Alexander Stoddart: differenze tra le versioni

Versione delle 11:03, 30 apr 2014

Versione attuale delle 17:25, 2 apr 2025

(24 versioni intermedie di 18 utenti non mostrate)

Riga 1:

{{S|scultori britannici}}

{{Bio

|Nome = Alexander "Sandy"

|Soprannome = Sandy

|Cognome = Stoddart

|ForzaOrdinamento = Stoddart ,Alexander

Riga 10 ⟶ 12:

|GiornoMeseMorte =

|AnnoMorte =

|Epoca = 1900

|Epoca2 = 2000

|Attività = scultore

|Nazionalità = scozzese

|PostNazionalità = , dal 2008 nominato [[Grandi ufficiali dellodi Stato (Regno Unito)|Scultore Ordinario al Servizio di Sua Maestà per la Scozia]]

|Immagine = Alexander 'Sandy' Stoddart.jpg

|Didascalia = Stoddart al lavoro nel suo studio presso un laboratorio artigiano delll'[[University of theUniversità Westdella ofScozia ScotlandOccidentale]] (2013).

}}

[[ImmagineFile:DavidHume.jpg|thumb|200px|sinistraright|La statua commemorativa di ''David Hume'' di Alexander Stoddart, sul Miglio Reale di Edimburgo.]]

Lavora principalmente nell'ambito della [[artiarte figurativefigurativa|scultura figurativa]] in [[Argilla|creta]] seguendo la [[neoclassicismo|tradizione classica]]. Stoddart è celebre per la realizzazione di monumenti civili, tra i quali le grandi [[statua|rappresentazioni]] in bronzo di [[David Hume]] ed [[Adam Smith]], filosofi durante l'[[Illuminismo]] scozzese, posti sul [[Royal Mile|Miglio Reale]] della sua città, e di altre personalità come [[James Clerk Maxwell]] e [[John WitherspooWitherspoon (politico)|John Witherspoon]]. Stoddart ha motivato la sua opera così: «La mia grande ambizione è quella di fare sculturascolpire per la Scozia», principalmente riprendendo gli schemi della tradizione del suo paese.<ref>{{cita news |lingua = en |autore = Clive Aslet |url = httphttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3556356/Alexander-Stoddart-talking-statues.html |titolo = Alexander Stoddart: talking statues |pubblicazione = [[The Daily Telegraph]] |data = 12 luglio 2008 |accesso =30 aprile 30-04-2014}}</ref>

È cresciuto nel Renfrewshire, dove sviluppò un precoce interesse per le [[arte|arti]] e la [[musica]], studiando in seguito [[belle arti]] presso la ''[[Glasgow School of Art|Scuola d''Arte di Glasgow]] (1976-1980) e [[storia dell'arte]] all'[[Università di Glasgow]]. Durante questo periodo divenne sempre più critico verso le [[arte contemporanea|tendenze contemporanee dell'arte]], come la [[pop art]], e si concentrò sulla creazione di pezzi e figure in argilla. Stoddart associa la mancanza di forma nell'arte moderna al degrado sociale; in contrasto, le sue opere esprimono [[classicismo (arte)|allusioni classiche]].

<!-- ==Biography==

[[File:Head Apollo BM Sc1547.jpg|thumb|upright| A Roman copy of the Head of [[Apollo Belvedere|Apollo of the Belvedere]] in the [[British Museum]]]]

===Early life===

Stoddart's grandfather was an evangelical Baptist preacher, and his parents met through that church.<ref name='guardian'>Jack, Ian [http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jun/06/alexander-stoddart-interview Set in stone] ''[[The Guardian]]'' 6 June 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2010.</ref> He was born in Edinburgh, though his father, also an artist, moved the family to the village of [[Elderslie]] in [[Renfrewshire (historic)|Renfrewshire]], where the young Stoddart immediately noticed the monument there at [[William Wallace]]'s purported birthplace. Today, Stoddart lives and works in nearby [[Paisley]]. At school Stoddart became interested in music (and remains so) but decided he was not good enough to become a professional.<ref name='guardian'/>

===Education===

Stoddart went, aged seventeen, to train in fine art at the [[Glasgow School of Art]] where he studied from 1976 to 1980. There he settled on sculpture and initially worked within the modernist vogue.<ref name='guardian'/> Stoddart has recalled an epiphany moment several times: when, after finishing a riveted metal pop-art sculpture (praised by his tutors) he found a bust of the [[Apollo Belvedere]], "I thought my pop-riveted thing was rubbish by comparison. It's extraordinarily easy to pop-rivet two bits of metal together and extraordinarily difficult to make a figure like the Apollo, but I thought I had to try."<ref name='guardian'/><ref name='scotsman'/>

Stoddart wrote his undergraduate thesis on the life and work of [[John Mossman]], an English sculptor who worked in Scotland for fifty years. His work remains an influence on Stoddart.<ref>{{cite web|last=Nisbet|first=Gary|publisher=Glasgow – City of Sculpture |title =Alexander (Sandy) Stoddart | url =http://glasgowsculpture.com/pg_biography.php?sub=stoddart_a | accessdate = 2008-01-06 }}</ref>

Stoddart graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, first class, though he was demoralised by his peers' ignorance of the [[art history]]: "the name [[Raphael]] meant nothing to them". He went on to read [[History of Art]] at the [[University of Glasgow]].<ref name='guardian'/> Afterwards, he worked for six "difficult" years in the studio of [[Ian Hamilton Finlay]].<ref name='scotsman'/> Although Hamilton Finlay is considered one of the most important Scottish artists of the 20th century, Stoddart profoundly disagrees with his working methods: "Finlay was the godfather of a problem that's rampant everywhere today. He called the people who made his work 'collaborators'. What we call them nowadays is 'fabricators'. They're talented people who are plastically capable, but they never meet their 'artist'. They're grateful, desperate and thwarted."<ref name='guardian'/>

He is an Honorary Professor at the [[University of the West of Scotland]].<ref name="Alexander Stoddart CV">{{cite web|title =Alexander Stoddart CV| url =http://www.alexanderstoddart.com/biography/cv.html | accessdate = 2008-01-06 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080120132646/http://www.alexanderstoddart.com/biography/cv.html |archivedate = 2008-01-20}}</ref>

On 30 December 2008, it was announced that Stoddart had been appointed [[Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland|Her Majesty's Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland]].<ref>[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/12/23110750 No ordinary sculptor] The Scottish Government, 30 December 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2011.</ref>

==Aesthetic viewpoint==

Stoddart is deeply critical of modernism and contemporary art, and scornful of "public art", a phrase which makes him search for "a glass of whisky and a revolver".<ref name='guardian'/> He has repeatedly criticised winners of the [[Turner Prize]], such as [[Damien Hirst]] "there's plenty of them", and [[Tracey Emin]], whom he calls "the high priestess of societal decline".<ref name='guardian'/> Stoddart said of his own repeated public denouncements, "Somebody will be exhibiting a bunch of bananas in a gallery, and they'll [radio producers] get me on to talk dirty about it".<ref name='guardian'/> Stoddart has characterised modern art as dominated by left-wing politics, to the extent that "certain artistic forms likewise became suspect: the tune; the rhyme; the moulding; the plinth" as coercive and overly traditional.<ref name='spectator'>Stoddart, Alexander [http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts-and-culture/featured/797141/part_2/how-the-west-was-won.thtml How the West Was Won] ''[[The Spectator]]'', 28 June 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.</ref> He argued that an equestrian statue of the [[William IV of the United Kingdom|Mariner King, William IV]] should be placed on the [[fourth plinth]] in [[Trafalgar Square]], as originally intended.<ref name='spectator'/>

{{quotebox|A painting by Titian is like a Leningrad, holding out against the forces of the world... Whereas the art of Tracey Emin is a complete capitulation to the world. Cutting a shark in half and putting it in a tank of piss is just art giving up. I find it very odd when they describe art as challenging, because I always thought art was meant to calm you like a lullaby, not challenge you like some skinhead in an underpass<ref name='spectator'/>|align=right|width=30%}}

He developed an interest in music at school, where he learned to play the piano, which he still does daily. He called his own medium, [[sculpture]] "an art inferior to the super-art of music" and nominated Wagner as the greatest composer.<ref name='scotsman'/>

Stoddart developed his theme on the quietism of monumental art and its relation to Schopenhaurian resignation in a lecture to the Wagner Society of Scotland on 2nd March 2008.<ref>{{cite web|last=Vol. 12. No. 1, February 2008|first=Wagner Society of Scotland Newsletter, Forthcoming Events, |title=An Evening With Alexander Stoddart|url=http://www.wagnerscotland.net/newsletter12_1.html|accessdate=18 May 2013}}</ref>

Stoddart works within the neo-classical tradition of art, and believes that greatness and respect for posterity are important considerations. In 2010 he rebuffed a query about his interest in sculpting a memorial to [[Bill McLaren]], a [[rugby union]] broadcaster: "I do not do sportsmen and I certainly do not do sports commentators. I do artists, philosophers and poets", he said, warning that memorials are often hastily erected.<ref name='mcclaren'>{{cite news|publisher=Times Online |title=Sculptor sneers at Bill McLaren tribute by Marc Horne | url =http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7000234.ece | accessdate = 2009-03-11 }}</ref> Advocates of the memorial described the remarks as insensitive, and said that "To have Bill looking down on the fans at [[Murrayfield Stadium|Murrayfield]], microphone in hand, would bring a huge smile to so many faces."<ref name='mcclaren'/>

Despite their idiomatic differences, Raymond McKenzie argues that the works of both [[Ian Hamilton Finlay]] and Stoddart combine formal and intellectual elegance with sharp, sometimes satirical critiques of contemporary society.<ref>McKenzie (2001:499)</ref>

Stoddart himself outspoken about Modernism, and its contemporary failures and historical misunderstandings, without hesitation, makes clear that his work stems from a Modernism born in neo-classicism, "And yet, after having said all this about Modernism, I consider myself a Modernist – but in the context of a vast application of the term extending miles beyond the pokey wee official area to which usually it is confined. For in truth there are really two kinds of Modernism to be uncovered in the space of the last two and a half centuries, and it is to the first and largest of these that I belong and to which, in my small way, I contribute. This is the Modernism that was born in neo-classicism and has, as its great central titan, the mighty [[Richard Wagner]]." <ref>{{cite web|publisher=Manner of Man Magazine |title =Interview with Alexander Stoddart | url =http://mannerofman.blogspot.com/2012/05/mm-interview-with-alexander-stoddart.html | accessdate = 2012-07-22 }}</ref>

==Works==

[[File:DavidHume.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[David Hume]] by Alexander Stoddart on the [[Royal Mile]] in [[Edinburgh]]]]

===Civic monuments===

In his own work, Stoddart has developed "heroic-realist" neo-classical representations of historical figures.<ref name="Alexander Stoddart CV" />

Stoddart works as a civic-monumentalist for Scotland, and described the need his work fills thus: "We need serious monuments which don't have the Braveheart touch. If we're to be a nation, we need that. [[Andrew Fletcher (politician)|Fletcher of Saltoun]] is absolutely urgent if we're to show we mean business. We don't do it with a stupid Parliament building that looks like a Barcelona-inspired cafeteria. It's a bloody outrage."<ref name='scotsman'>[http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Alexander-Stoddart-interview-39I-believe.4717087.jp Alexander Stoddart interview: 'I believe in the elite for all'] ''[[The Scotsman]]'' 22 November 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.</ref>

He has made sculptures of [[David Hume]] and [[Adam Smith]], philosophers of the [[Scottish Enlightenment]], which stand in the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Hume is depicted in a philosopher's toga, representing the timelessness of philosophical thought, a decision which was criticised as atavistic after the unveiling in 1996, though Stoddart remained stoic, "So here I discovered that the right thing, done in public, will often earn one great disapproval: a lesson for life – in the modern age at least."<ref name='guardian'/> Local philosophy students soon began a tradition of rubbing the statue's toe to absorb some of his knowledge. Though Stoddart placed the foot over the edge of the plinth to encourage such engagement, the irony of the practice given Hume's critiques of superstition has been remarked upon.<ref>Wiseman, Richard [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article5992248.ece It moved me:Statue of David Hume on the Royal Mile] ''The Times'', 29 March 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2011</ref>

Smith, a philosopher who forged the new discipline of [[economics]], is, by contrast, depicted in contemporary attire, showing his concern for the practical matters of economic activity, a gown draped over his shoulder retains the connection to philosophy and academia.<ref name='telegraph'>Aslet, Clive [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3556356/Alexander-Stoddart-talking-statues.html Alexander Stoddart:talking statues] ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 12 July 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.</ref> Smith's economic ideas are also encoded into the statue: the plough behind him represents the agrarian economics he supplanted, the beehive before, is a symbol of the industry he predicted would come. His hand, resting on a globe, is obscured by the gown: a literal presentation of Smith's famous metaphor of the [[invisible hand]].<ref>[http://www.adamsmith.org/the-adam-smith-statue/ A monument to Adam Smith] Adam Smith Institute. Retrieved 4 November 2010.</ref> The life-and-a-half size statue of Smith, is cast in bronze from a plaster model by the sculptor and was unveiled in 2008. It was funded by private subscriptions organised by the Adam Smith Institute.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7488348.stm Crowd sees Smith statue unveiled] BBC News, 4 July 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2010.</ref>

Stoddart's statue of [[James Clerk Maxwell]], a physicist, stands in George Street in Edinburgh and a memorial to [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], a novelist, is on Corstorphine Road.<ref name='scotsman'/> His monument to [[John Witherspoon]] stands in Paisley, with a copy outside [[Princeton University]].

There are several pieces by Stoddart in Glasgow's [[Merchant City]] quarter. ''Italia'', a 2.6 metre, glass re-in-forced polymer statue on top of Ingram Street represents the contribution of Italian traders to the area. Classical in style, the female form is swathed in a [[chiton]] and carries symbols of ancient Italy: a palm branch in her right hand and an inverted cornucopia in her left.<ref>McKenzie (2001:215)</ref> On John Street, a trio of figures, ''Mercury'', ''Mercurius'' and ''Mercurial'' form a triangle. The first two, identical figures, sit above the John St. façade of the Italian centre; their English and Roman names signify the two different manifestations of the deity in Roman mythology. Here, they embody a "dialogue" between ancient lore and modern city life. Opposite, on a plinth on the street, stands ''Mercurial'', cast in bronze and with the adjectival form of the name, it complements the duality of the other two with an underlying unity.<ref>McKenzie (2001:216)</ref>

Putative projects include a monument to [[Willie Gallacher]], the Paisley-born Communist MP, championed by [[Tony Benn]] and funded by a public appeal and "Oscar", an amphitheatre carved into the rock on the Scottish coast dedicated to [[Ossian]], the mythical Scot bard.<ref name='scotsman'/><ref>{{cite web|publisher=Morris Singer Art Founders |title =Adam Smith by Sandy Stoddart | url =http://www.msaf.co.uk/news-adamsmith.htm | accessdate = 2008-01-06 }}</ref>

===Busts, cabinet displays and architectural sculpture===

During 2000 to 2002 the [[Queen's Gallery]] at [[Buckingham Palace]] was renovated in the neo-classical style under the direction of [[John Simpson (architect)|John Simpson]], envisioned as "building visible history".<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Jubilee Journal |title =The Queen's Gallery | url =http://www.royal.gov.uk/textonly/Page1227.asp | accessdate = 2008-01-06 }}</ref> For the walls in the two-storied entrance hall, Stoddart made architectural friezes which interpret Homeric themes in twentieth century Britain.<ref>Grafton, A et al ''The Classical Tradition'' Harvard University Press:Cambridge (2010) pg.632</ref> For the Sackler Library in Oxford University, he made a {{convert|6|ft|m}} by {{convert|25|ft|m}} bronze frieze, depicting an allegory of traditionalist and modernist values.<ref>[http://www.alexanderstoddart.com/architectural.html Architectural sculpture] www.alexanderstoddart.com. Retrieved 4 November 2010.</ref> Stoddart has also worked on busts of living figures whom he admires, often fellow-classicists including [[Roger Scruton]], a philosopher, Robert Adam and John Simpson, architects, the architectural historian David Watkin, and Tony Benn, a senior English politician.<ref name='telegraph'/> -->

== Note ==

<references />

== Bibliografia ==

* {{Cita libro |lingua = inglese |autore = Ray McKenzie |titolo = Public Sculpture of Glasgow (Public Sculpture of Britain) <!--|città = Liverpool--> |editore = [[Liverpool University Press]] |anno = 2001 |isbn = 0-85323-937-1}}

== Altri progetti ==

{{Interprogetto}}

{{interprogetto|commons=Category:Alexander_Stoddart}}

{{Controllo di autorità}}

{{Portale|biografie|scultura}}

[[Categoria:Scultori legati a Glasgow]]

[[en:Alexander Stoddart]]