by John Gorman

Artwork Description

Nessus and Deianira

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Nessus and Deianira, graphite, 30x30cm What ardour and fervour in this drawing in which the centaur Nessus seizes Dejanira in an impulse comparable to the beautiful Hercules kills Nessus, by Sebastiano Ricci, 1706-1707 (fresco in Palazzo Fenzi-Marucelli, Florence)! But here, the classicism of the Italian master is overtaken by the formal gigantism of the centaur, his monstrously developed and deformed body, untranslatable, as it is now “de rigueur” in the new classicism invented by John Gorman. With his extremely vigorous right arm, he seizes Déjanira’s two arms and drags her along, without her really showing any disagreement. The passivity of Hercules’ wife seems to prelude the grief that will cause her death and that of her husband, after that of the centaur… In this drawing, everything is line, everything is masterfully orchestrated composition, everything is rhythm and everything is music, everything is writing and signs, everything is writing and harsh contrasts, although tenderness is not excluded, by the consent of the woman. It is an erotic scene, of course, but there is nothing phonographic about it, and it is far from the frenzied embraces of centaurs painted by Picasso. Everything here moves away from Picasso, and joins the old masters, their myths, their visions to which they did not dare or could not give form, everything here is speed, velocity, everything here is admirable of finds, sources of infinite discoveries. And in this chiaroscuro of another age, this is indeed our present time, for a work which, added to others recently produced by John Gorman, is destined for posterity. Delphine Costedoat

Artwork Details

Medium: Drawing Other

Genre: Figurative