Adam and Eve beneath the Tree of Knowledge 1941

Here's Svend Rathsack's sculpture, "Adam and Eve beneath the Tree of Knowledge" made from bronze. You can see where the artist has really worked the material, coaxing these figures out of the bronze, and the figures almost seem to emerge organically from the material, like a slow, geological process. The figures are caught in a moment of decision, a pivotal point. I wonder what Rathsack was thinking about as he worked the bronze, the pressure of his hands on the yielding material. The folds and striations in the forms echo the emotional tension of the scene, with Adam and Eve caught in a dance of temptation. It brings to mind other sculptures that play with similar themes, from Rodin to Michelangelo. I think all artists are connected, participating in a long conversation, echoing and answering one another across time. What do you think Rathsack might have been trying to tell us? Or perhaps, what questions was he asking? Sculpture, like painting, is a language of feeling, of embodied thought. It's about possibilities, not pronouncements.