Adolescent II

George Minne is con sidered one of the major Symbolist sculptors in Belgium around 1900. Since the 1890s Minne had explored the gaunt figure of a boy with a Gothic elongation of the limbs. The standing figure is exemplary of the sculptor’s work and is impressive in the creative power of the line and the emphasis on the contour of the body that stands in tense opposition to the expressive gesture of the raised arms. The exaggeration turns Minne’s youth into a symbol of pain, solitude and grief.