Sculpture

Sculpture is an art form that works in three dimensions. A sculpture is a piece of art that takes up real space, with height, width, and depth. It is one of the plastic arts, which are arts that shape physical materials. Early sculptors used carving, which means taking material away, and modelling, which means adding material, such as clay. They worked with stone, metal, ceramics, wood, and other materials. Since Modernism, artists have been free to choose almost any materials and methods. Materials may be carved away, joined together by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast.

Stone sculptures last much longer than those made of materials that break down over time, such as wood. In many ancient cultures, stone sculpture makes up most of the surviving artworks, apart from pottery. Wooden sculptures from those times almost never survive. Most ancient sculptures were painted, but most of that paint has been lost or is too faint to see with the naked eye.

Sculpture has long been important in religious worship in many cultures. Until recent centuries, large sculptures were too expensive for private people to make, so they were usually a way to express religion or politics. Cultures whose sculptures have survived in large numbers include those of the ancient Mediterranean, India, and China. Many cultures in Central and South America and Africa also left behind sculptures.

The Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, which is widely seen as producing great works in the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture showed the Christian faith in a powerful, emotional way. In the Renaissance, artists looked back to classical models, which led to famous works such as Michelangelo's statue of David. Modernist sculpture moved away from traditional methods and from focusing on the human body. Artists began making constructed sculpture and presenting found objects as finished artworks.

Types

Open-air Buddhist rock reliefs at the Longmen Grottoes, China

Sculpture can be "in the round," which means free-standing works like statues. They are not attached to any surface, except maybe at the base. Other sculpture is relief, which is at least partly attached to a background surface. Relief is often grouped by how far it sticks out from the wall, as bas-relief, high relief, and sometimes mid-relief. Sunk-relief is a technique found only in ancient Egypt. Relief is often used for large groups of figures and stories, and for architectural sculpture attached to buildings. It also decorates small objects such as pottery, metalwork, and jewellery. It may also decorate steles, which are upright slabs, usually of stone, often with writing on them.

Sculptors can carve away material from a block of stone or wood. They can also model and build up the work. Methods such as casting, stamping, and moulding use a mould that holds the design, and many of these methods can make several copies. The word "sculpture" is often used for large works, sometimes called monumental sculpture. It also covers small three-dimensional works such as medals, coins, and hardstone carvings. Very large "colossal" statues have been admired since antiquity. The largest on record is the Indian Statue of Unity, which was completed in 2018 and is 182 m (597 ft) tall. Other forms include the equestrian statue of a rider on a horse, the bust showing a person from the chest up, the figurine, and the plaquette. Modern and contemporary artists have added new forms. These include sound sculpture, light sculpture, environmental art, environmental sculpture, street art sculpture, and kinetic sculpture, which involves physical motion. Others are land art and site-specific art. Sculpture is an important form of public art. A collection of sculpture in a garden can be called a sculpture garden. Some people also see buildings as a kind of sculpture. The artist Constantin Brâncuși said, "Architecture is inhabited sculpture."

Moai from Easter Island, where the concentration of resources on large sculpture may have had serious political effects

One of the most common purposes of sculpture is connected to religion. Cult images are common in many cultures. They are often not the huge statues of gods that marked ancient Greek art, such as the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. The cult images in the innermost rooms of Egyptian temples were fairly small, even in the largest temples. The same is often true in Hinduism, where the very simple and ancient form of the lingam is the most common. Buddhism brought the sculpture of religious figures to East Asia, where there seems to have been no earlier similar tradition. Simple shapes like the bi and cong probably had religious meaning, though. Small sculptures as personal possessions go back to the earliest prehistoric art. Very large sculpture used as public art, especially to show the power of a ruler, goes back at least to the Great Sphinx of some 4,500 years ago. In archaeology and art history, the appearance of large sculpture in a culture is seen as very important. The totem pole is an example of large wooden sculpture that would leave no traces for archaeologists. Recent discoveries of ancient Chinese Bronze Age figures at Sanxingdui have challenged many ideas about early Chinese civilization. Some of the figures are more than twice human size. Some advanced cultures, such as the Indus Valley civilization, seem to have had no large sculpture at all. They did make very skilled figurines and seals. The Mississippian culture seems to have been moving towards large sculpture when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture, seem to have spent huge resources on very large sculpture from a very early stage.

The collecting of sculpture goes back some 2,000 years in Greece, China and Mesoamerica. Many collections were shown to some people long before the modern museum was invented. From the 20th century, sculpture began to show many more kinds of subjects. Abstract subjects and any type of subject are now common. Small decorative figurines, most often made of ceramics, are still popular today. Oddly, they are often overlooked by modern and Contemporary art. They were also popular in the Rococo period, in ancient Greece when Tanagra figurines were a major industry, and in East Asian and Pre-Columbian art. Small carved fittings for furniture and other objects go back into ancient times, as in the Nimrud ivories, Begram ivories, and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Portrait sculpture began in Egypt, where the Narmer Palette shows a ruler from the 32nd century BCE. It also began in Mesopotamia, where many statues of Gudea have survived. Gudea ruled Lagash around 2144–2124 BCE. In ancient Greece and Rome, a portrait statue set up in a public place was almost the highest honour. In Pre-Columbian cultures, rulers were usually the only people given portraits. This began with the Olmec colossal heads of about 3,000 years ago. Animals, along with the human figure, are the earliest subjects for sculpture, and they have always been popular. Plants appear mostly in jewellery and decorative reliefs. They do form almost all the large sculpture of Byzantine art and Islamic art, where motifs such as the palmette have spread east and west for over two thousand years. Jade or other types of greenstone, and Neolithic Europe, were also used for enlarged tools, weapons, or vessels, like the Oxborough Dirk.

Materials and techniques

Sculptors have used many different materials over time. Metal, especially bronze, stone, and pottery can last a very long time. Less lasting but cheaper choices include wood, bone, and antler. Precious materials such as gold, silver, jade, and ivory were often used for small special works. Common materials like oak, terracotta, wax, and zinc were used for sculptures that many people could buy. Sculptures are often painted, though the paint often fades or wears away over time. Modern artists have also tried new materials. Pablo Picasso used bicycle parts in one of his famous sculptures, and Alexander Calder used painted steel. Since the 1960s, acrylics and other plastics have also been used. Andy Goldsworthy makes sculptures from natural materials in natural places. Some works, such as ice sculpture and sand sculpture, are made to last only a short time.

Sculptors use many techniques to shape their materials. Stone sculpture is one of the oldest forms, where stone is carved into shapes. Petroglyphs are among the earliest examples. Metal can be cast by pouring liquid metal into a mould, or welded by joining pieces together. Forging shapes metal by heating and hammering it. Glass can be moulded or blown while it is hot. Clay is used for small models called maquettes and for figurines. Wood carving has been widely practiced, though wood wears away more easily than stone or metal. Some modern works use soft sculptures made of cloth, rubber, or other soft materials, which are stuffed, sewn, or hung.

Social status of sculptors

Around the world, sculptors were often craftspeople, and they usually did not sign their work. In China, sculpture was not as respected as literati painting, and this affected how people valued sculpture. In ancient Greece, sculptors such as Phidias became famous, but they seem to have had about the same social standing as other craftspeople. Some of them did sign their works. In the Middle Ages, the 12th-century sculptor Gislebertus sometimes signed his work, and different cities wanted him to work for them. From the Trecento onward in Italy, sculptors such as Arnolfo di Cambio, Nicola Pisano, and his son Giovanni became well known. Goldsmiths and jewellers, who worked with precious materials, often joined powerful guilds and had high status. Some even helped run city government. Many sculptors also worked in other arts. Andrea del Verrocchio also painted, and Giovanni Pisano, Michelangelo, and Jacopo Sansovino worked as architects. Some sculptors ran large workshops. Even during the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci and others felt that the physical nature of the work made sculpture less respected than the other arts. Michelangelo's great reputation may have ended this old idea.

From the High Renaissance onward, artists such as Michelangelo, Leone Leoni, and Giambologna could become wealthy and be given noble titles. They could also spend time with princes. People had long debated whether sculpture or painting was more important. Decorative sculpture on buildings stayed a trade, but sculptors who made individual pieces were respected in the same way as painters. From the 18th century or earlier, sculpture also attracted students from the middle class, though this happened more slowly than with painting. Women sculptors appeared later than women painters and were less well known until the 20th century.

Anti-sculpture movements

Aniconism began with Judaism, which did not accept figure sculptures until the 1800s. It later spread to Christianity, which at first accepted large sculptures. Sculpture became very important in both Christianity and Buddhism.

Christian Eastern Orthodoxy has never accepted large sculptures. Islam has mostly rejected figure sculpture, but it allows very small figures in decorations and some animal figures that have a useful purpose, like the famous lions holding up a fountain in the Alhambra. Many forms of Protestantism also do not approve of religious sculpture. Over time, many sculptures were destroyed for religious reasons. This happened in the early Christian years, during the Beeldenstorm of the Protestant Reformation, and in 2001, when the Buddhas of Bamyan were destroyed by the Taliban. This kind of destruction is called iconoclasm.

History

Sculpture is one of the oldest forms of art. The earliest sculptures that are generally accepted come from the Aurignacian culture. This group lived in Europe and southwest Asia at the start of the Upper Paleolithic. Over thousands of years, sculpture grew in many parts of the world, including the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Ancient Greek artists created a style that became very influential. Roman sculptors were especially known for portrait busts. In the Middle Ages, Romanesque art and Gothic art brought new styles to Europe. Later periods, such as the Baroque and Neoclassical styles, gave great importance to sculpture.

Sculpture also grew in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In China, Japan, and India, sculpture was often connected to religion, especially Buddhism. In Africa, many sculptures were made from wood and other materials that did not last long. Masks were especially important. In the Americas, sculpture developed in different areas. There were large stone works in Mesoamerica and small, skilled pieces in the Andes. Over time, sculptors in every region tried many different styles and ideas.

Moving toward modern art

19th–early 20th century, early Modernism and continuing realism

In the 1800s, sculptors often tried to make their work look very lifelike (Antoine-Louis Barye). Others made dramatic works (François Rude), emotional works (Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux), or grand and formal works (Lord Leighton). Early in the 1900s, a new style called modern classicism began. It cared less about realism and more about shape and style. Auguste Rodin was the most famous European sculptor of this time. He is often seen as a sculptural Impressionist. His students, including Camille Claudel and Hugo Rheinhold, tried to capture a short moment of everyday life. These artists focused more on the rhythm of shapes and spaces, and on how feelings were shown, than on exact details of the body or clothing.

Early leaders of modern classicism included Aristide Maillol, Alexander Matveyev, Joseph Bernard, Antoine Bourdelle, Georg Kolbe, Libero Andreotti, Gustav Vigeland, Jan Stursa, and Constantin Brâncuși. Later, modern classicism became the main style in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. In the Soviet Union, a new style called socialist realism grew up. It went back to the drama and realism of the 1800s. Some modern classical artists made more decorative work, such as Paul Manship, Jose de Creeft, and Carl Milles. Others made more expressive work, like Anton Hanak, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Ernst Barlach, and Arturo Martini. Still others looked back to the Renaissance, like Giacomo Manzù and Venanzo Crocetti, or kept the same style, like Charles Despiau and Marcel Gimond.

Modernism

Main article: Modern sculpture

Modernist sculpture movements include Cubism, Geometric abstraction, De Stijl, Suprematism, Constructivism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism, Formalism, Abstract expressionism, Pop-Art, Minimalism, Land art, and Installation art. At the start of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso changed sculpture by joining different objects and materials into one piece. This was like a collage in flat art. Later, Picasso also became a skilled potter. His work helped bring back interest in ceramic art, along with artists such as George E. Ohr, Peter Voulkos, Kenneth Price, and Robert Arneson. Marcel Duchamp started using the "found object" or readymade, as in Fountain (1917). Constantin Brâncuși also helped pave the way for later abstract sculpture. His Bird in Space series (1924) showed subjects reduced to their basic forms. His ideas could be seen in the 1930s and 1940s in the work of Gaston Lachaise, Sir Jacob Epstein, Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Julio González, Pablo Serrano, and Jacques Lipchitz. By the 1940s, Alexander Calder, Len Lye, Jean Tinguely, and Frederick Kiesler had become pioneers of Kinetic art.

From the 1950s, the public and the groups that ordered artworks grew more comfortable with modern sculpture. Large public works, both abstract and figurative, became common. Picasso made a maquette, which is a small model, for the huge public sculpture called the Chicago Picasso (1967). It is 50 feet (15 m) tall. Its shape is hard to name. It could be a bird, a horse, a woman, or a completely abstract shape. In the late 1950s and 1960s, sculptors tried many new materials and methods. Isamu Noguchi, David Smith, Richard Lippold, George Rickey, Louise Bourgeois, Philip Pavia, and Louise Nevelson helped shape how modern sculpture looks. By the 1960s, Sir Anthony Caro, John Chamberlain, and Mark di Suvero were making works using welded sculpture and large forms. Minimalists such as Tony Smith, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, Giacomo Benevelli, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Richard Serra, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, and John Safer focused on simple, basic forms. During the 1960s and 1970s, Leonard Baskin, Ernest Trova, George Segal, Marisol Escobar, Paul Thek, Robert Graham, and Fernando Botero made stylized figure sculptures.

Artists also explored art made for a specific place and environmental art. These included Andy Goldsworthy, Walter De Maria, Richard Long, Robert Irwin, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, and James Turrell created large land art works, including Roden Crater. Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, Bruce Nauman, and others were pioneers of Postminimalist sculpture. Artists such as Eduardo Paolozzi, Claes Oldenburg, Nam June Paik, and Duane Hanson used video art and installation art in new ways. In Conceptual art, the idea behind a work matters more than traditional beauty or materials. Examples include One and Three Chairs by Joseph Kosuth and An Oak Tree by Michael Craig-Martin. Today, modern sculpture also includes environmental sculpture, light sculpture, street art sculpture, ice sculpture, kinetic sculptures such as mobiles, snow sculptures, sound sculptures, and art toys. Artists who make art toys include Takashi Murakami, Kid Robot, Michael Lau, and Michael Leavitt (artist).

Conservation

Sculptures can be harmed by temperature, humidity, and light, including ultraviolet light. Acid rain can also damage some building materials and old monuments. This happens when sulfuric acid in the rain reacts with calcium in stones such as limestone, sandstone, marble, and granite. The reaction forms gypsum, which then flakes off. Heavy air pollution also damages old monuments.

Many modern sculptures are usually on display in public places. For a long time, theft was not a big problem, because the pieces were easy to recognise. In the early 21st century, however, metal became much more valuable. Some people began stealing large bronze sculptures so they could sell the metal. Some valuable sculptures were melted down for metal worth only a small part of the artwork's value.