Art Of The Day Weekly

About the dictatorship of white in sculpture…

PARIS - Le Corbusier published a book, When cathedrals were white, inspired by his great admiration for American skyscrapers. Fifty years later, in order to correct the erroneous idea this famous title had instilled in people’s minds, art historian Alain Erlande-Brandenburg answered with his When cathedrals were painted. Which is simply the truth. This idea of an original whiteness pursues us regarding sculpture as well: we believe the Greeks and the Romans, for example, could only produce immaculate marble Venuses; or that the gothics could only produce pale prophets which time alone could turn yellow. All this is Winckelmann’s fault. Little does it matter that color was always present: our aversion towards polychrome sculpture taints all periods, as can be seen in the exhibition at the musée d’Orsay. Indeed, it aims at restoring the reputation of the victims of the 19th century. Gérôme and Gauguin – who were also painters-, Cordier and Carriès - more recently – stick out of the crowd. But who can remember Lombard, Barrias, or Rivière? Glazed sandstone, gold bronzes, glass paste shine and bring their sculptures to life. But they are almost automatically underestimated and considered kitsch. There is a lot of work to be done, to chip a bit off the supremacy of white!
• En couleurs. La sculpture polychrome en France at the musée d'Orsay, from 12 June to 9 September 2018.