The New York herald., 1921-02-27

is genuine and even exalted feeling in
some of Mr.. Faggi's draped figure COM
positions, notably the Mother and
Child" but as a structure it is mushy.
still more debatable inclination of
the artist is to combine the relief and
the round in one composition. AS have
frequently explained before / am no
stickler for the rules and thoroughly en-
JOY 1t when geniuses confute them. But
they must confute them. Mr. Faggi
submits a Madonna" in which the
Mother is in the round with an Infant
that is but a relief against her breast.
He wishes to suggest the complete one
ness brought about by the strength Of
mother love- Unfortunately literature
can do this sort of thing better than
sculpture The effect is one Of dis
integraton. but a disintegration with
out bones. Boccione, one of Mr.. Faggi's
countrymen, disintegrated his figures
with a seismic, cyclonic force, but the
composition remained firm
Best Work Is His eva"
Mr.. Faggi's best work is his Eva"
and fortunately 1t is his last. Eve is
not particularly the Mother of Men. ac-
cording to him. but she has the apple
and intends that Adam shall bite it. She
Is slender. girlish and astonishingly re-
mote from the present period. II this
Eve had been dug up by an arch9ol-
ogist somewhere and patined by a
clever "restorer" all the museum direct
ors in the country would be outbiddlng
each other for her. AS it is, they prob
ably will wait till the patina comes to
her naturally.
Richard Offner. who writes the in
PRODUCTION to the catalogue. already ac-
30 H.
quotation from his article will show his
feeling:
Against modern statues a critic has
said. we can only bump our heads. Alfeo
Faggi Is one OF the very few exceptions
/ can think of. In his works there Is
swell of volume In all directions, which
in sensitive and patient attention pro-
duces a sense of freedom and q sense Of
power that comes out from within.
Take his Woman and Child as an ex-
ample The figure Of the mother rises
straight into space like n column, in
large scarcely broken planes. revealing
a flat submerged Elasticity. so that the
round body OF the child against 1t
seems to emerge from the impassive
mass. to start toward us like an inner
force. The whole is like a growth Of
nature. and like nature has something
about 1t OF the inevitable. And this
within n single hweep of tight contours
which enclose the greatest possible plas-
ticity within the smallest possible COM
pass.
But these qualities OF form do not
exist for themselves. They are the Wis
ible manifestation of n profound domi-
nant spiritual mood, which is evoked by
the relation of the plans and lines and
masses and the fluid light There is no
pantomime. and the expression is never
explicit. 1t Is the irradiation of the
whole thing.
'Or take his most monumental con-
ception, the more difficult and austere
Pieta. 1t Is built in the broad fiat
planes OF basso rEievo and great archi-
tectural lines. Its aesthetic is in the in
innate inextricable fusion of the two
bodies. OF the two spirits. The Virgin,
more than Virgin. more than mother,
some heroic female Jehovah. holds the
great sacrifice enveloped by her body,
bowed but unsaddened by earthly be-
reavement. AS all superior spiritual ex-
perience disdains the condescension of
expression or even betrayal. so the high
est spiritual significance proceeds from