Sculpture
A sculptor is a person obsessed with the
form and shape of things, and it’s not
just the shape of one thing, but the
shape of anything and everything: the
hard, tense strength, although delicate
form of a bone; the strong, solid
fleshiness of a beech tree trunk.
–Henry Moore
Introduction
• What is sculpture?
• Why is sculpture important to us?
• Why does sculpture create an emotion
in humans?
• Why have we felt the need to create
sculptures and monumental sculptures
throughout our history?
Introduction
• Sculpture can be made from many materials: for example, glass,
wax, ice, plastic, and fiber
• The materials of modern sculpture can include neon lights and
even animals
• Sculptures exist in three dimensions and occupy physical space
in our world
• They invite us to interact with them: by looking at
them, by walking round them, or by entering them
and being immersed in an environment created by the sculptor,
including sights, sounds, textures, and other sensory
experiences
Sculpture
Sculpture - The art of carving, casting,
modeling, or assembling materials into
three-dimensional figures or forms
Approaches to Three
Dimensions in Sculpture
• Sculpture made to be seen from many sides is known as
freestanding, or sculpture in the round
– Many freestanding sculptures are made so that we can
move around them
• Relief is a type of sculpture specifically designed for viewing
from one side
– The image in a relief either protrudes from or is sunk into a
surface
– It can have very little depth (bas-relief) or a great deal (high
relief)
Freestanding Sculpture
• An approach to sculpture that invites us
to examine a work on all sides is known
as freestanding, or sculpture in the
round
• Some freestanding sculpture is not
intended to be experienced from every
point of view
2.143a, 2.143b Giambologna,
Rape of a Sabine, 1583.
Marble, 13’6” high. Loggia
dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria,
Florence, Italy
Bas-Relief and High Relief
• In bas-relief the sculptor’s marks are
shallow
• When a sculptor chooses to incise the
surface more deeply, he or she is
working in high relief
2.144 Dying Lioness, limestone relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh, Assyrian period, c. 650 BCE. British Museum,
London, England
2.145 Susan Durant, Memorial to King Leopold of the Belgians, 1867, in Christ Church, Esher, England
Methods of Sculpture
• Sculptural methods are either
subtractive or additive
– In the subtractive processes, a sculptor
uses a tool to carve, drill, chisel, chip,
whittle, or saw away unwanted material
– In the additive processes of modeling,
casting, or constructing, sculptors add
material to make the final artwork
Subtractive and Additive Types
of Sculpture
Subtractive Process - Carving, unwanted
materials are removed.
Additive Process - Modeling, Casting,
Construction
Carving
• Carving - removing portions of a block
of material to create a form.
• Can use stone, wood, ivory, chocolate…
Figure 9.2, p.179 MICHELANGELO. The Cross-Legged Captive (c. 1530–1534). Marble. H: 7’6 1⁄2”.
Modeling
Modeling - using a pliable material, such
as clay or wax, the artist shapes the
material into a 3D form.
• Can be done by hand or tools.
Casting
Casting - liquid metal material is poured
into a mold to create a form.
Mold - the form into which the material
is poured and imparts its shape.
• Any material that hardens can be used
for casting.
• One of the oldest and most common is
Bronze.
Figure 9.3, p.179: LOUISE BOURGEOIS. Portrait of Robert (1969). Cast bronze with white patina.
13” x 12 1⁄2” x 10”.
The Lost-Wax Technique
Lost-Wax Technique
1.
The artist creates a form, and from this form a mold is
created by covering the shape, usually in plaster or resin.
2.
The inside of the mold is then filled or covered with wax.
3.
The wax is removed and covered in a sandy mixture of silica,
clay and plaster to create a investiture.
•
Investiture - a fire resistant mold into which the liquid
metal will be poured.
4.
The wax is heated and poured out of the now sold
investiture and replaced with the liquid metal.
5.
The finished metal sculpture is removed from the
investiture, and burnished.
•
Burnished - treated chemically to take on a texture and color.
Figure 9.6, p.181: SHERRIE LEVINE. Fountains after Duchamp (1991). Bronze. Installation view at Sherrie
Levine Exhibition in the Zürich Kunsthalle (2.11.1991–3.1.1992), Zürich, Switzerland.
Figure 9.7, p.181: GEORGE SEGAL. Three Figures and Four Benches (1979). Painted bronze. 52” x 144” x 58”.
Construction
Constructed sculpture - forms are built
from materials such as wood, paper,
string, sheet metal, and wire.
Types of Materials
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•
•
•
Stone
Wood
Clay
Metal
Stone
• Stone is extremely hard
• It is also very durable
• Appropriate for monuments and
statues
• Stone tools include the chisel, mallet,
and rasp.
• Artists also use contemporary power
tools
Figure 9.8, p.182: LOUISE BOURGEOIS. Eyes (1982). Marble. 74 3⁄4” x 54” x 45 3⁄4”.
Wood
• Wood can be carved, scraped, drilled,
polished, molded and bent.
• Different types of woods vary in how hard
they are.
• Wood appeals to sculpture artists, because
of its grain, color, and workability.
• Wood is easier to carve than stone.
• Tensile strength - the inherent strength of a
material.
Figure 9.10, p.184: PO SHUN LEONG. Figure (1993). Mahogany with hidden drawers. H: 50”.
Clay
• Clay is more pliable than stone or
wood
– Clay is not very strong.
– Nor is is permanent.
• Armature - an inner skeleton normally
made of metal, used to help give clay
additional strength.
Metal
• Metals can be cast, extruded, forged,
stamped, drilled, filed, and burnished.
• Cast bronze sculptures
• Direct-metal sculptures - Assembling
sculpture by welding, riveting, and
soldering.
• Patinas - the colors created on bronze
due to oxidation.
Figure 9.12, p.185: RICHARD SERRA. Installation view, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain.
Modern and Contemporary
Materials and Methods
Throughout history sculptors have searched
for new forms of expression.
• Constructed sculpture
• Assemblage
• Readymades
• Mixed media
• Kinetic sculpture
• Light sculpture
• Land art
Constructed sculpture
• The artist “builds” the sculpture
• Materials could include, sheet metal,
cardboard, celluloid, or wire
• Some artworks are lighter than those
from stone or wood
• Unorthodox materials can also be used
Constructed sculpture
Figure 9.13, p. 186 PABLO PICASSO. Mandolin and Clarinet (1913). Wood construction and paint.
Figure 9.14, p.186: CLAES OLDENBURG. Soft Toilet (1966). Vinyl filled with kapok painted with Liquitex,
and wood. 57 1⁄16” x 27 5⁄8” x 28 1⁄16”.
Assemblage
• A form of constructed sculpture
• Pre-existing or found objects take on a
new form as artwork
• Novel combinations that take on a new
life and meaning
• One of the best-known examples is
Picasso’s Bull’s Head
Readymades
• Found objects can be elevated to
works of art on pedestals, such as
Duchamp’s urinal, turned upside down.
• This is a 20th-century artistic trend
• No assembly is needed for this artform
Mixed Media
Mixed Media - Use materials and found
objects that are not normally elements
of a work of art.
• Artists, such as Rauschenberg (see
Ch. 20), may attach other materials to
their canvases.
• What might be some the materials you
could use in a Mixed Media sculpture?
Kinetic Sculpture
Kinetic sculpture - Sculptures that move, art +
action. Example: the mobile.
Forms of movement might include:
• Wind
• Magnetic fields
• Jets of water
• Electric motors
• The intensity of light
• Human manipulations
Light Sculpture
• Light and its reflections have always
been an important elements in
sculpture (and art!)
• However, “light sculpture” is a
20th-century artform
• What are the physical and
psychological effects of color and the
creation of illusion?
Figure 9.22, p.191: JANINE ANTONI. Chocolate Gnaw (1992). Chocolate (600 lb before biting), gnawed by the
artist. 24” x 24” x 24” (61 cm x 61 cm x 61 cm).
Other Materials
Sculpture today uses not only traditional
materials, but also materials that have
never been used before.
Example: beeswax, microcrystalline wax,
chocolate, styrofoam, etc…
What to Study
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The definition of additive and subtractive sculptural methods, and know what techniques
fit into which
The two main categories of sculpture, and the 2 sub categories of relief (freestanding, high
relief, and bas relief)
What tensile strength means, and why wood has more than stone
Know that clay is weak and that is often used for studies because of this
Definition of direct metal sculpture
Marcel Duchamp’s view on the function of the readymade
Definition of kinetic art, and that mobile is an example of it
What the piece “Gnaw” was made out of, and how it was made