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RICHARD L. MINNS
ACHILLES’ FINAL MOMENTS
CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY: Handsome, with Greek God-like beauty, and a graceful, powerful, muscular body reflecting the epitome of physical excellence, he was born and trained with every fighting skill to be the ultimate Warrior. Virtually unbeatable, he was undisputedly the strongest, fastest, fiercest, bravest warrior in all of Greece. The son of the River Goddess Thetis, and King Peleus, a mortal, ACHILLES was only half-God and therefore was not immortal and would grow old and eventually die like all mortals. ACHILLES could be wounded in battle, as he was many times, but the wounds would not be fatal and would soon heal so he could fight again and again. His only mortally vulnerable place (from which his soul would leave his body) was his left heel since this is where his River Goddess Mother held him when she dipped her infant son in the magic waters of the River Styx to make him invulnerable. The fatal arrow from Paris’ bow (guided by the God Apollo) has just gone through ACHILLES’ heel. ACHILLES, in battle, knows the prophesy and that his time is up. The Illiad states that during ACHILLES’ last dying moments he managed to kill 100 Trojans before his valiant life left him. The ultimate warrior until his last breath.
DESCRIPTION OF SCULPTURE: Richard Minns has created a “Masterpiece”. Colleagues, curators and critics alike all feel that ACHILLES is Richard’s best work, and at the age of 81 he has achieved a new level of excellence. Richard understands the possibilities of the male and female nude and the wonderful spectacle of muscles in movement. Every inch of ACHILLES, from the horsehair on the top of his helmet to the bottom of his toes, conveys the total spectrum of human emotion. In Richard’s own sculptural language, it is: realistic and physical, with anatomical perfection, highly charged with emotion and movement, conveying sexuality in the way of Michelangelo, Bernini, Rodin and Bourdelle. ACHILLES represents the supreme Alpha male: Powerful, strong, unconquerable, indomitable, invincible, proud, arrogant, confident. The ultimate warrior, unstoppable, unbeaten and unbeatable. Invulnerable, except for his left heel where his mother, Thetis, held him as an infant when she dipped him in the magic waters of the River Styx to make him invulnerable. ACHILLES knows the prophesy that he would eventually meet his death if he entered the siege against TROY. He chose glory and everlasting fame over death and entered the battle. ACHILLES is in battle when the fatal arrow has struck. Pain surges through his magnificent body. He KNOWS that this is the end. He wills himself to carry on, to do what he was born and trained to do. To fight on until his last breath is gone. Richard paints the entire scene with Pathos, just as it was portrayed in the Masterpiece LAOCÖON, as the physically perfect Trojan Priest and his two sons struggle futilely against the snakes that will crush them to death. Note the similarity of the expression in LAOCÖON’S face and that of ACHILLES. The similar position of their heads, their eyes, their bodies. Every inch reflecting pathos. As with all Richard’s creations, ACHILLES is a 3-dimensional sculpture and must be viewed with 360º careful scrutiny. If you walk by an important sculpture in a museum, in front of a building, in a City plaza, or in a park, you are passing something that can open your eyes and mind to a new world. If you give it only a quick glance, you will surely miss the experience. But if you stop, look carefully, walk around the sculpture, and watch it change as you see it from different angles, you will be able to make some astonishing discoveries. This is how it is with Richard Minns’ creations – especially ACHILLES: they must be carefully observed, viewed from every angle, first from a distance and then up close. Finally they must be touched because physical contact produces a powerful response to Richard’s work. Richard states: “We are used to thinking of each person we know well as having a distinct individual appearance that is always recognizable and relatively unchanging. Yet in the intimate caress of love, for example, as we explore the body of our beloved, we discover curves, hollows, ridges, muscles, bones, rippling shadows, striking highlights – looking fresh and new and more beautiful than ever, as if we had never seen them before.” Richard invites you to touch his sculptures. Especially, ACHILLES. To feel the qualities of the work. “The art of making sculpture, especially the male and female nude, is a sensual form of creativity. It grows primarily out of the emotional relationship we have to the human figure – our own to begin with, and more importantly those of others who arouse in us the passions associated with physical love. When we touch what sculptors have created, we get the feeling that we are experiencing the same intense emotion felt by the artists when creating their works. Our hands repeat the experiences they had, and we become lovers of form just as they were”, he continues. Richard wants the owners of his original sculptures to enjoy a special kind of visual and physical interaction with his sculpture. Essential to the appreciation of Richard’s sculpture is light. And this is where an artistic partnership is formed between the sculpture and its owner. Whether the light is coming from the left or the right, the top or the bottom, makes a crucial difference in the appearance of the forms. A strong light, for example, may reveal the bulges of a figure that represent muscle and bone and give strength to the work, or the texture of hand and tool marks that show the artist’s personal touch. So, by controlling the light, owners of the sculpture become artists in their own home, creating for themselves the dramatic effect that satisfies their individual taste. The nude figure has clearly been a dominant theme during all key periods of artistic achievement. Like the Old Masters, Richard is moved to probe the three-dimensional world for the forms that satisfy his creative urges. Richard is emotionally involved in the nakedness of the figures he represents and he strives to bring into being the ideas that excite his passions. Richard pours his energy, passion and his very soul into his sculptures until he falls in love with them, like Pygmalion, the mythical Greek artist who fell in love with his sculpture of Venus. To Pygmalion’s great joy, the gods brought his sculpture to life, and she became a real woman, Galatea, with whom he could fulfil his love. Like the Old Masters, Richard strives to create a work of art that will immortalize his vision of beauty.
ARTIST’S INTERPRETATION: “ACHILLES was the epitome of the invincible, unconquerable, ultimate warrior. He was the warrior Hero motivating all great Greek warriors, military leaders and conquerors, including the greatest of all, Alexander the Great, who lived his life in the shadow of his role model, ACHILLES, and who conquered over half the world.” “In his years of triumph, which was essentially the 10-year Siege of Troy, ACHILLES was the strongest, fastest, fiercest, bravest warrior in all of Greece. The ultimate fighting machine. As Odysseus (Roman: Ulysses) stated: “ACHILLES was born to end lives!” “What a wonderful challenge to an anatomical sculptor. Like the Ancient Greeks, Romans and the Old Masters, I, too, worship the human body.” “What a thrill to create my interpretation of this incredibly perfectly developed specimen of pure physical excellence.” “Now that I am 81, I evoke my right to “dream”. If I were commissioned to create a sculpture of the DYING ACHILLES for the facade of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence Italy, one of my favourite haunts, in the company of “Hercules and Cacus”, “Perseus”, “David and Judith”, this is how I would model it.” “My first goal was to create a perfectly developed physical specimen, with every muscle, ligament and tendon developed to its greatest potential to achieve athletic perfection. To create the ultimate human fighting machine ... in action, in the heat of battle. His powerful muscles straining, charged with emotion and movement, conveying both power and sexuality.” “My second goal was to cover the scene with Pathos. To instil in ACHILLES’ perfect face and body, now suddenly mortally wounded, the pain and self-realization of his imminent death. My ACHILLES is springing forward in Battle, all his weight on the ball of his right foot with his toes glued to the ground. His left leg is in the air behind him, when suddenly the fatal arrow from Paris’ bow has just gone through his left heel. Pain soars through his body. His left toes curl from the agony in his throbbing left foot. ACHILLES knows the prophesy. He KNOWS that he has only moments left to live. He has no fear of death. He accepts that death is inevitable. His only thought is to kill as many Trojans as he can before he dies so his bravery, victories and name will be remembered.” “His mouth is open, shouting his pain as well as his famous battle cry, head bent to his shoulder, eyes looking upward, his face the perfect picture of pathos.” “I was very much influenced by the sculpture of the tragedy of LAOCÖON and his two sons, as they futilely battle the two snakes who will soon crush them to death. ACHILLES is, indeed, a Greek Triumph and a Greek Tragedy.”
“ACHILLES’
SHIELD”:
“ACHILLES’
HELMET”: “This is a very anatomical three-dimensional sculpture and would be best displayed in the center of the room where the viewer can walk around it, view it from a distance from every side and angle and then slowly walk to it, touch it, feel it. Since this is not always possible, depending on space restraints, I have mounted the sculpture on a circular Bronze base with a turntable inside which allows the viewer to easily turn it and view it from every angle.”
“ARTIST’S
COMMENT AND POSITION ON NUDITY”: “Total nudity has seldom been criticised in depictions of the nude woman, but some religious and social convictions feel it is in better “taste” to cover the genitals of the nude male. This is a matter of individual opinion, of which there are many. But the Old Masters’ position on Nudity (and mine as well) is as follows, and it is incontrovertible by any artistic standard: “A representation of the male naked body was considered by sculptors an opportunity to represent the perfect male figure. Not to include the genitals in such a creation (whether it was the Greek gods as well as King David and Jesus Christ) would be leaving out an essential element of his manhood. The scruples of more conservative authorities would mask the creation, but the intent of the sculptor in such instances was crystal clear. “Covering genitals in sculpture has a long history. Michelangelo was furious when Pope Paul II decided that Christ’s genitals in the ‘Last Judgement” had to be painted over. Michelangelo refused to do so, and his renown was so strong that he could personally stand up to the Pope. Accordingly, the Pope commissioned one of Michelangelo’s students for the task.” “When we are in the presence of a sculpture of a naked figure of a male or a female by a Master, we see an ennoblement of the earthly human being. We may see beings of our own sex or of the opposite sex without feeling that the representations are erotic, but the sculptures touch us deeply as evocations of our deepest physical emotions.” “I am willing to add a loincloth to cover my males if the loincloth in itself becomes an integral part of the sculpture and will not detract from the sculpture. This has been accomplished with my David. I will not, however, allow a fig leaf to be placed on any of my nude sculptures.
ACHILLES’ NUDITY IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE SCULPTURE If you put ACHILLES and LAOCÖON side-by-side and draw a line through the middle of both sculptures, you will see that the curve of their bodies is identical, creating a perfect bow. Specifically, if you draw a line through the middle of ACHILLES, starting from the front ridge on the top of his helmet, down the center of his nose, down the center of his chest and the center of his abdominal muscles and then the center of his penis, you will have a perfect bow. ACHILLES’ penis completes the end of the perfect bow, leading the focus to his left leg and the fatal arrow.”
ARTIST’S FINAL WORDS: “I truly believe that ACHILLES is my best work. The best showcase for my talents.” “I hope that you enjoy displaying and watching my ACHILLES half as much as I enjoyed creating him.” Richard L. Minns
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