Kristian Mantzius, Actor 1866

Curator: This striking marble bust, created in 1866, captures the likeness of Kristian Mantzius, a prominent actor, by H.W. Bissen. It resides here at the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. Editor: There's a certain heaviness, wouldn't you say? A sense of gravity. The material itself, the marble, contributes to that, but it's also in the downturned mouth and the slight furrowing of the brow. He seems weighed down by something. Curator: Precisely. The medium of marble itself implies permanence, conferring a certain weight upon the subject. Bissen, deeply rooted in neoclassicism, utilizes this material to imbue Mantzius with an aura of timeless significance. The sculpture is fundamentally structured by a powerful and somewhat asymmetrical tension between the rather florid baroque detailing of the hair and the rigid classical contours of the face. Editor: Speaking of his face, observe the details: that prominent nose, the double chin, the set of his jaw. It speaks to the symbolism of the tragic hero, burdened by fate, yet resilient. His profession as an actor only reinforces that reading. It seems his features also reveal signs of overindulgence. Perhaps an emblem of excess that has haunted performers throughout time. Curator: Absolutely, although I would contend it goes even further than that. I think the very academic style which it conforms to also elevates this bust, presenting the figure in an almost idealised form. Yet it resists doing this through purely aesthetic lines; the ideal exists conceptually in the relationship between this solid, perfectly self-contained form and the inner turmoil hinted at in its asymmetrical features. Editor: It's interesting to me that even within the constraints of the bust format, Bissen conveys so much. We gain glimpses into not just the man’s physical features, but perhaps, a portal into his inner life and the cultural ideals to which he either conforms or with which he has conflict. I appreciate this work more each time I observe new details. Curator: And that really is the strength of such work. Its enduring ability to trigger discourse long after its original unveiling. This object offers insights both from close, visual analysis, and also deep insights from iconographic explorations of cultural context and symbol.