Bust of Indian 1902

Max Bachman, who was born in 1921, made this intriguing bronze bust of a man identified as an 'Indian'. I really admire the way he’s worked the surface here. You can see the traces of his process so clearly. There’s a real push-pull between representation and abstraction going on. The feathers that hang on his chest have these beautiful ridges in them, like a kind of landscape painting turned vertical. There's something raw and immediate about the way Bachman has manipulated the bronze. It hasn’t been polished to within an inch of its life, but retains a tactile quality, which lends it a certain kind of gravitas. The lines of the face are pretty brutal, and that gives the man portrayed a kind of ancient dignity. It reminds me a little of Ernst Barlach. But where Barlach would sand things down, Bachman leaves it rough. Ultimately, like all good art, this piece raises more questions than it answers, which is just how it should be.