Page 374 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Fantastic and allegorical figures

AR gave this otherwise static and ponderous piece a touch of
bizarre humor by carving the musician’s body emerging out of
the back of his oversized instrument. Perhaps the block of
hardwood, once the sculptor began working it, did not provide
enough material for the bass-player’s truck and legs; in any
event, only the head and arms were executed. Those
appendages are within the mammoth chordophone’s width and
thickness—indeed, seen from the front, the man’s torso is not
apparent. His hands are in the right place: one stopping the
strings, the other drawing a bow. The instrument’s face is
convincingly rendered, with holes in the soundboard, incised
stringboard, and four tuning pegs glued in at the top of the
fingerboard. One is left to wonder whether or not AR had
some satirical statement in mind, as in “Osmosis.” Could the
musician be too absorbed in playing his instrument?

158 Cellist and female nude
Wood
11” x 7”

AR carved a section of burl into a bizarre fantasy scene,
inspired perhaps by the startling juxtaposition of Manet’s Le
Déjeuner sur l’Herbe or Marc Chagall’s whirling compositions of
humans, animals and buildings. Certainly the odd twists and
turns of the material suggested at least some of the motifs on
this piece to the artist. At the center, in moderate relief, is a
man playing the cello. To his left, on the edge of the flat-
backed burl, is the profile of a female nude, projecting like the
figure on the bowsprit of an old sailing vessel. To his right, on
the other edge of the piece, is a tiny elephant head: it would be
difficult to attribute this element to any cause other than the
presence of a knot of wood already somewhat resembling that
creature. Part of a paper sticker remains on the bottom of this
sculpture, indicating it might have been included in one of
AR’s exhibitions: torn through the first word, it reads, ‘SY
LOVE.’ Music and wild revelry were associated with gypsies in

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