Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-07-05
KIaCDOnald's Statae Of" La SOM
RambUla.''


icism on a book, painting, statue or any
other work Of art can be valuable or Just
which does not look at the subject treated
from the standpoint Of the artist who
made it. The writer must stand exactly
where the creator Of the work stood
himself This implies that the critic
must look through the artists eyes
must see the purpose that was in his
brain-must feel the same thrill which
he felt as he worked it out-in a word, he
must read the soul of the artist, or he
cannot understand his work.
We will attempt to try Mr.. James
Wilson MacDonald's statue Of La Som
nambula BY these tests. His purpose
seems to have been to illustrate the alb
normal condition of the human mind
called somnambulism, and to use it as a
vehicle to produce the human figure
Mr.. Macdonald chose female of the
pure Caucasian type of it to-day. The
age indicates the full developed woman,
stu in the dewy freshness of youth. She
has apparently left her couch in trance,
with some purpose known only to herself,
but the depth and earnestness Of which
speak from the whole movement in walk
ing, and the expression Of every feature,
nerve and muscle
She is nude, except a night robe,
which is sliding from her shoulders, and
she carries lamp of antique fashion
(the Pompeiian) in her right hand over
her head. Her hair falls wavingly in
the night breeze, and her eyes have a
somnolent expression, with enlarged pu-
pills, and yet her unknown purpose is be
tokened by deeply intense expression,
which shows that she is filled and moved
by a singis Thought. The mevemeIt of
such woman, bent on such a purpose,
can alone impart any special interest or
significance to the work. The position
of the figure seems to be peculiar to
/ itself We recall nothing like it in an
cient or modern sculpture. There are,
in the first place, bHt very few statues
that are actually walking. No work of
art can be truly called such which has
one part of the body in violent motion
and every other part in repOse. There
must be a complete harmonious move
ment Of all parts Of the body, and this
we find in 50 La Somnambula' For in
/ stance, while the forward foot has not
vet quite received the full weight of the
body, the other has not entirely left the
earth, so that the whole figure is moving
in the act Of going forward, and while
the left hand has not let go the robe, yet
the robe is gliding away. While the
right hand holds the LAMP above the
head firmly enough, there is nothing
rigid in the muscles, for they seem to
/ yield in lifting the lamp just high enough
to let the eyes peer into the distance to
show the way. Thus every part of the
form seems alike to participate in the
movement. Thus every musclei is obliged
to do Its work and its expression must
be anatomically correct. Thiswork could
be done successfully in no other way.
Any departure from anatomy here would
instantly betray tho ignorance Of the ar
tist. No one but a sculptor who had
made the anatomy of the human form
the study of the best part of a lifetime
could hope to succeed in such an attempt
AS for the modelling of the body (the
torso) from the throat downwards, the ar
tist seems to have given Us a very clear
indication Of the form of the antique
statues-for this statue breathes that in
spiration-while the legs and feet are
unmistakably modelled from nature. Sc
are the arms, but they must have been
shaped from faultless model, such as is
seen in the flesh but few times in the
longest ide.
But there is another point of more
special and unusual interest. We have
no knowledge of any other nude female
statue in which there is not evident
consciousness of nudity. In the f" Venus
de Medici this is painfully apparent
In The Greek Slave" it is the chic
expression of the statue while in tn,
" White Captive il is made most prom
inently glaring by bodily pain ant
averted face So, too, with many bath
ing figures, ancient and modern. BU