Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

Left to herself, Alexandra, awed, walked around the two giants. Along the wall stood three smaller pieces, a bronze bustof a young man with a bushy mustache and a funny-shaped nose, and two clay models of a very young woman withunusual large eyes in a round face. It said Paula on the plinth. Everything was covered with marble dust.Clara had changed into a short-sleeved shirt hanging loose over a pair of work pants. The muscles of her bare armsshocked Alexandra, they would have suited a prize fighter. Her hands looked even larger than she remembered.Clara noticed Alexandra’s look and for the first time laughed aloud. "The muscle woman from the circus show!" Sheflexed her biceps. "This comes from swinging the mallet for days chipping away at the marble. I will show you."Clara had brought Ruth’s dolls and some toys. "Would you like some coffee? Later we will have a simple lunch. It willtake just a few minutes." Clara carried a simple wooden bench outside and a small table. They sat next to each other anddrank coffee from blue earthenware pots and watched the children. Alexandra lost all her apprehension in this serene,rustic setting, the handmade coffee mugs, the fluid, completely unselfconscious movements of Clara, the simple benchon which they sat next to each other.She asked. "It must be a privilege to work for Rodin.""Rodin has a flock of young women who do the dirty work in his atelier: making models for bronze castings, cleaning thecasts afterwards, and the like. His favorites are allowed to do the rough work on the precious marble blocks which hethen finishes himself."Clara waved her hand at her two blocks. "It’s hard work. His girls don’t last long. Sooner or later he tries to take them tobed. I resisted his advances, maybe I was too strong for him." She laughed easily. "I really don’t know why, but I wasreadmitted twice to his workshop and spent last winter in Paris. Now I have decided to try to work on my own, thiscommission was a godsend."The children were playing father and mother with Ruth’s dolls."Let me show you how it is done. It might help you to appreciate the beauty of this material and the sculptor’s work."She left the doors open and gave Alexandra a smock to cover her dress, a cap, and a scarf to tie over her mouth andnose. Clara, in addition put on mittens.Alexandra looked at them and laughed. "This reminds me of the delivery room in a hospital. Attending to the creation ofnew life!"Clara took a big wooden mallet and a chisel. She began to rhythmically swing the mallet with powerful blows to thechisel. Pieces of marble flew all around her like bullets. Very slowly, after dozens of strokes, the rough contour of theshoulder of the man emerged from the stone.The sheer power of this woman! Alexandra’s arm hurt just from watching. After half an hour Clara put the mallet aside,shook the dust from her shirt and pants and smiled at her perplexed friend. "Now comes the fine work. Using a smallermallet and a finishing tool I will work out the details and finally spend hours polishing the surface wherever required."Despite the scarf, Alexandra could taste the marble dust. "I am impressed by your power and endurance. It must takeweeks to finish one of these sculptures."Clara nodded. "Three months on a sculpture of this size, if you are lucky and the block is uniform and does not break.One wrong blow and the piece could be ruined. In every marble shop you find spoiled blocks hidden away, and a goodblock is expensive. You see why Rodin, who produces a dozen such pieces a year, keeps himself an army of slaves, andwhy they have such a high turnover. In the beginning you get muscle-bound after a few days.""Would you show me the sketches from which you work?" asked Alexandra.Clara brought her sketches and the layout plans for the two figures and spread them on the table on the terrace. "Themost important time is in the very beginning, sizing up the stone, looking for faults in the material and laying out a plan ofhow to attack the raw block. The first blows are very exciting, and often we have to alter the original sketches to suit theblock. To the very end it is a fight, a happening full of suspense. I do carry the vision of the final piece in my mind like aprecious icon."The children were having a marriage quarrel. "I don’t like fathers!" cried Ruth. Otto stamped his foot. "But I don’t want toplay mother, I am a boy."Clara sighed deeply. "The loss of her father is very hard on her. Did you see the bronze bust? This is he. He has becomefamous and is admired by many women, but he is incapable of supporting a family. We separated amicably and are notdivorced, at the moment he lives in Paris. Occasionally, he visits us which always leaves me in a deep depression forweeks. I am afraid I still love him too much. Whacking away at this beautiful but recalcitrant stone is my therapy."119