Papa Wojtyla as Capeman
ROME — The Statue of Pope John Paul II in front of the train station in Rome does not represent the man we came to know so intimately. It is an unrecognizable man with a cape, it is monumental kitsch art. I will explain why. Pope John Paul II was seen and recognized by more
people than any other person in history. For a sculpture of him to not bear his likeness is bizarrelike a bad joke.I did not read the article right away with the headline, “Sculpture of Pope John Paul II Slammed”, because I thought it was just about another blasphemous piece in a museum like the one of the pope crushed by a meteorite. At least I do not have to go to that particular museum to be insulted by it but I will go by the train station many times and will be forced to see Man with Cape.Maybe the pope as a pin head with the gesture of a flasher was not meant to be blasphemous, but most viewers agree it is ugly. When I say this I do not want to be disrespectful to the pope. It is just that images and gestures do have meanings independent of intentions. If we are not cognizant of what they are, we can be duped.
The Associated Press article of a month ago told of the dislike of the Vatican for the statue because it did not resemble the pope and how many citizens said it looked more like Mussolini.Let us analyze what the sculptor tried to do. The best that one can say about the work is that it bears a superficial resemblance to Early Modern Italian sculpture and for example, the work of Giocomo Manzu known for his Doors of Death across the river at Saint Peters Basilica. Manzu successfully abstracted figures but he retained their humanity and he could draw. Because he could draw, his figures have truth and his portraits of Pope John XXIII are recognizable and give us the man. Manzu and his colleagues of the time, like Marino Marrini and others, were so excited to wield form in a free way and reveal properties of the material, the flow of clay, and the reflective sheen of bronze. But they retained the classical discipline of drawing.