http://beardedroman.com/?p=209
Look at the textures! ( the beard, the cloth…).
Donato Barcaglia (Italian, 1849-1930) La Giovanezza che Tenta di Arrestare il Tempo
( Beauty Holding Back Time ).The sculptor was only 27 years old.
For spectacular enlargement, have a look at http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159472447.
No less expressive in its stark focalisation on essential meaning, this work of Brancusi: ‘Muse’1912.
From the page: “Brancusi’s marble Muse is a subtle monument to the aesthetic act and to the myth that woman is its inspiration. The finely chiseled and smoothly honed head is poised atop a sinuous neck, the curve of which is counterbalanced by a fragmentary arm pressed against the ear. The facial features, although barely articulated, embody the proportions of classical beauty”.
Brancusi’s style brings cycladic heads to my mind.
A third style, that touches me very much in its calculated rawness is Elisabeth Lenoir’s.