AKA “The Tart with the Cart”
Perhaps you’ve never been in the presence of a truly artistic bronze. Rodin’s bronze’s are both impressionistic ad realistic and hit you hard if you are standing in front of them. Below is an image of The Burghers of Calais. I’ve never seen the one in Calais, but I have seen one of the original castings in Copenhagen.
Well, you’re certainly right about that. I did google “The Burghers of Calais” and, although the work is impressive, bronze still isn’t my cup of tea. I find it very cold. That’s just me, though, and certainly not a reflection on the art itself.
Well, no one wants a cold burgher….
AH!! Clever! 
Has anyone considered that the crappy quality may be due to municipal authorities wanting the job done as quickly and cheaply as possible? Just a suggestion; I don’t actually know how these things work.
There’s a statue of Woody Allen in Oviedo, in northern Spain. Here’s a Pinterest link. I’m seeing images of other statues, as well (YMMV).
Hey, there’s a Wikipedia entry:
I agree! The Rodin Museum here in Philly is one of my favorites.
I think my favorite might be the Three Shades. He was a true artistic genius, and his bronze sculptures were sublime.
Hideous!
At 6.5 metres tall I would come up to her knee-caps.
I don’t know that the first sculpture is Alexander. I think it’s one of the Roman emperors. Augustus maybe?
Anyone out there know who it is?
It’s Augustus. The second one is Julius Caesar.
Thank you!
I knew the second one was Julius.
Resurrecting this thread to add the new statue of Lemmy out of Motorhead in his home town of Stoke-on-Trent. This one looks really good, and catches him in his very characteristic high mike stance.
Its by sculptor Andy Edwards, best known for the Beatles sculpture on the waterfront at Liverpool, which has to be one of the most joyous works of art on Earth.
One of my favorite modern bronze statues is a 2009 statue of Meir Dizengoff (1861-1936), founder and first mayor of Tel Aviv. It’s an equestrian statue that doesn’t try to be heroic - it just shows a pudgy guy on a horse, which is what he was. It succeeds, I think, because it takes the impressionistic route of trying to capture the spirit of a person without trying to be too realistic:
The pudgy guy I get, but why a horse?
As Man on a Horse statues go, this is the least heroic one I’ve ever seen. There’s no doubt a reason for that - perhaps Tel Aviv’s first mayor was a stodgy bureaucrat but was liked for that reason. Even so, the horse - Is that the horse he rode in on?
Challenge accepted
Good King Wenceslaus
Dizengoff had a beloved Arabian horse he used to ride around the young city, meeting with citizens and reviewing public works. He wasn’t so much a “charge into battle” type of horseman, more a “saunter down the street tipping his hat at people” type. He was what you’d call a “character” (and also a master at self-promotion), and people generally loved him for his quirks.
I understand that type of rider, but an Arabian horse was wasted on him. You have to let it fly on an open field or a beach.
I’m with the OP. Most bronze statues are creepy looking.
The “Bronze Fonz” we have here in Milwaukee looks like something in Terminator 2.
His in
From what I understand, it was given to him by a Bedouin chieftain and was notoriously slow for an Arabian.