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Aesthetic
pleasure awaits you in the form of the Henry Moore exhibit at
the Dallas Museum of Art. Henry Moore: Sculpting the 20th
Century is on exhibit until May 27, 2001, after which it will
move to San Francisco and then on to Washington, D.C. Don't miss
the outside exhibit of some of Moore's larger works which are on
display in the sculpture garden.
Moore
said his work is organized around three recurring themes, which
will surely interest all psychoanalytic psychotherapists: 'the
"Mother and child" idea, the "Reclining
figure" and the "Interior/Exterior forms"' (Allemand,
p.10). Senie writes, in Kosinski's fine catalogue of the
exhibit, that there is an implicit intimacy in Moore's work that
is both seductive and comforting (Kosinski, p.284).
Kosinski refers to the often-quoted account of Moore massaging
his mother's back as a young boy and believes his sculpture
communicates the tactile and symbolic significance of that
remembered moment of intimacy. She suggests this as a source of
a repressed sensuality that lurks in all of his work (Kosinski,
p.28). The exhibit is evocative of the intimacy and
sensuality that is part of our daily practice.
After
seeing the exhibit, I recalled Freud's remarks about sculpture
in his article "On Psychotherapy" (1905 p. 260).
Quoting from Leonardo da Vinci, he said the painter adds to his
work (as in the suggestive technique of hypnosis), whereas the
sculptor (like the analyst) adds nothing new, but takes away in
order to achieve his final result. I began to wonder how Moore
considered his work as a sculptor and if there were further
parallels with psychotherapy.
With
a warning that is as apt for the therapist as the artist. Moore
said, "It is a mistake for a sculptor to speak or write
very often about his job. It releases tension needed for the
work. By trying to express his aims with rounded-off logical
exactness, he can easily become a theorist whose actual work is
only a caged-in exposition of the conceptions evolved in terms
of logic and words...." (Allemand, p. 60). I wouldn't use
this when the next "care manager" calls, but it
illuminates something important about our work.
Moore
spoke elsewhere of sculpting in a way we all will recognize,
"To me carving direct became a religion and I have
practiced it during my career as sculptor. I liked the fact that
you begin with the block and have to find the sculpture that is
inside. You have to overcome the resistance of the material by
sheer determination and hard work" (Allemand, p. 92).
As
psychoanalytic psychotherapists we must regularly think of the
relationship of the part to the whole. Moore observed that great
artists had a monumental sense, "Perhaps it is because they
don't allow detail to become important in itself: that is they
always keep the big things in their proper relationship and
detail is always subservient" (Hedgecoe, p. 16).
And
finally Moore saw his art, like we do ours, as containing
multiple meanings and mystery. "Sculpture should always at
first sight have some obscurities, and further meanings. People
should want to go on looking and thinking; it should never tell
all about itself immediately....In fact all art should have some
more mystery and meaning to it than is apparent to a quick
observer" (Allemand, p. 180).
So
go to the exhibit, enjoy the intimacy and mystery of Moore's
work for the sure aesthetic pleasure it will bring. The
experience of beauty can only help to deepen and sustain our
work.
REFERENCES
Allemand-Casneau,
C., Fath, M., and Mitchinson, D. (Eds). (1996). Henry Moore:
From the inside out, plasters, carvings and drawings. Munich
& New York: Prestel.
Freud, S. (1905). On
psychotherapy. Standard Edition, Volume VII, p. 260.
Hedgecoe, J. (1998).
A monumental vision: The sculpture of Henry Moore. New
York: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang.
Kosinski, D. (2001).
Henry Moore: Sculpting the 20th Century. New Haven and
London: Yale University Press.
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