. There's a tactile quality to the bronze, a rough-hewn surface that emphasizes the earthiness of the scene. The light catches on the ridges and valleys of the material, animating the sculpture with a subtle play of shadow and highlight. Bonnesen's work reminds me a bit of the German Expressionist sculptor Ernst Barlach, especially in its emotional intensity and willingness to embrace the imperfect, gestural mark. Ultimately, the sculpture is less about literal representation and more about conveying a feeling, an experience, a primal struggle for dominance.