INNOVATION IN SCULPTURE

What was this shift and when did it occur?

• After 1861

• Italian sculptors sought REALISTIC APPROACH

• Developed RENOVATED VOCAB & NEW TECHNIQUES

• THICK STROKES & BROKEN FLECKS → movement & play of light

• Visible influence of contemporary painters (Macchiaioli & Impressionists)

Vincenzo Gemito, Pescatore, 1877

• rough → lack of aesthetic values

• The subject is a common boy

• In movement → Catching a fish

• Unnatural body position = DYNAMIC

Vincenzo Vela, La vittime del lavoro, 1883

• Relief (plaskorzezba)

• Very rough without smoothness

• Portraying workers carrying out a body

• Scene from the life of lower class / blue-collar

Medardo Rosso

• Italian

• 1858-1928

• Already as a student he protested the traditional methods - he used CONTEMPORARY SUBJECTS

• Lively and emotional

• “Bring sculpture closer to painting”

• Achieve dematerialisation by the use of LIGHT

• Close to the end of his life he took up “psychological dynamics”

Medardo Rosso, Mother with Child, 1886

• rock

• Completely contemporary

• Without a clearly defined front

• Very organic and dynamic shape

• All about the artists perception & img.

Medardo Rosso, Child in the soup kitchen, 1897

• made from wax

• Completely lacking features → looks like a blob

• Showing clear fingerprints as if UNFINIHSED

• Very DYNAMIC & FLOW-LIKE

Medardo Rosso, The Bookmaker, 1894

• Lack of detail, but known in the community

• Tilted = for some reason

• Half done outlook

• Growing out of the material = “non-finito” concept (Michelangelo the slaves)

Medardo Rosso, Ecce Puer, 1906

• wax = dynamic material, flows, very impressionistic

• Lack of distinct features = not relevant

• Face as if veiled over

• Artistic & imaginative

François-Auguste Rodin

• French

• 1840-1917

• Deeply inspired by TRADITION

• Used marble / bronze / plaster / clay

• Modern sculpture with innovative practices

• express the INNNER TRUTHS OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE

• clear marks on sculptures / work in progress vibe

• Imaginative & exceeding the physical world

F - Auguste Rodin, Flora, 1865-70

• Inspiration taken from classical depictions of flora

• HIGHLY DETAILED = unreal

• Perfect face, hence unnatura

• The hair is overly detaileD

F-Auguste Rodin, The Age of Bronze, 1875-77

• Lean male body

• Insp. taken from “Apollo crowning himself” by Antonio Canova

• The face is not clearly detailed

• The body is in a DYNAMIC POSITION

• Positioned in a NON-AESTHETIC POSITION (comparing to classical sc)

• Not athletic, of rather common built (lack of clear muscle definition)

F-Auguste Rodin, The Hand of God, apr. 1896

• Non-finito → clear similarity to Michelangelo’s “THE ATLAS”

• Dynamic and unclear as to the subjects form

• Non-detailed, yet still showing certain forms (finger, torso fragment, head, etc.)

• In movement

F-Auguste Rodin, The Athlete, 1904

• perfect face proportions, but without a clear identity

• clear muscle definition, however, visible roughness on the legs

• Lack of definition (palms, feet )

• Non-aesthetic position - slouching, hiding face, not showing off

F-Auguste Rodin, The Gates of Hell 1880-1917

• door for museum of contemporary art.

• inspired by the novel INFERNO by Dante Alighieri & “THE LAST JUDGEMENT” by Michelangelo

• ON TOP the thinker - naturalness & simplicity

• 3 people on top - representation of SOUL & HUMAN BODIES (the 3 shades)

• The kiss - poetic & romantic

• Ugolino & his children - animalistiC

F-Auguste Rodin, Monument to Balzac, 1898

• the HEAD evolved from a portrait resembling a WRITER IN CONCENTRATION

• The BODY leans towards the DILUTION OF FORM & TILTS AWAY

• It is stripped of the writers usual attributes, a POWERFUL EVOCATION OF VISIONARY GENIUS

• The commission was cancelled due to public outrage