Bronze, fonte à la cire perdue – H 96 x 112 x 37 cm

Song of Solomon

Chapter 1

1. The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4. Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5. I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept

The Song of SalomonIntroduction ( gates closed )

The Song of Salomon is a poem of love which is said for to be writen by Salomon, this poem is so beautiful that it became a kind of prototype of the poetry of love. This song of love between the two protagonists is so carnal and so suggestive that we can wonder why it is present in a sacred book.The Song of Salomon is said to have two levels of reading : a profane level of reading and a sacred level of reading.Maïmonide ( XII^th century ), this great commentator of the Bible, wrote about it :« The Song of Salomon is like a golden apple wrapped in silver roots ». That is to say, when we see the  Song of Salomon from the outside, we see the silver roots, love between a man and a woman, which is beautiful and which corresponds to the profane level but if we plunge into its deep understanding, we find gold which corresponds to the sacred level, love between God and Men. This is the whole question of the outside and the inside, the form and the reality.Indeed, there is two levels of reading of the Song of Salomon : the first level, the profane level : love between a man and a woman ; this is the literal level, the level of the forms, of the appearances. The second level of reading : we must transpose this temporal and earthly love in a sacred love which exists between God and Men.The Song of Salomon had been illustrated by the greater artists ( notably Matisse ) and Michel Levy showes to us a very personel interpretation.

Triptych closedYou can notice a column of an Egyptian style on the right of the triptych. This is to remind us of the two columns which were on the fronton of the Salomon’s Temple ( we can find a very well defined  description of the Salomon’s Temple in the Old Testament). This column is of an Egyptian style because Hiram – the architect of the Temple – studied in Egyptian schools. You can notice that there is no second column on the left but a stooping man. By this way, Michel Levy tells to us that the real columns of the Temple is Man himself and can not be a piece of bronze or a piece of marble.We are now entering into the first level of reading of the Song of Salomon, into the level of appearances

The level of the appearances ( opening of the first gates )

We are now into the first level, the profane level, level of the forms and the literal level.

To symbolize this level of the forms, to each sides of the Song of Salomon ( in its innate language ), Michel Levy carved the two hollow protagonists of  the Song of Salomon which have the stifling characteristic of being perceived in relief if  you move backwards a few steps. Michel Levy used this characteristic to underline that- from the symbolic point of view – the first reading of  the Song of Salomon is nothing else than an appearance ; as the relief of the characters is an appearance, the love between this man and this woman described in this poem is a parabole to describe the sacred link between humanity and its creator.We are now entering into the sacred level of the Song of SalomonMichel Levy helped himself with the commentary of Maïmonide whom we spoke before, the golden apple and the silver roots.

The sacred level (openig of the second gates )

 

 

 

I remind you of the commentary of Maïmonide about the Song of Salomon : he compared it to a golden apple wrapped in silver roots : from the outside, we see the silver roots – which are beautiful – which correspond to the profane, literal level and which correspond to love between a man and a woman but if we plunge into the inside, we discover the gold, the sacred level, the love song which exists between God and the Mankind.You can notice a mystic Jerusalem all around the apple.