Page 412 - Christian Maas Full Book

punishments upon him, for we must not imagine idyllic holidays. Far from any pastoral scene, the fa-

voured moments he would spend in the hamlet were subject to the adult severity. Any of the few childish

mistakes he made were harshly punished. Childhood was denied him, his experiments, his noisy games
and his jokes were not respected. But excessive austerity kills austerity; and fortunately, imagination was
there to help escape a too often brutal daily routine. Besides, spring follows each and every winter, bring-

ing along its lot of cheerfulness: harvesting, running in the fields, hiding in the hay. Gradually branches

sprout tiny buds, and then glazed leaves shining with a tender green. Fruit follows flowers, in a perpetual
renewal of fertile nature.

The world changes in such a way, but such modification is the result of nature’s laws. A great pro-

fusion of fruits, flowers and plants follows winter’s austerity; ascesis and excessiveness exist in creation
itself; the budding artist would know how to make them his own.

Thus, there is only an apparent contradiction in Christian’s attitude as an adult. One can indeed

be surprised to meet two opposing facets within him, excessiveness and privation; that would mean to
forget that those two images are like the two sides of the same coin; one cannot go without the other.
Much like nature, sometimes avaricious, or profusely generous when treated with respect. So, through

his work, Christian Maas would always keep in mind to encompass this duality. Besides, duality seems to

be the word that we could apply permanently to this genius artist, on each occasion it is not a matter of
change, but a matter of an inherent, inseparable double-facet, like the two halves of a whole.

For, as Pascal demonstrated so well: Man is neither Angel nor beast. What is misfortunate is that

whoever wants to act as an angel, acts as a beast.

But from this ever-changing world, the artist was to catch its diversity, so it would become an

enrichment to his inspiration. Would the first attempts, as childish as they would seem, be less nec-

essary experiments? Hence the small wooden animals, but also his very first collections of key

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