• Noah and his ark: from tuff to limestone

    background, books, Eusebius, Restoration
    Noah new in Muschelkalk

    After the previous series of flying buttress statues for the Eusebius Church in Arnhem (read here now) it has been quiet at my studio for a long time -with regards to the work on the Eusebius church at least. Funding had been allocated for its restoration, but before it's finally on the bank account of the church, apparently a lot of water first needs to pass under the bridge. But now that all suffering is over with, I can speed along with the work on a series of flying buttresses on the north side of the church.

    To the first post about this project.

    Design and execution

    Noah is presawn and ready for carving
    Noah is presawn and ready to start the carving

    The characters for the first four flying buttresses were designed at the time by the Haarlem sculptor Theo van Reijn, who however in 1953 was already quite elderly and left the carving work to the much younger Eduard van Kuilenburg (ref: St. Eusebius Church in Arnhem- Elisabeth den Hartog en Ronald Glaudemans, ISBN 978 90 663 0018 7). Van Reijn was originally planning to decorate all flying buttresses with figures and animals around the theme of 'Noah's Ark,’ which however his successors after his death soon discontinued. The top stone of these four flying buttresses is always the ark, at different stages, and below these are its inhabitants.

    Cup or horn?

    Copying Noah

    The first statue I started working on was Noah himself, with something to his mouth. I first thought he was biting into a cup made of a cow's horn, and that he inserted it the other way around into his mouth in a drunken episode. But now I'm not so sure anymore, it looks more like a horn for sounds. In the book of Genesis you'll find the whole story, but I summarized in a previous post the whole story in one paragraph, if you want to read it.  In any case, at the end there is a piece about the drunkenness of Noah. But here he has a wind instrument, apparently. Instead of Noah being drunk and horny, he blows a horn.

    An ark, a pigeon, three fish and a donkey

    copying the ark

    The second flying buttress statue I started carving was the ark. I had looked forward to this piece specifically, because the original tuff was very difficult to interpret from a distance. I thought in the new stone it would all be much clearer. I had already before, when carving a small corbel with an ark made a number of planks on the boat, and thought this would work well with the big ark too. Here the pictures of before and afterwards. There is a giant pigeon on the roof, Noah is looking where the animal has gone, a donkey sticks his head through a window, and between the curling waves three big fish are swimming.

    I gave the fish some scales and the boat some boards, and furthermore I've cut all the parts slightly sharper and deeper.

    Criticism

    ark old tufa
    copying the ark

    I've discussed it once before a while ago, but I didn't just go about changing the original sculpture on my own. In consultation (with, among other, the National Office of Cultural Heritage) we discussed that the old stone species (Ettringer tufa) was so coarse that detailing was almost impossible. The restoration in this new limestone (Muschelkalk limestone) leaves some room to carve the details more clearly than before. I didn't change the entire sculpture:  everything is exactly the same size and in the same place in the new stone. I made it just a bit sharper and deeper and with some details. To me the work is a lot more interesting because of this. It is frankly a technically not too challenging sculpture, and mere copying is not always exciting, especially for such an easy piece. If I can occasionally just add to or sharpen it a little bit, then it remains fun for me to do.

    copy ark 2
    copy ark 3

    My colleague didn't totally agree. He told me that the work was made at the time in a certain style, without much frills, and that I shouldn't just go adding all kinds of things. The art of the Reconstruction Era has its own unique atmosphere and it would be unfortunate if it is lost. I do understand his objection; you're meant to be working on restoring it, not taking over the helm and sailing a completely different course. It would also be very pigheaded if I suddenly was doing completely my own thing. Therefore Noah for instance was copied exactly, except for the opening of two holes under his arm and in the rear hand, because this stone is much stronger. So will most of the figurines be accurately copied, because more definitely not always means better. But when I see that the story that's told is unclear, and there remain only vague lumps from an otherwise nice composition, then I will take that space.

    the presawing of a flying buttress sculpture (dog)

    In the meantime, I moved the saw machine and put it underneath my new hoist. This way it's much easier to lift the stone pieces on and off it. I'm already busy presawing the next two statuettes, about which more later.

    To the next flying buttress statue.

  • And the book was won by….

    books, Lessons
    this book offered in a contest and goes to ....
    this book could be won and goes to….

    Those who regularly follow the posts on this blog already know: a book was offered for winning. And how did the contest go?? Well, I must say that the response wasn't really overwhelming: four people have dared to submit a comment. The advantage though is that it will be a lot easier for me to choose the winner.

    First of all a sincere thank you to the contributors for the effort. Maybe I've raised the bar a bit high by already naming so many tips myself in the first, second and third reports with tips for beginning sculptors. I don't often teach sculpture anymore and thought that people who recently started sculpting would probably be able to add unto them, because they experience it afresh and anew.

    It now appears that the commenters (is that a proper English word… reactors, commentereers, commentatoriors, commentariators, commenteerers?) are mostly people who already have lots of experience working in stone, and perhaps also the people who trust that what they report is sensible.

    Jan writes: I have already bought the book, but now I'd like to win the book with my tip for a fellow enthusiast of sculpting club ''Creativity Centre Workshop 6" in Heerhugowaard
    My tip is, first make a clay sketch and then go buy a stone, that way you'll know the required height, width and depth dimensions that need to fit into the stone.

    Paul writes: Appearance is important, but the experience of crafting your stone is the most important, that's what you do it for. It is a wonderful experience when you hit the hammer on the chisel, slowly something starts to take shape that was only in the mind at first, sometimes it takes a different direction, but don't worry, in the end something beautiful will come of it.

    zeP writes: The first and most important universal tip: Look, look, look, always and everywhere!
    Feel and touch material and shape, structures and walk around it; understand the movement.
    Study and draw a lot for understanding and make models to make the transition from 1 front view to all of the views. Start with block (cube) with perpendicular sides you can easily draw side views... And then you make an image, Then make it exciting by showing a new exciting shape from every viewing angle... With sharp tools... but yes, you already had those tips yourself. :)

    Roger writes: The book “The Complete Sculpture Book” is a book that should not be missing in the studio of a sculptor. Edited by highly professional people. It is completely in the literal sense of the word. Anything to do with the sculpture is discussed. This book is a MUST. You will be surprised. More than recommended.

    The best tips in my opinion, are those of Paul and ZEP. Looking and trying to understand is so important, and so is studying. But the tip of Paul's is something I didn't address myself yet: it is so important to have fun creating and that will show in the end result. The importance of a playful, open attitude is still too often underestimated; there is usually a strong emphasis on output and outcome, but the process itself is just as important.

    As I already explained in on my personal page the sculptor is not just polishing the stone, but the other way around, this process works just as well, often unnoticed. By that I mean that personal development is inseparable from the sculpture process itself, and that working on a block of stone also becomes working on yourself. Through all the struggles you get your limitations, frustrations and challenges, but also your inner sense of beauty, for play, for wonder. And with his comment Paul in my opinion deserved the book, so I will send it to him. Paul, you will receive an email with my congratulations and request for your address!

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