Rail 1921

Curator: Pompon’s sculpture "Rail," created in 1921, sits before us in cast bronze. It resides here at the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. Editor: What strikes me immediately is its stillness, despite the implicit motion of its stride. There’s something about the bird’s forward gaze and simplified form that almost transcends its avian nature. Curator: Indeed, it is representational, yes, but perhaps it might represent anxieties that followed the first World War; Pompon, who served in the French army during that conflict, shows the rail here caught, as if in media res. It represents the experience of Europe coming out of WWI as a society still in medias res. Editor: Fascinating. To me, that simplified form echoes ancient Egyptian animal sculptures. Do you see it as well? A sense of distilled, essential animal spirit? This bird becomes an emblem, maybe of resilience. Birds often symbolize freedom and mobility; in certain contexts, fragility as well. Curator: Considering that the bird is grounded, or mired down in... well, bronze, rather than standing by a pond, I suggest that this particular reading of fragility may certainly apply. And if the ancient Egyptians did anything for us as far as lasting symbolism goes, it was show through material what would be able to resist weathering any historical event or conflict. It is about enduring symbolism and resisting cooptation and exploitation through various regimes or agendas. Editor: I agree—bronze becomes the perfect medium here. It offers weight, presence. It is almost monumental in that the sculpture's material becomes part of the sculpture's meaning, if not it's identity. Curator: Certainly. The very fact that we still examine Pompon's art reveals that resilience and provides space to reinterpret its lasting cultural echoes and meanings. Editor: Yes, looking at this "Rail" anew through the lenses of today shifts my perspective entirely; this conversation has been transformative, seeing resilience embedded not just in symbolic and aesthetic dimensions, but also how context profoundly reshapes understanding.