Title: Torso II (Torcello)
Artist: Barbara Hepworth
Medium: Bronze, cast number 1/6
Dimensions: 36 x 19 x 13 inches
Date: 1958
Description
The art belongs to a collection of 3 bronzes that were made in 1958. Even though, Ulysses (Torso I) and Galatea (Torso III) were the inspirations of Greece, Peter Tomory, former director, suggested that Torcello (Torso II) has connections to the mosaic Virgin and infant from the antique S. Maria Assunta cathedral on Torcello. The Torso II Madonna portrays a lengthened Virgin Mary on a large scale. Madonna is one of the most current striking works that remain on the deserted in the Torcello desert.
Analysis
Torcello was popular during the 1950s since they carried implicit references primarily to the cold war that had circumcised the unknown 1953 political prisoner competition. Moore and Hepworth a prizewinner (Richard Calvocoress) judged the classical precedents evocation and conflicts by the sculptors. They were utilized as political interpretation during that period; hence, could not fit in our 21st-century society whereby art is given priority as a source of entertainment but not conflicts that were very vital as before.
Torso II bronze brown color is not suitable regarding durability but only for aesthetical purposes. It is usually a reaction more so between cuprous chloride that is typically present in every antique bronze artifacts and also water. Typically, the water that is needed to commence the reaction is normally not enough except during the normal humid day. On the reaction notch, cuprous chloride turns to hydrochloric acid and cupric chloride. And of course, HCL reacts heavily with the metal. Once the chain reaction commences, HCL can eat the metal, which is exposed more to cuprous chloride that in turns reacts with humidity thereby forming more hydrochloric acid/cupric chloride pair that if not well removed can eat the whole metal ("Bronze Disease!").
Unlike other arts such as allegorical paintings, Torcello is difficult to find because they are difficult to reproduce and were commonly found in the now deserted Torcello Island. Nonetheless, the posters that were developed by Alphonse Mucha even much earlier than Torso II that was developed in the period of 1895-1900 remain easy to track due to the artist using Colour lithograph as the medium that is durable and the fact that posters are easy to reproduce ("Fruit - Art Posters - Themes - Gallery - Mucha Foundation").
Works Cited
"Fruit - Art Posters - Themes - Gallery - Mucha Foundation". Muchafoundation.Org, 2018, http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/themes/theme/art-posters/object/85. Accessed 24 Feb 2018.
"Bronze Disease!". Collector-Antiquities.Com, 2018, http://www.collector-antiquities.com/collectors-resources/collector-essentials/cleaning-restoring-and-conservation/bronze-disease.html. Accessed 24 Feb 2018.
"Torso II (Torcello) | LACMA Collections". Collections.Lacma.Org, 2018, https://collections.lacma.org/node/2109840. Accessed 24 Feb 2018.
