In any analysis of sculpture, the viewer must necessarily be limited in his or her appreciation of the piece without viewing it firsthand, on display, with the ability to feel the presence of the sculpture while being able to freely orbit the entire piece and view it from multiple angles. The advent of the Internet does allow for a more realistic, three-dimensional presentation of the piece at hand than traditional art books, photographs, or drawings. Still, the viewer must ask himself or herself questions about the work whether viewing it in person or through the means of technology. For example, What was the artist trying to accomplish?, How do I perceive this piece?, What would the piece be like in a different environment?, and What motivated the artist to choose this particular subject to sculpt? Are just a few of the question typically asked. If we look at two sculptures, Alberto Giacometti’s Spoon Woman and Edgar Degas’ Dancer, and ask some of these questions, our analysis will take on more depth and hopefully shed more insight into the works and their creators.
The Spoon Woman is an early work by Giacometti, a sculptor who was heavily influenced by African and Oceanic art. The Spoon Woman immediately captures the eye from the way light reflects off of its black bronze surface. The Spoon Woman has the following dimensions: 145 x 51 x 21 cm (The Spoon Woman 1). Woman appears to be a piece of assimilation in that its different sections (appendages?) appear to be grafted onto one another. The base is a square with a column on top of it, topped by a disc which appears to hold the spoon or main portion of the sculpture. These objects applied to woman appear to symbolize the feet, legs, hips and stomach/breasts/womb. It is this portion of the piece that most appears to resemble a spoon, in keeping with African symbolism of the bowl shape as it relates to the female.
The neck of Woman sits atop a column shorter in...