TitleEmpathy
Artist
Marion Roller
(1924 - 2012)
Dateca. 1995
MediumTerracotta
DimensionsOverall: 10 × 10 × 8 in.
Overall (Sculpture): 8 1/4 × 10 × 8 in.
Other (Base): 1 3/4 × 10 × 8 in.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, June 14, 1995
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1995.18
Label TextWorking in bronze and terra cotta, Marion Roller created sculpture that speaks to the human spirit. Born in Boston, Roller initially studied art at the Vesper George School of Art from 1943 to 1945. She continued her studies at the Art Students League, New York, where she learned traditional sculpting techniques based on modeling from the human figure. It was at Greenwich House Pottery in New York, however, an institution founded in 1909 to continue the tradition of pottery, where Roller first worked with terra cotta. There she studied for five years under the direction of figurative sculptor Lu Duble, who inspired Roller to go beyond mere imitation in her work and to strive for genuine originality. In the 1970s she returned to school and received her BA from Queens College in 1974. For the remaining part of the decade she taught in the sculpture department at the Fashion Institute of Technology and also at the Sculpture Center. She later headed the Design Department of the Traphagen School of Fashion, New York, where she was responsible for establishing the sculpture curriculum.Roller has not limited by scale and has created both diminutive and monumental works. While she has a prolific medallic sculptor, she is perhaps best known for her large public commissions. These include a number of figurative projects for the Nassau Center for Emotionally Disturbed Children and St. Mary's Children and Family Services, Syosset, New York, among others. Roller has participated in exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in Europe and has also worked as a writer and reviewer for Sculpture Review magazine. She exhibited regularly in the Academy's Annuals since 1977 and in 2000 she was commissioned to create the National Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award medal.
Empathy is composed of two black terra cotta geometric forms that rest on a small white plinth base. After witnessing the tender embrace of a couple, the artist was inspired to create the piece as a work of two representational heads. Over time, she repeatedly simplified the forms until they became abstract geometric elements. While Empathy is devoid of overt representation, it has strong corporeal associations that recall an intimate physical and psychological connection between two people. It is intended to serve as a visual metaphor for an emotion and not a literal representation. Roller has stated that "For me sculpture is the embodiment of an idea, a thought that I hope to communicate to the viewer. I want it to be a metaphor, something more that just the physical sculpture itself."
MNP
