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MOVING MATERIALS

Scene: A TV studio. Three comfortable chairs are arranged to face each other and are occupied by Kevin McCloud (KM), presenter of ‘Grand Designs’, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (IKB), civil engineer and Auguste Rodin (AR), sculptor.

KM: Good evening and welcome to a special edition of ‘Moving Materials’. I’m joined tonight by unquestionably the greatest civil engineer of his day (1806 to 1859), Isambard Kingdom Brunel and, from across the Channel, or perhaps through the Channel Tunnel, by Auguste Rodin (1840 to 1917), a man credited with virtually the single-handed transformation of sculpture from myth and allegory to modern-day realism. Welcome, gentlemen.

IKB: Thank you. Good evening.

AR: Thank you. Good evening and, if I may, Bon soir.

KM: Gentlemen, I’d like to begin by inviting you to evaluate each other’s contributions to the world of moving materials.

IKB: Well, what can you say about Auguste Rodin?! He has defied convention. He has transformed his medium. He has created some of the finest pieces of art of the late nineteenth century: ‘Spirit of War’, ‘The Thinker’ ‘The Lovers’. All marvellous! I must say I wish I’d been alive to see them.

AR: Well, thank you, merci, Isambard. I did not realise that you had time for art. However, if I could just pick you up on one thing there, the piece was actually called ‘The Kiss’, not ‘The Lovers’.

IKB: Sorry. yes. I was probably thinking of French people in general.

AR: ..and if I may return the compliment, Isambard Kingdom Brunel is, of course, a name to be reckoned with in what I am sure is the fascinating world of earth moving. All those great projects: Monkwearmouth Docks, The Great Eastern and, of course, the Thames Tunnel. One can only imagine how much earth he must have shifted.

KM: Indeed. Do you see any parallels in your work?

AR: Of course. Isambard is a man concerned to move as much of the Earth as is possible to reveal spaces. I, for my part, am concerned to remove as much of the clay as is necessary to reveal art.

IKB: I agree. We are both artists. Auguste is an artist in clay and I am an artist of the void, creating vacua into which people’s imaginations can flow.

AR: I am sorry… you believe what you do to be artistic? Art in a vacuum? Art without form? Do you believe that is really possible?

IKB: There is form in my tunnels but what I mean is that, if you create a void, a space uncluttered by vulgar obstruction, you allow the spectator the space in which to make his own form…and what could be more artistic than that?!

There is a moment of silence.

AR: Hmmm. You say there is form in your tunnels. What form does this ‘form’ take?

IKB: Well, a tunnel has two essential components – the mouth and the void. The void is, by definition, form-free but the mouths are formed, hewn from the Earth and ornamented by stonework to form the teeth in the smile of the tunnel.

AR: I see. So you don’t regard them as ‘vulgar obstruction’, then? They don’t impede the spectator’s ‘space’? They don’t don’t deface the otherwise untouched, pure, virgin hillside?

IKB: No. they simply guide the spectator’s eye to the opening of the space and alert him to its potential. They are the sentinels at the gate. They are the messengers of magic.

AR: (sotto voce) ‘Messengers of magic’ – mon cul!

KM: So, Isambard. that’s an interesting idea. You really believe that a tunnel smiles at you?

IKB: Oh yes, Kevin. A well-formed tunnel is like an invitation to a journey. It promises. It entices. It bewitches until all you know is that you must travel its length. It engenders the most intoxicating wanderlust in all of us. Irresistible!

KM: ..and, Auguste, have you ever felt the smile in any of your pieces?

AR: Seldom. Art, for me, is not about happiness and vacuous promise. It is about the purest aesthetic. It is about the revelatory discovery of inner truth. It is certainly not about shifting muck to make holes.

KM: Which of your pieces would you say comes closest to that ideal?

AR: Do you mean which piece is least like ‘vulgar obstructionism’? Well, of course, ‘Iris’ is a divine piece but ‘The Burghers of Calais’ takes up most space.

IKB: I’ve seen that. Very big. And that ‘Iris’ – very French.

AR: What’s French about it? Art transcends nationality. I am French, yes, but my work is as that of the sculptor has always been – to unclothe truth and allow the spectator to connect unashamedly with it.

IKB: You’ve done that alright. She’s certainly unclothed and she certainly connected unashamedly with this spectator!

AR: Ah, really? In what way?

IKB: Well, as you know, I’m a tunnel man and she has such a disarming smile.

[curious readers may wish to follow this link:                                                 http://www.rodin-web.org/works/1890_iris.htm%5D