Sculpture

I INTRODUCTION

Sculpture (Latin sculpere,”to carve”), three-dimensional art concerned with the organization of masses and volumes. The two principal types have traditionally been freestanding sculpture in the round and relief sculpture.

II MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES

Sculpture can be made from almost any organic or inorganic substance. The processes specific to making sculpture date from antiquity and, up to the 20th century, underwent only minor variations. These processes can be classified according to materials—stone, metal, clay, and wood; the methods used are carving, modeling, and casting. In the 20th century the field of sculpture has been enormously broadened and enriched by new techniques, such as welding and assemblage, and by new materials resulting from technology, such as neon tubing.

A Carving

A procedure dating from prehistoric times, carving is a time-consuming and painstaking process in which the artist subtracts, or cuts away, superfluous material until the desired form is reached. The material is usually hard and frequently weighty; generally, the design is compact and is governed by the nature of the material. For example, the narrow dimensions of the marble block used by Michelangelo to carve his David (1501-1504, Accademia, Florence, Italy) strongly affected the pose and restricted the figure's outward movement into space.

Various tools are used, depending on the material to be carved and the state to which the work has progressed. In the case of stone, the rough first cutting to achieve the general shape may be performed by an artisan assistant using sharp tools; then the sculptor continues the work of cutting and chiseling. As work progresses, less penetrating tools are used, such as a bow drill and a rasp; finishing touches are carried out with fine rasps; then by rubbing with pumice or sand, and—if a great degree of smoothness is desired—by adding a transparent patina, made with an oil or wax base.

B Modeling

Modeling consists of addition to, or building up of, form. The materials used are soft and yielding and can be easily shaped, enabling rapid execution. Thus, a sculptor can capture and record fleeting impressions much the way a painter does in a quick sketch. Clay or claylike substances, baked to achieve increased durability, have been used for modeling since ancient times.

C Casting

The only means of obtaining permanence for a modeled work is to cast it in bronze or some other durable substance. Two methods of casting are used: the cire perdue, or lost-wax process, and sand-casting. Both methods have been used since antiquity, although the lost-wax process is more widely employed. Casting is accomplished in two stages: First, an impression or negative mold is formed from the original—a clay model, for instance—and second, a positive cast or reproduction is made of the original work from the negative impression. The term negative refers to the hollow form or mold into which the liquefied casting material is poured. The term positive means the copy or reproduction resulting from filling the negative mold with the substances selected for the specific cast, which are then allowed to harden. Plaster is frequently used for the negative mold, and bronze for the positive or final work.

D Construction and Assemblage

Although traditional techniques are still employed, much 20th-century sculpture is created by construction and assemblage (see Constructivist Sculpture below). These methods have their origin in collage, a painting technique devised by Pablo Picasso and the French artist Georges Braque in 1912, in which paper and foreign materials are pasted to a picture surface. Picasso also made three-dimensional objects such as musical instruments out of paper and scraps of diverse materials, which were termed constructions. Examples of modern constructivist sculpture range from the surrealistic boxes of Joseph Cornell to the junk-car and machine-part works of John Chamberlain, both Americans. The term assemblage, which is now sometimes used interchangeably with construction, was coined by the French painter Jean Dubuffet to refer to his own work, which grew out of collage.

III HISTORY

This article traces the history of Western sculpture from prehistoric times to the present day; for non-Western sculpture, see African Art and Architecture; Chinese Art and Architecture; Indian Art and Architecture; Iranian Art and Architecture; Islamic Art and Architecture; Japanese Art and Architecture; Korean Art and Architecture; Oceanian Art and Architecture; Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture.

A Prehistoric Sculpture

The earliest sculptured objects, cut from ivory, horn, bone, or stone, are 27,000 to 32,000 years old. A small ivory horse with graceful, curving lines is among the oldest of these objects; it was found in a cave in Germany. Also found on cave floors are little stone female figurines carved with emphasis on the reproductive organs, the breasts, and the buttocks. These figures are thought to represent fertility goddesses and therefore are given the name Venus. One such figure, the Venus figurine from the area of Willendorf, Austria (30,000?-25,000? bc, Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria), with bulbous proportions although a mere 11.5 cm (4.5 in) high, was painted red to resemble blood, thereby signifying life. In Jericho, human skulls covered with plaster were naturalistically rendered some 9000 years ago.

B Egyptian Sculpture

Among the oldest Egyptian sculptures is a piece of slate carved in low relief, known as the Palette of King Narmer (3100? bc), Egyptian Museum, Cairo). It portrays the victory of Upper over Lower Egypt, depicting the kings, armies, servants, and various animals. The kings (pharaohs) were also commemorated in magnificent life-size statues, set in funerary temples and tombs (see Egyptian Art and Architecture). Not true portraits, these sculptures are idealized representations, immobile of features and always frontal in pose. Strong geometric emphasis was given to the body, with the shoulders and chest plane resembling an inverted triangle, as in a carved diorite sculpture (2500? bc, Egyptian Museum) of the pharaoh Khafre. During the reign of Akhenaton, greater naturalism of representation was attained, as seen in the exquisite painted limestone portrait bust (1350? bc, Staatliche Museen, Berlin) of his queen Nefertiti.

C Mesopotamian Sculpture

Mesopotamian art includes several civilizations: Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian (see Mesopotamian Art and Architecture). About 2600 bc the Sumerians carved small marble deities noted for their wide, staring eyes. Other details—hair, facial expression, body, clothing—were schematically treated with little interest in achieving a likeness. These qualities remained characteristic of later Mesopotamian sculpture. The Mesopotamians were also fond of portraying animals and did so with great skill, as can be seen on palace gates and reliefs on walls during the Assyrian period (1000-612 bc, examples in British Museum, London, and Metropolitan Museum, New York City).

D Aegean and Greek Sculpture

Aegean art includes Minoan sculpture, such as terra-cotta and ivory statuettes of goddesses, and Mycenaean works, consisting of small carved ivory deities. The Greeks, masters of stone carving and bronze casting, created some of the greatest sculpture known. Working on a monumental scale, they brought depiction of the human form to perfection between the 7th and 1st centuries bc. In the earliest period, the Archaic, figures appeared rigid and bodies were schematized along geometric lines, as in Egyptian art. By the Classical period, in the 5th and 4th centuries bc, however, naturalism was attained; figures were well proportioned and shown in movement, although faces remained immobile. Gods and athletes were favorite subjects during this period; the most famous sculptors were Phidias, Polyclitus, Praxiteles, and Lysippus. Highly esteemed is the architectural sculpture made for the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, such as Three Goddesses (British Museum), whose rhythmically swirling drapery clings to their reclining bodies. During the Hellenistic period (4th-1st century bc), works became increasingly expressive, as reflected in the facial features and complicated body positions. The Nike of Samothr?ki, or Winged Victory (190? bc, Louvre, Paris), is a highly dramatic masterpiece from this time. See Aegean Civilization; Greek Art and Architecture.

E Etruscan and Roman Sculpture

The Etruscans, who inhabited the area of Italy between Florence and Rome from the 8th to the 3rd century bc, made life-size terra-cotta sculptures portraying the gods; they also depicted themselves, in reclining positions, on the lids of terra-cotta sarcophagi (coffins). Superb bronze sculptures were also created, such as the She-Wolf (500? bc, Museo Capitolino, Rome), which became the symbol of Rome.

The Romans were avid collectors and imitators of Greek sculpture, and modern historians are indebted to their copies for knowledge of lost Greek originals. Their distinctive contribution to the art of sculpture was realistic portraiture, in which they recorded even the homeliest facial details. The Romans' sense of the importance of historic events is evident in many sculptured commemorative monuments in Rome, such as the Arch of Titus (ad 81?), Trajan's Column (106?-113 AD), and the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (175?); the last- named became the prototype for most later equestrian sculptures. See Etruscan Civilization: Art and Architecture; Roman Art and Architecture.

F Early Christian Sculpture

Surviving examples of Early Christian sculpture date from the 4th century; these works stylistically no longer corresponded to the classical ideal of beauty. The carved marble sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (ad 359, Grotte Vaticane, Rome) portrays ten biblical scenes; its figures are oddly proportioned, wearing drapery that falls in rather monotonous folds. This style—sometimes called Late Antique—is perhaps the result of influences from invading Germanic tribes and may be the work of less skilled artists; in general, as the centuries passed, sculpture had a diminished role because of the biblical prohibition of graven images. Instead of life- size statuary, small-scale sculptures were made: portable ivory altarpieces, diptychs (two hinged panels of carved ivory), or little enameled caskets in the Byzantine style. The latter are exemplified by the Limburg Reliquary (Limburg an der Lahn, Germany), a 10th-century container made of silver gilt, jewels, and enamel. Sculpture remained an art of surface ornament until later in the Middle Ages. See Early Christian Art and Architecture ; Byzantine Art and Architecture.

G Scandinavian and Carolingian Sculpture

During the early Middle Ages in northern Europe, particularly from the 9th to the 12th century, Scandinavian artisans were masters of metalwork and woodcarving. The prow posts and sternposts of Viking ships, sleds, and other objects of daily use were decorated with figures of animals that were transformed into semiabstract linear patterns. The Norwegian stave churches (11th and 12th centuries) are profusely decorated in carved wood of the same design. This style, combining organic and abstract shapes, was also important in Celtic-Germanic art (see Celts: Art; Irish Art), as seen in an 8th-century relief (possibly a book cover) displaying a primitive crucifixion scene (National Museum of Ireland, Dublin).

Little sculpture has survived from the Carolingian period, despite Charlemagne's great interest in the arts and his revival of classicism. A 9th-century bronze statuette depicting him on a horse, with his crown, sword, and imperial globe, is evidence of knowledge of Roman sculpture. A bejeweled gold book cover for the Lindau Gospels depicting the crucifixion (870? AD, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City) also shows classical rather than Celtic-Germanic influences.

H Ottonian Sculpture

In contrast to the lack of extant pieces from the Carolingian period, some impressive sculpture remains from the Ottonian period, dating from the mid-10th to the early 11th century in Germany. The Gero Crucifix (Cologne Cathedral), life-sized and carved in wood, powerfully portrays Christ's suffering. Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim commissioned a pair of bronze doors (1015?, Hildesheim Cathedral, Germany) with 16 richly sculptured panels depicting the fall of man and the redemption, expressionistically rendered in high relief. Bernward may have derived his inspiration for these doors from his trip to Rome; he also ordered a large bronze columnar candlestick (early 11th century, Hildesheim Cathedral) carved with scenes arranged in bands, a scheme similar to that of Trajan's Column in Rome.

I Romanesque Sculpture

The revival of monumental stone sculpture, an art that had virtually disappeared with the ancients, took place in the Romanesque period, during the 11th and 12th centuries. Churches in southern France display on their exteriors an abundance of sculpture, meant to attract and to instruct the worshiper. Attached to the stonework rather than freestanding, the carved image becomes an integral part of the architecture, conforming in design to the area where it was placed—portal, tympanum, or jamb. A favorite subject was the Last Judgment, with angels and demons vividly portrayed. Different styles are apparent: On some churches, such as those at Moissac, Autun, or Vézelay, a nervous intensity is conveyed; on others, such as those at Toulouse or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, serene classicism is evident. See Romanesque Art and Architecture.

J Gothic Sculpture

In the Gothic period, remarkable sculpture was produced in France, Germany and Italy. As in Romanesque times, much of it was made in conjunction with church architecture, although sculptured figures are also found on tombs, pulpits, and other church furnishings.

J1 France

The great cathedral at Chartres exemplifies the stylistic evolution of the Gothic, which can be traced in viewing its portals. Its west entrance, the earliest, built in the mid-12th century, displays rigid, columnar figures with schematic drapery and similar, almost undifferentiated facial expressions; the later portals, on the north and south transepts, show greater differentiation of personality and costume, and even convey movement by means of a Gothic S-curve given to the axis of the body. Chartres Cathedral's sculpture, in addition, is a virtual encyclopedia of medieval knowledge; beyond the biblical narratives and depictions of various saints, one finds astrology, the labors of the months, the liberal arts, and the virtues and vices portrayed. Many French Gothic cathedrals have similar sculptural programs, and, as at Chartres, the sculptors' names are unknown. By contrast, the name of a Flemish sculptor who worked in Dijon for the duke of Burgundy is known: Claus Sluter. Among his works the polychromed stone Well of Moses (1395-1403, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, France), showing Moses and several other prophets, is unique for its capture of realistic details of anatomy, clothing textures, and distinct personalities. Also known is the name of one of the first women sculptors to be encountered in the history of Western art—Sabina von Steinbach—who assisted her father, the builder of Strasbourg Cathedral. She was responsible for the statues personifying the Church and the Synagogue (both 13th century), which are located near the south portals of the cathedral.

J2 Germany

In Germany, Gothic sculpture frequently shows an emotional intensity and characteristic German expressionism. Pathos is conveyed in the 13th-century choir-screen carvings, at Naumburg Cathedral, of the crucifixion and the kiss of Judas. Medieval passion plays were a source of inspiration to many of the Gothic sculptors of northern Europe.

J3 Italy

Not surprisingly, classical tendencies are found in the Gothic in Italy, where artists were acquainted with ancient Roman works, such as sarcophagi. Nicola Pisano, for example, created a marble pulpit—with a strong classical flavor in its architectural elements and sculptured panels—for the baptistery of Pisa Cathedral in the mid-13th century.

K Italian Renaissance Sculpture

At the beginning of the 15th century in Italy, both scholars and artists evinced strong interest in the ancient past; this period marks the Renaissance—the rebirth of classical culture (Renaissance Art and Architecture).

Lorenzo Ghiberti cast two sets of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery; both demonstrate his knowledge of ancient sculpture. The second set, known as the Gates of Paradise (1425-1452), shows, in addition, his mastery of the laws of scientific perspective, which had been discovered only recently. The demand was also for large-scale, freestanding statues, and Ghiberti, Nanni di Banco, and Donatello created monumental figures of saints, which were placed in the wall niches of Or San Michele—the oratory of the guilds—in Florence.

Donatello was the greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance; his works demonstrate that he was not only a master stonecutter, but also possessed a profound understanding of human psychology. For example, although St. George (1415?-1416, made for Or San Michele, now in the Bargello, Florence) is represented sheathed in armor, his sensitive face shows he is not invulnerable. Most astonishing is Donatello's innovative Mary Magdalen (1454-1455, Florence Baptistery), a carved wood statue, polychromed and gilded. Customarily portrayed as a beautiful young woman with lovely long hair, this Magdalen is—in Donatello's startling and revolutionary work—a semitoothless, emaciated old woman with tangled hair almost to her feet.

Outside Florence, the most noteworthy sculptor of the early Renaissance was Jacopo della Quercia of Siena. His handling of the nude in marble relief panels—Creation of Adam, Temptation, and Expulsion from Eden (1425-1438)—for the main portal of San Petronio in Bologna shows an awareness of ancient art. Adam has an idealized, muscular body, like the Greek statues of gods and athletes; Eve's body and pose are based on the type known as the Venus pudica, or modest Venus.

The towering genius in sculpture, not only during the 16th century in Italy but perhaps of all time, is Michelangelo. His mastery manifested itself early, for he was only in his 20s when he carved the Piet (1497-1500, Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome) and the heroic David, the first monumental sculptures of the High Renaissance. For the tomb of Pope Julius II, a project never completed, Michelangelo created the majestic Moses (1515?, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome) and other highly expressive individual figures. During the 1520s the style of his sculpture changed, as illustrated by the Medici Tombs (1519-1534) in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence. Whereas Michelangelo's earlier nude sculpture displays harmonious proportions, the reclining allegorical figures on the tombs, representing the four times of day, show bodily distortions and complexities of pose indicating his departure from High Renaissance ideals. His later works, such as the Piet (1554?-1564?, Castello Sforzesco, Milan), are also anticlassical. Thus, Michelangelo's later sculpture and the works of other 16th- century artists show that new modes were evolving.

L Mannerist Sculpture

Supplanting the Renaissance style was Mannerism, which made a virtue of complexity, distortion, and artifice.

L1 Italy

Italian Mannerist sculptors include Benvenuto Cellini, Francesco Primaticcio, and Giambologna. Cellini is widely known for an elegant gold and enamel saltcellar (1540-1543, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), displaying graceful nude figures with elongated proportions, made for King Francis I of France. Also working for the French court, among a group of artists known as the Fontainebleau school, was Primaticcio, whose elaborate stucco sculptures (1540s?) decorate major rooms in the Palace of Fontainebleau. Giambologna, who came originally from France, was the major sculptor working in Florence in the late 16th century. Among his works is a larger-than-life-size marble group, interesting from all sides, Rape of the Sabine Woman (1583, Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence). Consisting of three figures in twisting poses, spiraling upward, it demonstrates the Mannerist ideal of complexity of form.

L2 France

In northern Europe, the finest sculptors working in France during the 16th century were influenced by the Mannerism of the Fontainebleau school. Jean Goujon did some tomb sculpture, but best known are his reliefs depicting gracefully draped water nymphs for the Fountain of the Innocent (1548-1549, Louvre). Germain Pilon also executed tomb sculpture; most impressive for its realism and technical skill is his tomb figure of Valentine Balbiani (1581?, Louvre), in which a delicately carved marble relief portrays her decaying corpse.

M Baroque and Rococo Sculpture

The stylistic period roughly spanning the 17th century is known as the baroque; characterized by dynamic intensity, it had its origins in Rome. Its offshoot, the more delicate, decorative style characteristic of the early part of the 18th century, is known as rococo; this style originated in France. See Baroque Art and Architecture; Rococo Style.

M1 Italy

Gianlorenzo Bernini was the outstanding personality of the baroque age; like Michelangelo, he was a child prodigy, had a long and prolific career, and was a painter, sculptor, and architect. Bernini's works are highly dramatic, and their depth of emotional expression suited the intense spirit of the Counter Reformation. A strong interplay of light, shadow, and movement characterizes all of Bernini's works, including Apollo and Daphne (1622-1624, Galleria Borghese, Rome), which also shows his incredible technical virtuosity in handling marble. One of his early works, David (1623-1624, Galleria Borghese), is, in sharp contrast to Michelangelo's restrained, classical representation of David, a self-contained contemplative figure, shown before his encounter with Goliath. Bernini's figure is frozen in motion, his attention riveted on the unseen adversary, his body twisting to throw the shot.

Many of Bernini's largest sculptures are in Saint Peter's Basilica, the colonnaded piazza of which he also designed; these works include the gigantic baldachin, or canopy (1624-1633), over the high altar, the enormous Cathedra Petri (Chair of Saint Peter, 1657-1666), several monumental statues of saints, and two papal tombs. One of his most celebrated creations, however, is the ornate Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome with its spectacular Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1645-1652). Bernini united the sensual with the spiritual experience in an unprecedented manner in this, his most theatrical work. His enormous output also includes portrait busts and several superb sculptured fountains in Rome, including the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers (1648-1651) in the Piazza Navona.

M2 France and Germany

In France, the leading baroque sculptors were François Girardon, who did much garden sculpture at the Palace of Versailles, and Antoine Coysevox and Pierre Puget, both of whom were influenced to some extent by Bernini. Puget's most notable sculptures are a portal for the Hôtel de Ville (1656) in Toulon and the marble Milo of Crotona (1671-1683, Louvre), whose contrapposto pose and intense emotionalism exemplify the baroque aesthetic. Puget in turn inspired the 18th-century rococo French sculptors Etienne Maurice Falconet, Jean Baptiste Pigalle, and Claude Michel, called Clodion. The spirit of their work is more lighthearted and playful and the scale frequently smaller than the sculpture of their baroque predecessors.

The theatrical aspects of the rococo were best exemplified in Germany by the colorful works of the brothers Egid Quirin Asam and Cosmas Damian Asam, who were painters and architects as well as sculptors. Best known is their ornate decoration for the Church of Saint John Nepomuk (1733-1746) in Munich.

N Neoclassical Sculpture

During the latter half of the 18th century, a revival of classicism, called neoclassicism, occurred (Neoclassical Art and Architecture). Much inspiration was derived from the archaeological excavations then taking place in Italy and elsewhere in the Mediterranean area. Also important was an influential essay written by the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, praising ancient Greek sculpture. A favorite ancient work during the 18th century was the Apollo Belvedere (Roman copy of a Greek original, late 4th century bc, Vatican Museums, Rome), which the Italian Antonio Canova adapted in his marble Perseus with Medusa's Head (1801, Metropolitan Museum). Canova also turned to the ancients for his sculpture of Napoleon's sister, Maria Paulina Borghese as Venus Victrix (1805-1807, Galleria Borghese).

Bertel Thorvaldsen, a Danish sculptor living in Rome, was so famous in his day for his works inspired by the antique that a special museum was built (begun 1839) in Copenhagen as a memorial to him. Thorvaldsen's contact with Canova is evident in his first deliberately classicist work, Jason (1803, Thorvaldsen's Museum, Copenhagen), based on the Roman copy of the ancient Greek Doryphorus (5th century bc, Museo Nazionale, Naples). His other sculptures were influenced by his restoration of the pediment marbles of the Late Archaic Greek Temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina. Although his name is not well known beyond the confines of his native Sweden, Johan Tobias Sergel was an excellent late 18th-century sculptor, synthesizing neoclassical subject matter with baroque dynamism, as in Faun (1770-1774) and Mars and Venus (1804), both in the National Museum, Stockholm.

The English artist John Flaxman is perhaps best remembered for his delicately modeled classical reliefs that ornament Wedgwood pottery; he also executed sepulchral monuments. His fine line drawings illustrating the classic works of Homer, Aeschylus, Hesiod, and Dante had a greater impact on European art, however, than his sculpture.

The French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon incorporated some classical concepts in the full-length marble George Washington (1788-1792, State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia) and in Diana (1777, Louvre). His finest works, however, are portrait busts whose liveliness and naturalism go beyond the confines of classicism.

In the U.S., several sculptors were affected by the spirit of neoclassicism, among them Horatio Greenough, Hiram Powers, Thomas Crawford, Erastus Dow Palmer, and Harriet Hosmer. All but Palmer studied in Italy, and all produced figural sculpture in accordance with classical canons—in general, uninspired works, based on outdated academic formulas. Greenough's colossal marble statue George Washington (1841, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.), based on the Greek sculptor Phidias's lost Olympian Zeus (5th century bc), portrayed Washington half nude. This subjected Greenough to ridicule by an American public unable to understand his artistic concepts. Powers, on the other hand, achieved critical and financial success with his marble Greek Slave (1843; one of seven versions, Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey), a female nude based on the Medici Venus (Roman copy of 4th-cent. Greek original, Uffizi, Florence). See American Art.

O Romantic Sculpture

Romanticism, another major movement in 19th-century art, afforded sculptors the opportunity to free themselves from past models. New works were created based on the imagination and appealing to the emotions. In France, leading romantic sculptors were François Rude, Antoine Louis Barye, and Jean Baptiste Carpeaux. Rude is best known for his stirring monumental sculptures on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, especially the Departure of the Volunteers in 1792—also called La Marseillaise—executed in 1833-1836. A great winged figure personifying Liberty is shown above a group of men: She is rushing forward, screaming, urging them on to battle. Barye was perhaps the finest animal sculptor since antiquity. His meticulously rendered bronzes have an air of authenticity, suggesting wild animals observed in their native habitats but in actuality resulting from Barye's frequent visits to the Paris zoo. Carpeaux's famous group, La Danse (1867-1869), graces the facade of the Paris Opéra. The vivaciousness of the figures and the effect of rippling light and shadow created by the modeling of their surfaces have a strong affinity with rococo art.

The towering figure of 19th-century sculpture—and the most important sculptor since Bernini—was the French artist Auguste Rodin. His particular genius was the ability to reveal the inner life of the human being through gestures and attitudes of the body. Although he was a thoroughly original sculptor, Rodin derived inspiration from many sources: the Gothic art of the north, Donatello, Michelangelo, and even the rococo. Rodin's affinity with facets of classical style was demonstrated early in the naturalistic, rough-surfaced Man with the Broken Nose (1864, Rodin Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art), inspired by Roman portrait busts, and later in his career in the smooth marble finish and idealized eroticism of The Kiss (1886, Musée Rodin, Paris). In 1880 Rodin was commissioned to do a set of doors for a new museum (which was never completed). The project, known as the Gates of Hell (1880-1917, Musée Rodin), with its numerous small plaster figures, was a source for many large-scale, independent works cast in bronze, such as The Thinker (1880), Adam (1880), and Eve (1881), all in the Musée Rodin. Rodin's pupil and assistant, Antoine Bourdelle, was also a superb sculptor of the human figure, conveying a feeling of power and massiveness in his expressionistic bronzes, as in the Great Warrior of Montauban (1888, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.).

In the U.S., William Rimmer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Daniel Chester French shared a romantic approach in their allegorical sculptures. Rimmer's Dying Centaur (1871, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Saint-Gauden's Adams Memorial (1886-1891, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C.), and French's The Angel of Death and the Sculptor (1891-1892, Forest Hills Cemetery, Roxbury, Massachusetts) are moving works, demonstrating the American romantic artists' technical excellence.

P European 20th-Century Sculpture

Much of the sculpture produced in the 20th century differs radically in form and content from that made in the past. In some instances, it explores the same directions as painting, and movements in both media share the same names: cubism, futurism, constructivism, Dada and surrealism, to mention only a few. Among the dominating influences on European sculptors early in the 20th century were ancient art and African and Oceanian sculpture. Much of the latter was displayed in natural history museums in France and Germany.

P1 Early biomorphic sculpture—Brancusi and Modigliani

Constantin Brancusi, born in Romania, came to Paris in 1902; works such as Ancient Figure (1908, Art Institute of Chicago) and The Kiss (1908, Philadelphia Museum of Art) show his admiration for ancient and primitive art. The Kiss, in addition, in keeping with Brancusi's aim to “give (the viewer) pure joy,” displays a typical playful wit, as do Torso of a Young Man (1924, Hirshhorn Museum) and the totemlike Adam and Eve (1912, Guggenheim Museum, New York City). The latter two sculptures are composed of forms that, although abstract in appearance, are clearly based on male and female sexual organs. Brancusi's reduction of forms to their essentials and his skill in bringing out the intrinsic beauty of materials—whether wood, stone, or metal—had a profound influence on 20th-century sculptors. The Italian Amedeo Modigliani also came to Paris and there, inspired by Brancusi, studied Cycladic and primitive art. Between 1909 and 1914 Modigliani carved limestone sculptures, such as Head of a Woman (1912, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris), which, inspired by Cycladic sculpture, in turn influenced his painting.

P2 Cubist sculpture—Picasso

African art was one of the sources that were fused in works by Braque and Picasso to create the cubist style. Picasso in fact did several little wood carvings in 1907 that owe a direct debt to African masks. Influenced also by Iberian sculpture, he cast small bronzes with masklike faces, such as Head of a Woman (1906-1907, Hirshhorn Museum); these show the evolution of the cubist style, which was simultaneously developing in his painting. Greater distortion is seen in Woman's Head (1909?, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York); its pinched-out facial planes make this Picasso's first thoroughly cubist sculpture. In the following years he made numerous constructions and sculptures that can be characterized as cubist, such as the sheet-metal and wire Guitar (1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York City) and the wooden Wineglass and Die (1914, estate of the artist). His later sculpture, however, was created along more traditional figurative lines, as in the bronze Man with Sheep (1944, Philadelphia Museum of Art).

P3 Cubist followers

During the early decades of the 20th century, numerous sculptors active in Paris were influenced by cubism, including Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Aleksandr Archipenko, and Jacques Lipchitz. All worked in somewhat representational styles, emphasizing volumetric planes, as can be seen, for example, in Lipchitz's Sailor with a Guitar (1914, estate of the artist).

P4 Constructivist sculpture

Constructivism, asserting the dynamics of sculptural space rather than the immobility of mass, was a new direction that developed primarily in Russia. Its founder, initially inspired by the works of Picasso, was Vladimir Tatlin; he was renowned for the spiraling wood, iron, and glass model for his Monument to the Third International (1919-1920, Russian State Museums, Saint Petersburg). About this time, the brothers Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner also made constructivist sculpture in Russia; their avant-garde work did not please the Communist regime, however, and the brothers emigrated, spreading their ideas to Western Europe and the U.S.

P5 Dada and surrealist sculpture

During the World War I years, the French Dada artist Marcel Duchamp expressed his aesthetic nihilism by selecting mass-produced objects, designating them as sculpture, and calling them “ready-mades.” Objects such as a bottle rack, a snow shovel, and a urinal were pronounced by Duchamp to be subjects of art. The Dadaist emphasis on the role of accident, chance, and the unconscious in the creation of art—as in Duchamp's Three Standard Stoppages (1913-1914, Museum of Modern Art)—was to influence the later surrealist movement.

The French artist Jean Arp employed chance in several relief sculptures made of painted wood, with clever, connotative titles. Arp is best known, however, for his later abstract sculpture in the round—biomorphic forms to which he gave the name concretions, for example Human Concretion (1935; cast stone version, 1949, Museum of Modern Art). The German-born Max Ernst, like Arp, pioneered both Dada and surrealism; his Lunar Asparagus (1935, Museum of Modern Art), a delightful work in plaster, depicts two elongated, attenuated plantlike figures. The Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti gave form to his fantasies in such haunting works as the construction The Palace at 4 A.M. (1932-1933) and the bronze Woman with Her Throat Cut (1932), both in the Museum of Modern Art. Also involved with Dada and surrealism, and a frequent collaborator with Duchamp, was the American-born Man Ray, whose work is well illustrated by the fascinating Object to Be Destroyed (1923, destroyed in 1957), a metronome with an oscillating stem displaying a photograph of an eye.

P6 Futurist sculpture

Another direction taken by early 20th-century avant-garde sculptors was futurism, an Italian style concerned with expressing motion in art. One of its chief exponents, Umberto Boccioni, made strikingly original bronzes such as Development of a Bottle in Space (1912) and Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913), both in the Museum of Modern Art.

P7 Figural sculpture

Despite the new style trends, numerous early 20th-century European sculptors continued to work in a representational manner. Each produced distinctive forms, for the most part based on the human figure. In France, Aristide Maillol evoked classical repose in impressive bronzes of the female figure. One such work is a female torso, Action in Chains (1906, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris), which demonstrates Maillol's characteristic perfect balance between states of tension and relaxation. Like Maillol, the French-born Gaston Lachaise—who later immigrated to America—made the female figure his vehicle of expression, endowing his sculptures with grace and delicacy despite the enormous proportions of their torsos. The French painter Henri Matisse also made several series of bronze figural works displaying varying degrees of distortion that express inner muscular tensions.

In Germany, Wilhelm Lehmbruck produced quiet, elongated figures expressing withdrawal and a sense of resignation. Ernst Barlach's sculpture, on the other hand, was expressionistic; he chose humble subjects and illustrated a wide degree of emotions, ranging from joy, as in Singing Man (1928, private collection, Germany), to revenge, as in The Avenger (1914, Hirshhorn Museum). Scandinavia's foremost sculptors were the Swede Carl Milles and the Norwegian Gustav Vigeland; both created allegorical figures for fountains and other public monuments in their native countries. Milles also lived in the U.S. and created fountains for New York, St. Louis, Missouri, and other American cities. The Paris-trained Elie Nadelman immigrated to the U.S. where he produced figural bronzes with smooth contours and simplified volumes, such as Man in the Open Air (1915?, Museum of Modern Art). The American-born Sir Jacob Epstein, who settled in London, was widely known for his representational bronze portraits, with their characteristic rough, pitted surfaces that lend great expressiveness.

The greatest of modern English artists, however, and perhaps the most eminent of all 20th-century sculptors, was Henry Moore. His early work was influenced by pre-Columbian sculpture; it is evident when the Toltec-influenced Maya stone sculpture called a Chacmool (1000?, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City), of the rain god Chac, is compared to his sculpture Reclining Figure (1929, City Art Gallery, Leeds, England). Moore's lifelong concern was the reclining female figure, which he always presented with great freshness and originality. Many of his elegant, monumental works are found outdoors, enhancing their modern urban architectural settings; Toronto, New York, Chicago, and Dallas, Texas, are among the numerous cities displaying Moore's masterpieces. Although Barbara Hepworth, another English sculptor of international stature, generally worked in a somewhat abstract, organic style, some of her sculptures refer to the human figure, such as Group II (Evocation) (1952, Collection Margaret Gardner, England).

Q American 20th-Century Sculpture

In general, American sculpture, unlike European, cannot be classified by movement during the first half of the 20th century; many new movements, involving new media, arose, however, during the latter part of the century.

Q1 Figural sculpture

A great number of American sculptors of the earlier part of the 20th century worked in a fairly academic style; although their works are competent and are interesting for their expression of the spirit of the period in which they were made, the majority of these artists failed to advance the art of sculpture either formally or technically. Those who worked along traditional lines include Malvina Hoffman, George Grey Barnard, William Zorach, Paul Manship, John B. Flannagan, Mahonri M. Young, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, and Jo Davidson.

Q2 Abstract sculpture

American sculpture began developing along more abstract lines during the 1930s when artists came in contact with contemporary European work, either directly or through photographs. Alexander Calder, for example, was inspired by the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian to make abstract sculpture and paint it in pure colors. Calder became internationally famous for his “mobiles,” or moving works, and “stabiles,” which are stationary. David Smith saw pictures of welded sculpture by Picasso and the Spanish artist Julio Gonz?lez and created welded steel works such as Hudson River Landscape (1951, Whitney Museum, New York City). His Cubi series, such as Cubi I (1963, Detroit Institute of Arts), comprises large-scale works inspired by cubism; they show Smith's manner of polishing and then abrading the stainless steel surface with an allover calligraphic design to reflect light.

In the 1930s Joseph Cornell came under the influence of surrealist art and developed his 3-dimensional, painted, shadow-box sculptures, mysterious assemblages of heterogeneous objects. In contrast to these are Louise Nevelson's assemblages—large, monochromatic, abstract constructions that are frequently designed to form wall environments. They are made of utilitarian objects—typically, discarded fragments of furniture—contained within boxlike wooden frames. Isamu Noguchi's elegantly simple works combine European abstraction with traditional Japanese forms.

Reuben Nakian, who turned from a figurative to a quasi-abstract style in the 1940s, worked both in metals and terracotta, basing his sculptures largely on mythological subjects. Other sculptors who worked in abstract styles are Richard Lippold, known for his wire and metal hanging constructions, and Harry Bertoia, who used thin steel rods, assembled so as to vibrate. Theodore Roszak made free-form constructions of steel, brazed with other metals, such as Thorn Blossom (1948, Whitney Museum); and Herbert Ferber, influenced by abstract expressionism, created a large metal construction, And the Bush Was Not Consumed (1951), for the facade of B'nai Israel Synagogue, Millburn, New Jersey. Ferber's work was an early example of the modern revival of sculpture combined with ecclesiastical architecture. Seymour Lipton has produced biomorphic sculpture composed of brazed metal sheets, such as Jungle Bloom (1954, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut), and Mark di Suvero is known for his enormous outdoor constructions, sometimes employing steel I beams, as in Ik Ook (1971-1972, private collection), and movable elements.

Q3 Assemblages and junk sculpture

Many sculptors have produced both abstract and representational works by means of assemblage, employing junk and found objects; frequently, a total environment has been created, large enough to allow the spectator to move within the work. Junk, first used by the Dadaists early in the 20th century, became the basis of expressive sculptures by such artists as Richard Stankiewicz during the 1960s. In this decade pop art also became prominent, initiated in the U.S. by such artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, George Segal, Marisol Escobar, Red Grooms, Claes Oldenburg, Edward Kienholz, and Lucas Samaras. Later Duane Hanson began working in this vein.

Rauschenberg introduced what he called “combine paintings,” later examples of which have the three-dimensionality of sculpture. In these, junk and found objects are incorporated onto the canvas surface. A compelling example of such work is Monogram (1955-1959, Moderna Museet, Stockholm), a construction combining a stuffed Angora goat, an automobile tire, a tennis ball, and hinged wooden doors covered with abstract expressionist brushwork. Johns, a disciple of Duchamp, did a bronze cast of beer cans, Painted Bronze (1960, private collection), posing the aesthetic problem of transposing mundane objects to the realm of art. Frequently using his friends as models, Segal builds white plaster figures engaged in commonplace activities. A quiet classicism characterizes such evocative sculptures as The Diner (1964-1966, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota). Marisol (as she is known) makes assemblages with wood, paint, and other materials such as pairs of shoes. Grooms builds huge environmental constructions, such as the delightful Ruckus Manhattan (1975-1976, Marlborough Gallery, New York City). Oldenburg, turning his talents to replicating food in painted plaster, creates humorous pop objects such as Dual Hamburger (1962, Museum of Modern Art). Oldenburg has often translated his earlier, rigid sculptures of objects such as light switches into soft vinyl copies.

Kienholz's mixed-media compositions, such as The State Hospital (1964-1966, Moderna Museet) with its representation of bedridden patients, graphically call attention to ugly aspects of contemporary society. Samaras too has constructed disturbing—but visually compelling—works, such as The Chair (1965, Smart Gallery, University of Chicago), menacingly covered with thousands of pin points. Hanson's fiberglass and polyester figures are uncannily lifelike; he has moved from essentially satirical portrayals of obese shoppers and tourists to more straightforward renderings of workers and other ordinary Americans.

Q4 Earthworks

During the late 1960s a number of American sculptors became involved in the creation of earthworks. Among these artists were Robert Morris, Michael Heizer, and Robert Smithson; all abandoned their studios for outdoor investigations of geologic or mineral matter. An impressive project in this genre is Smithson's Spiral Jetty, a 4.6-m (15-ft) wide spiral composed of rock, salt crystals, earth, and algae, extending 457 m (1500 ft) into Great Salt Lake, Utah. Completed in 1970, this work is no longer visible, having been submerged by natural flooding.

R Recent Trends

Since the 1960s, sculptors have continued to work in a variety of media and styles. Anthony Caro, in England, creates powerful metal constructions, which generally have a horizontal axis. Americans working in metal on a monumental scale include George Rickey, who composes delicate stainless steel structures set into motion by the wind, and Richard Serra, who builds enormous outdoor structures of steel, such as the 61-m (200-ft) St. John's Rotary Arc (1980) at the New York City exit from the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River. Working with artificial light are the American sculptors Chryssa, who uses neon tubes, and Dan Flavin, who defines spatial voids through the use of fluorescent tubing.

Other American artists, such as Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt, produce works through the repetition of identical units—precise, simple forms—in absolute symmetry. Judd, a minimalist, works with solid forms, as in Untitled (1965, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris); LeWitt, a pioneer of conceptualism, creates cubelike empty spaces defined by slim outlines composed of aluminum, as in Nine-Part Modular Cube (1977, Art Institute of Chicago). Conceptualism, an important current throughout the 1970s, was strongly influenced by the work and writings of Duchamp. Aiming to give aesthetic precedence to the artist's ideas, conceptualism sometimes dispensed with substantial works altogether, grading into performance art. The most influential contemporary conceptualist was the German Joseph Beuys, whose works satirized postwar German society and recalled his experience as a downed Luftwaffe pilot during World War II, and who was a popular public performer as well.

During the 1980s, sculptors began moving away from the austerity of minimalism and conceptualism. Organic and eccentric forms began to reappear, a tendency known as postmodern or postminimalist sculpture. Figurative motifs can be seen in the simple, small-scale works of the American Joel Shapiro. Another American, Nancy Graves, is noted for her whimsical, brightly-colored open-work assemblages.

Contributed By:

Michele Vishny