Sculpture

For other uses, see Sculpture (disambiguation).

"The Dying Gaul", a Roman marble copy of a Hellenistic work of the late third century BCE Capitoline Museums, Rome

Michelangelo Moses, (c. 1513–1515), housed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. The sculpture was commissioned in 1505 by Pope Julius II for his tomb.

Henry Moore, Double Oval, 1966, Henry Moore Foundation

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials, typically stone such as marble, metal, glass, or wood, or plastic materials such as clay, textiles, polymers and softer metals. The term has been extended to works including sound, text and light.

Found objects may be presented as sculptures. Materials may be worked by removal such as carving; or they may be assembled such as by welding , hardened such as by firing, or molded or cast. Surface decoration such as paint may be applied. Sculpture has been described as one of the plastic arts because it can involve the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated.

Sculpture is an important form of public art. A collection of sculpture in a garden setting may be referred to as a sculpture garden.

Types of sculpture

Some common forms of sculpture are:

Free-standing sculpture, sculpture that is surrounded on all sides, except the base, by space. It is also known as sculpture "in the round", and is meant to be viewed from any angle.
Sound sculpture
Light sculpture
Jewellery or Jewelry
Relief - the sculpture is still attached to a background; types are bas-relief, alto-relievo, and sunken-relief
Site-specific art
Kinetic sculpture - involves aspects of physical motion
- Fountain - the sculpture is designed with moving water
- Mobile (see also Calder's Stabiles.)
Statue - representationalist sculpture depicting a specific entity, usually a person, event, animal or object
- Bust - representation of a person from the chest up
- Equestrian statue - typically showing a significant person on horseback
Stacked art - a form of sculpture formed by assembling objects and 'stacking' them
Architectural sculpture
Environmental art
- Environmental sculpture
- Land art

Materials of sculpture through history

Sculptors have generally sought to produce works of art that are as permanent as possible, working in durable and frequently expensive materials such as bronze

Bronze figure of Robert Burns by Henry Bain Smith, 1892, above Union Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen, Scotland

and stone: marble, limestone, porphyry, and granite. More rarely, precious materials such as gold, silver, jade, and ivory were used for chryselephantine works. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including glass, hardwoods (such as oak, box/boxwood, and lime/linden); terracotta and other ceramics, and cast metals such as pewter and zinc (spelter).

Sculptures are often painted, but commonly lose their paint to time, or restorers. Many different painting techniques have been used in making sculpture, including tempera, [oil painting], gilding, house paint, aerosol, enamel and sandblasting.

Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. Jim Gary used stained glass and automobile parts, tools, machine parts, and hardware. One of Pablo Picasso's most famous sculptures included bicycle parts. Alexander Calder and other modernists made spectacular use of painted steel. Since the 1960s, acrylics and other plastics have been used as well. Andy Goldsworthy makes his unusually ephemeral sculptures from almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. Some sculpture, such as ice sculpture, sand sculpture, and gas sculpture, is deliberately short-lived.

Sculptors often build small preliminary works called maquettes of ephemeral materials such as plaster of Paris, wax, clay, or plasticine, as Alfred Gilbert did for 'Eros' at Piccadilly Circus, London. In Retroarchaeology, these materials are generally the end product.

Sculptors sometimes use found objects.

Asian

Sumerian male worshiper, 2750-2600 B.C.

Many different forms of sculpture were used in Asia, with many pieces being religious art based on Hinduism and Buddhism (Buddhist art) and greco-Buddhist art. A great deal of Cambodian Hindu sculpture is preserved at Angkor, however organized looting has had a heavy impact on many sites around the country. In Thailand, sculpture was almost exclusively of Buddha images. Many Thai sculptures or temples are gilded, and on occasion enriched with inlays. See also Thai art

East Asia

China

A Liao Dynasty polychrome wood-carved statue of Guan Yin, Shanxi Province, China, (907-1125 AD)

Artifacts from China date back as early as 10,000 BC and skilled Chinese artisans had been active very early in history, but the bulk of what is displayed as sculpture comes from a few select historical periods. The first period of interest has been the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050-771 BC), from which come a variety of intricate cast bronze vessels. The next period of interest was the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), beginning with the spectacular Terracotta Army assembled for the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the important but short-lived Qin Dynasty that preceded the Han. Tombs excavated from the Han period have revealed many figures found to be vigorous, direct, and appealing 2000 years later.

The first Buddhist sculpture is found dating from the Three Kingdoms period (3rd century), while the sculpture of the Longmen Grottoes near Luoyang, Henan Province (Northern Wei, 5th and 6th century) has been widely recognized for its special elegant qualities.

A wooden Bodhisattva from the Song Dynasty (960-1279)

The period now considered to be China's golden age is the Tang Dynasty, coinciding with what in Europe is sometimes called the Dark Ages). Decorative figures like those shown below became very popular in 20th century Euro-American culture, and were made available in bulk, as warlords in the Chinese civil wars exported them to raise cash. Considered especially desirable, and even profound, was the Buddhist sculpture, often monumental, begun in the Sui Dynasty, inspired by the Greco-Buddhist art of Central Asia, and many are considered treasures of world art.

Following the Tang, Western interest in Chinese artifacts drops off dramatically, except for what might be considered as ornamental furnishings, and especially objects in jade. Pottery from many periods has been collected, and again the Tang period stands out apart for its free, easy feeling. Chinese sculpture has no nudes—other perhaps than figures made for medical training or practice—and very little portraiture compared with the European tradition. One place where sculptural portraiture was pursued, however, was in the monasteries.

Almost nothing, other than jewelry, jade, or pottery is collected by art museums after the Ming Dynasty ended in the late 17th century—and absolutely nothing has yet been recognized as sculpture from the tumultuous 20th century, although there was a school of Soviet-influenced social realist sculpture in the early decades of the Communist regime, and as the century turned, Chinese craftsmen began to dominate commercial sculpture genres (the collector plates, figurines, toys, etc) and avant garde Chinese artists began to participate in the Euro-American enterprise of contemporary art.