Relief Sculpture
Prepared for Art 1
By Mrs. M. McDyre
To enhance part 1 of the paper
sculpture relief projects
A relief is a sculpted art work in which figures are either carved into a level plane, or the
plane is removed to create images sculpted on its surface without completely
disconnecting them from the plane, or pieces of the same material are created and
assembled on top of a level plane. It is not free-standing or in the round, but usually has
a background from which the main elements of the composition rise.
There are three basic forms of relief sculpture:
bas-relief (low-relief), in which the sculpture is raised only slightly from the
background surface
alto-relievo (high-relief), in which part of the sculpture is rendered in
three dimensions
intaglio (sunken-relief), in which the image is carved into the surface
material.
•Relief sculpture has a notable history dating back over 20,000 years in both eastern and
western cultures.
•They are often found on the walls of monumental buildings. Several panels or sections
of relief together may represent a sequence of scenes.
•Generally, relief figures and backgrounds are sculpted from the same material, but
there are a few exceptions in Greek art and in the decorative work of the Chinese and
Japanese, and others who used inlaid ivory , gold and cloisonne’ techniques to form
reliefs.
bas-relief (low-relief), in which the sculpture is raised only slightly from the background
surface
Modern Day and Ancient
Coins are low relief
Low Relief sculpture of
Saint phylactery
At the Louvre
12 Century
Santa Sabina Abduction
Of Habakkuk
(doors of Santa Sabina in Rome)
Early 5th Century
alto-relievo (high-relief), in which part of the sculpture is rendered in three dimensions (a
form that extends at least halfway out of the background)
This sculpture combines free-standing elements
along with high and low relief
Michelangelo Buonarroti
(Italian, 1475-1564),
The Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs (Centauromachia)
1491-92, marble
33 1/4 x 35 5/8 inches
Casa Buonarroti, Florence
Renaissance
Robert Gould Shaw Memorial
by Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
1897, Boston
intaglio (sunken-relief), in which the image is carved into the surface material.
Sunken relief is historically found in the art of Ancient Egypt where it is very
common. Many forms of printmaking use the intaglio method to create their
prints.
Luxor Temple of Thebes in Egypt
5000 BC to 300 AD
As depicgted in a shrine, Pharaoh Ankhenaten
with Nefertiti and their daughters 1300’s BC
Jeff Nishinaka
Jeff Nishinaka is a modern day paper relief sculptor. Click on the following links, in
order, to see some of his amazing art, and the process in which he creates it.
1
http://freshperspectives.msn.com/theme/challenge/artist/jeffreynishinaka1/videos/51
2
http://freshperspectives.msn.com/theme/challenge/artist/jeffreynishinaka1/videos/52
3
http://freshperspectives.msn.com/theme/challenge/artist/jeffreynishinaka1/videos/54
4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhDuMUrPRxk&feature=player_detailpage
5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDz55tgvnrs&feature=player_detailpage
6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDdI1aNMBto&feature=player_detailpae
7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDdI1aNMBto&feature=player_detailpage
8
http://design-milk.com/fresh-perspectives-jeff-nishinaka/
Jeff Nishinaka- An article by Geoff Carter
To many artists, a blank sheet of paper represents a beginning, but to Jeffrey Nishinaka, it’s a means to an end. This inventive Los Angeles-based talent
takes sheets of artist-grade paper, then cuts, folds and shapes them into multidimensional paper sculptures whose properties defy easy description,
unless you drop the word “magic” in there somewhere.
“The way that things are in the foreground, middle ground and off in the distance … I see the world that way,” Nishinaka says. “I try to see things through
my mind’s eye. If I look down this street to the intersection of another street, I can see the perspective — and I think, ‘That might make a really interesting
sculpture.’”
“Interesting” doesn’t quite capture it. Think of a 3-D movie, with its overlapping planes and receding horizon, then remove all the color, leaving only
texture and shadow. Through Nishinaka’s eye, the whole of our world is transformed into the shapes we once saw in clouds when we were young. This
cloud looks like a city with gently bowing skyscrapers; that cloud looks like a dragon.
You’d expect Nishinaka to be boastful — it isn’t everyone who can see into other worlds or count Jackie Chan among his most devoted collectors — but
he couldn’t be more humble. He sees paper sculpting as something he more or less fell into “back in [his] art school days.”
“It was quite by accident, but I seemed to take to it,” he says. “I was not really aware that there weren’t that many of us doing paper sculpture when I
started, and later I was told that I was the first serious paper sculptor to come around in seven years. There still aren’t that many of us doing it.”
One need only examine Nishinaka’s methods to understand why there aren’t many paper sculptors around. His pieces take days, if not weeks, of close,
patient work — there’s lots of shaping, folding, cutting and gluing to do. And, of course, there’s the matter of seeing the world in shapes you can cut out
with an X-Acto blade.
“Individually, the shapes look like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces,” Nishinaka says. “I make the shapes a little bit more organic. I try to curve things.
Even if a building is straight, I play with the perspective to make things more animated-looking.”
As it turns out, artists who play with perspective are exactly what we’ve been looking for.
Nishinaka was asked to create two pieces for Fresh Perspectives, on the themes of challenge and empower. The latter theme came easy: To Nishinaka,
there’s nothing more powerful than a dragon. “The dragon seems to be the king of all those other mythological creatures,” he says.
Expressing challenge, however, proved a bit of an uphill climb.
“I did this building that’s basically on the top of a cliff, overlooking the ocean with a big sun coming up,” he says. “To me, it’s always a challenge to work
yourself up to the top of it, and it’s also a challenge to stay up there. Once you’re up on top, there are people and circumstances that try to knock you
off.”
And Nishinaka wouldn’t have it any other way.
“If I ever think, ‘OK, this is it, I’ve created the ultimate sculpture,’ then I really should retire, because that means I’m dead,” he says. “I hope to feel
challenged for the rest of my life.”
Other Interesting
things you can do with
paper sculpture
Now you have seen some amazing relief sculptures created by Jeff
Nishinaka. The following pages are other forms of sculpture that
can be made from paper.
Click on the link from each page then make it full screen to watch .
Patty and Allen Eckman have been creating wonderful high detail works in their
hand made acid free cast paper sculpture since 1988 and they have become
internationally recognized as not only masters in the medium but also the only
masters of their medium. the Eckman Method® of museum quality fine art cast
paper sculpture is a trademark of Eckman Fine Art Inc. and Allen and Patty
Eckman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ceebqVQAk4&feature=player_detailpage
Misfold 1: Paper Sculpture in motion. Click on the link below to
watch it in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uzF-MxHa5YA
A variety of interesting paper sculptures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDlY_Jt-Ba0&feature=related
Go Exploring!
Now that you have had a chance to see and learn about relief sculpture, modern
paper relief sculpture, and modern paper sculpture take some time and go exploring
in museums (use my website to help you), and youtube (use paper relief sculpture as
the basis of your search) to see new things.
Have Fun!