But stone doesn't cry, and so she remains frozen in a timeless stare, her head turned slightly on her naked torso.
She has no name, either, other than “Torso of a Walking Woman,” a title given her by German expressionist sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck.
“That's our lady,” enthused library dean Bonnie Allen. “She's gotten a lot of attention.”
As she should. Lehmbruck, one of Germany's most important sculptors and a modernist, created the torso not long before he suffered the horrors of World War I, an experience that forever changed his art and eventually led to his suicide.
In fact, Lehmbruck never saw “Torso of a Walking Woman” set in stone. That was done after his death. The work, elongated, soft and gentle, is atypical of most of his other sculptures, which often explored grief and pain as a result of his war experiences.
Had Lehmbruck lived, he would also have been horrified at his sculpture's plight. Bought in 1929 by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, it was confiscated in what is now the Czech Republic by the Nazis - as was a lot of modernist and surreal art, impurities in the Nazi view - and hidden away. It was only recently returned to its owners and sold at a Sotheby's auction to the unnamed party, who loaned it to UM.
MMAC director Barb Koostra said “Torso of a Walking Woman” is one of the most important works ever to come through the museum.
“We're delighted,” she said, “and I hope it means that we know how to handle art and how to honor art. This is spectacular, world-class art, available right here.”
Allen said the torso is a welcome addition to her domain as well.
“I think she lends just the right elegance to the library,” she said.
See the ‘Torso'
Wilhelm Lehmbruck's torso - “Torso of a Walking Woman” - will be on display at the Mansfield Library through July 23.
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