Heavy Stones

This is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin called Fallen Caryatid Carrying a Stone. I saw it for the first time at the Musee Rodin in Paris when I was twenty-one. It is one of my favorite pieces of art. I really don't know much about visual art, having studied mostly literature in college. I've always liked paintings and sculptures, but before I visited this museum I had never seen a piece of visual art that moved me as much as a poem, for instance. I was just blown away by Rodin's sculptures, however--how much emotion and meaning they conveyed in physical form.

This particular sculpture is an enlargement the sculptor made of a small element from his monumental work The Gates of Hell. It is a play on certain architectural conventions. In Greek and Egyptian architecture, caryatids were female figures that served as columns in buildings, supporting a roof for instance. In this case, however, the caryatid has fallen under the weight of the stone she was supposed to hold up. It was too heavy for her. But even though she has crumpled to a sitting position, she hasn't dropped the stone. She's resting her own head on her shoulders, but she's still supporting her burden. You can see the muscle tension in her arms. The expression on her face is very thoughtful and dignified. She is sad about her fall, but she is not ashamed. She is going to carry on the best she can.

To me, the sculpture is about how, despite all sayings to the contrary, life's burdens really are too heavy to bear sometimes (often, probably), but people manage somehow and go on. It expresses the incredible courage and dignity that simple survival, day to day life, seems to require of us. I find it a very comforting image, especially in the face of regret or remorse about past failures.

4/2/08 Blog Topic for P1 Reading and Writing
We're going to visit the art museum on Wednesday (finally!), so I thought I'd get us started thinking and writing about art. For your post, write about a favorite work of art that means something to you. It can be a piece of visual art (a painting, sculpture, drawing etc.), but it doesn't have to be. You could also write about a favorite song or piece of music, or a book or poem or even a movie. Describe it to us and tell us what it means to you.