Walter Erlebacher, Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty

This work is from the series titled A Mythic History. Erlebacher revisits Sleeping Beauty, showing us the sleeping princess in need of a magical kiss from her prince. Traditionally, she represents the earth in hibernation, awakened in the spring. Erlebacher’s career became a continuous quest to render human anatomy in sculpture. Beauty’s soft muscles are shaped by gravity and the hard slab on which she sleeps, and the prince’s body could be used in an anatomy demonstration. The scientific bent of the artist’s approach suggests that despite close attention to biology, the mysteries of the heart remain enigmatic.