Přetvořit tělo dotekem. Mim Étienne Decroux jako Pygmalion

Étienne Decroux (1898–1991), creator of the corporeal mime, turned to sculpture to explain the essence of this art of movement. For him, sculpture represented an art that transforms material through touch. He conceived his art in this way when he identified himself with the figure of the mythical sculptor Pygmalion, in reference to the eponymous work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (18th century). He portrayed this role in the mime The Statue (1961), but even his creative work resembled the methods of the sculptor who transformed the bodies of his pupils by touch, making them into “statues”. Étienne Decroux’s comparison to Pygmalion also applied to his pedagogical activity, in which he emphasized touch as a source of sensory knowledge in line with the Enlightenment philosophy of Étienne Bonnot de Condillac. Pupils became “statues” whose bodies were transformed into works of art through rigorous training.