Relief Sculpture
What is Relief?
• Relief Sculpture: A type of sculpture in which
form projects from the background.
– 3 degrees (types) of relief:
• High: the form stands far out from the background
• Low (also called bas-relief): the form stands out a little
from the background
• Sunken: the relief is carved into the surface, and the
highest area of form is level with the original surface.
What degree of relief?
Low or Bas-Relief: the figure does not stick
out very far from the surface.
Assyria, Stone Relief, alabaster, 130 x 73 cm,
Near-Eastern Museum, Berlin.
What degree of relief?
High Relief: a variety of different
‘levels’ above the surface. The From
is very well defined above the
‘background’.
Greece, Grave stele of a little girl
with doves, c. 450-440 BCE, Parian
marble relief, height 31 1/2 inches
(80 cm), Metropolitan Museum of
Art, NY
What degree of relief?
Sunken Relief: The bodies of
the women are outlined with
an incised line, and their body
details are carved away.
Sunken-relief depiction of
Pharaoh Ankhenaten with his
wife Nefertiti and daughters.
Note how strong shadows are
needed to define the image.
.
What will we be doing?
• Each person will design a tile using high relief.
• The tile will be based on a word (more on that
later).
• In groups of 2 and 3, students will decide which
tile to build.
• After building the tile, a mold will be made of the
tile.
• Students will make 3 reproductions: one for the
class, one for him/her self and one for the coartist.
Collaboration:
• The act of working
together;
• united labor.
WPA Artists:
Magnus Fossum, a WPA artist, copying the 1770 coverlet "Boston Town
Pattern" for the Index of American Design.
Coral Gables, Florida, February 1940 National Archives, Records of
the Work Projects Administration
(69-N-22577)
WPA Posters to Motivate:
• http://www.creativepro.com/article/heavymetal-madness-the-art-of-labor-day-or-is-itleisure-day-
• http://www.justseeds.org/blog/books_zines/
WP…What?
• Tiles will be designed based on the work of
WPA artists….
• Using simple shapes and relief sculpture,
students will design a tile with a ‘message’.
Charles Demuth not a WPA artist
Robert Indiana