Paganini

Description

Author: Itkind, Isaac. 1871-1969
A sculpted male portrait of expressive treatment, executed in wood carving. The face is rendered in close-up with grotesquely exaggerated features: a high forehead, large open eyes set in deep sockets, a long aquiline nose, and a parted mouth, flanked by long cascading strands of hair and crowned with a small round skullcap. Asymmetry, sharp wrinkles, and tense facial expressions form a generalized image of creative ecstasy, conveying the musician’s inner intensity and drama. The natural texture of the elm wood (karagach), complete with its cracks, fibers, and growth rings, is intentionally accentuated rather than concealed: the folds of clothing and strands of hair seem to emerge directly from the wood grain, evoking sound waves.