I spent the last two weeks in Norway and Denmark, meeting clinicians, lecturers, researchers and students, and generally talking about The End of the Physiotherapy. I spent quite a bit of time talking about the ways physiotherapy might transform itself to adapt to the future, and one of the ideas we kept coming back to was the importance of 'leaving' the profession. I wrote a little about this idea in a blog post just before I set out for Scandinavia, and the subject kept recurring during my visit. The biggest issue for many people seemed to be not so much the need to change, as much as how to change: how to find new ways of thinking and practicing physiotherapy that kept the best of … [Read more...] about Art as therapy
The truth of movement in sculpture
An except from Virilio, P. (1994). The Vision Machine. (Trans. Julie Rose). Bloomington, Il; Indiana University Press, pp. 1-2. 'The arts require witnesses,' Marmontel once said. A century later Auguste Rodin asserted that it is the visible world that demands to be revealed by means other than the latent images of the phototype. In the course of his famous conversations with the sculptor, Paul Gsell remarked, apropos Rodin's 'The Age of Bronze' [available to view here] and 'St John the Baptist' [available to view here] , 'I am still left wondering how those great lumps of bronze or stone actually seem to move, how obviously immobile figures appear to act and even to be making pretty … [Read more...] about The truth of movement in sculpture
‘La Masseuse’ by Degas
Originally modelled in plastiline clay in the mid-1890s, this version cast in bronze after 1918. Height 42cm Best known for his impressionist painting, sculpture was for Degas mainly a private activity. He thought of his sculptures like sketches or drawings, as a way of developing a composition. 'La Masseuse' is Degas’ only two-figure sculpture. The masseuse massages the thigh of a naked woman, who holds her buttock in relief or pain. The emphasis of 'La Masseuse' on the effects of physical activity on bare female flesh highlights the artists dedication to depicting human, and in particular female, endeavour. Information courtesy of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (link). … [Read more...] about ‘La Masseuse’ by Degas