Culture (2)

At the Graves Gallery in Sheffield today.  I was struck as always by the 17th century Dutch art, scenes of the sea and ships, and of frozen lakes with people skating and playing what appeared to be golf.  But I was struck too by "Kiss", by Marc Quinn.

I had noticed something about it and wondered if my 7 year old had noticed it too.  So I asked him what he noticed about the sculpture.   The people were kissing, he said, and they had nothing on.  Anything else?, I asked.  Yes, he said, the man has only four fingers. 

I had not noticed that.

And, he said, the woman only has one arm.

I had not noticed that either, because I had looked at the sculpture only from one angle.

What I had noticed was that the man's arms were short, but I had not noticed those two things.

The notice nearby points out how many classical sculptures have missing limbs, due to damage or just due to time.   But this sculpture has missing and differently formed limbs, as the models, and others, do.