[F] SCULPTURE

Sculpture

The art of fashioning figures of wood, clay, plastics, metal, stones, etc; Figures that are carved, cut, or modeled from such materials

Additive

A process whereby material is added again and again to build up the form as in clay

Subtractive

A process whereby removal or subtracting of materials to create the form as in carving

Carving

The process in which the artist subtracts, or cuts away, superfluous material until the desired form is reached; Design is generally compact and is governed by the nature of the material

Modelling

Process mainly consists of addition to, or building up of, form; Materials used are soft and yielding and can be easily shaped, enabling rapid execution

Casting

Manufacturing process by which a liquid material is poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify

Casting

This method is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods

Copper Frog

What is the oldest surviving casting from 3200 BC?

Construction and Assemblage

This method has its origin in collage, a painting technique devised by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in 1912

Relief Sculpture

A raised form that projects from a background or a surface that is made to be seen only from one side or from an angle

Low Relief

A degree of relief project that is also known as bass relief or basso-relievo; Projecting figure is closer to the surface and has no parts detached from the background

High Relief

A degree of relief project that is also known as haut relief or alto-relievo; Figure may be almost detached from the surface

Half Relief

A degree of relief project that is also known as demi relief or mezzo-relievo; Between low and high relief

Crushed Relief

A degree of relief project that is also known as relievo sticciatio; Lowest degree or relief in which the projection barely exceeds the thickness of a sheet of paper

Hollow Relief

A degree of relief project that is also known as cavo-relievo; A relief in reverse in which all the carving lies within a hollowed-out area below the surface plane

Sculpture in the Round

Freestanding sculpture and is often on a pedestal or base; Made to be seen from many directions and angles, and must be fully developed from all points of view

Statue

Representationalist sculpture depicting a specific entity, usually a person, event, animal, or object

Bust

A sculptural representation of a person from the chest up

Equestrian Statue

A sculpture showing a significant person on horseback

Assemblage

A sculpture constructed from found objects; Forms a figurative sculpture from the collection of shapes

Primitive

Small scale sculptures from prehistoric times; This kind of art antedates paintings by several thousands of years with early works that tend to be concentrated on human figures, later more attention is given to animals

Primitive

Most were made of ivory and stone, with some figures in clay; Decorations and ornamentation were usually in form of engravings either by scratchiness or incisions on surface

Venus

Stone figurines with emphasis on the reproductive organs, breasts, and buttocks; Represent fertility goddesses

Venus of Willendorf

A sculpture that was a mere 11.5cm high, and had bulbous proportions; Painted red to resemble blood that signifies life

Mesopotamian

Sculpture was in the form of abstract and geometric designs which were enlivened by formal images of elemental gods, usually achieved by the use of cylinder seal

Cylinder Seal

Made of metal that has designs engraved or embossed on it, rolled on to freshly surfaces that retains its design

Mesopotamian

Sculptures in the round was highly developed in this period; Showed a sophisticated ability to reconcile the human body with abstract forms with relief carvings of lions and bulls

Sumer and Akkad

These Mesopotamian civilizations used basalt, diorite, sandstone, alabaster, precious metals, and shells that were used for inlays; Sculptures had large, staring eyes, and long beards on the men

Sumer and Akkad

These Mesopotamian civilizations used votive stone sculptures from 3100 BC include the Lady of Uruk and other pieces from 2700 BC were discovered at Tell Asmar

Babylonia

This Mesopotamian civilization begun with the reign of Hammurabi who was famous for the code of law; Lamassu, a human-headed winged lion from 883-859 BC

Nimrud

Where was the Lamassu excavated from?

Egyptian

Colossal outdoor sculptures of this period were designed not for the use of living patrons but to accompany or adorn the dead; Idealized representations, immobile of features and always frontal in pose

Egyptian

Sculptures in this period are characterized by the extreme simplicity and grandeur in forms of magnificent lions, bulls of granite, and seated figures of kings and queens

Bas Relief

A type of carving in which the design made prominent by raising it from the background

Incised

The inside of the outline is the one that is carved out

Law of Frontality

Prescribed way to draw the pharaoh was with profile head, legs, arms, and stomach, but frontal shoulders, torso and eyes

Aegean

This period had no interest in large scale sculpture; Designs lacked a sense of proportion

Cycladic

An Aegean period where sculptures were made of marble, and depicted the human figure, ranging from a few inches in size to life-size; Usually nude females with their arms crossed over their abdomen

Minoan

An Aegean period where sculptures consist mainly of a few statuettes of goddesses and carved semi-precious stone seals; Connected with their religious rites and made of terracotta, faience, ivory, and bronze

Snake Goddess

What was one of the best known sculpture from the Minoan period where a woman is seen holding a snake in each hand?

Mycenaean

An Aegean period where sculptures consisted of small carved ivory deities; Evident in the relief carvings that adorned their architecture; Produced funeral masks

Greek

Sculptures from this period were monuments made to honor their gods, commemorate victories, record rites, and depictions of man

Greek

Sculptural characteristics of this period were male figures with one foot forward and arms hanging down, stiffness was left behind, male form becomes more engaging, mainly through the balance of its limbs and treatment of their muscles

Archaic

This Greek period used the Daedalic Style typified by a front facing ahead, flat and triangular in outline and possesses long formless bodies; Largely influenced by Egyptian sculptures

Daedalic Style

A clay mold technique mainly for frontal figures

Kouros

Male sculptural form of the Archaic period

Kore

Female sculptural form of the Archaic period

Archaic Smile

Movement was implied by the face in a sort of grimace which is the only sign of life in archaic sculptures

Early Classical

This Greek period, also known as the Severe Style, explored the inner character and emotions of their subject and attempted to show the body in action or in motion; This Greek period mainly used bronze and gave way to asymmetry

Contrapposto

Used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane

Temple of Zeus at Olympia

What was the greatest monument of the Early Classical period wherein a gigantic 13m high gold and ivory statue of Zeus is seated?

High Classical

This Greek period’s primary concern was to achieve a harmonious relationship of the various parts of the statue to one another and to the whole; Figures were now more idealized

Doryphoros

Polycleitus of Argos made this statue to illustrate his theories on a sense of harmony in sculptures; Represents an idealized conception of the male figure and representation of the perfect male nude

Late Classical

This Greek period had goddesses and heroic female figures depicted in nude

Lyssipus

Revised ideal proportions by making the head smaller in relation to the body

Aphrodite of Cnidus

The first great female nude in the Late Classical age made by Lyssipus; It was an introduction of gracefulness and sensuality to his works

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Great monument of the Late Classical period; Burial place for an ancient king

Hellenistic

This Greek period lost its simplicity and ideal perfection of form; Gained intensity of feeling and became more realist; Subjects were those that people could readily understand and relate to and a development of the trend in female nudes

Myron

A notable sculptor of the Greek period who was famous for the boldness of which he fixed moments of violent action in bronze (ex: Discobolus, the disc thrower)

Phidias

The greatest sculptor of the Greek period who designed and directed the building of the Parthenon and the statues of the gods which initiated the Greek Classical style of art (ex: Athena Parthenos in Athens, Chryselephantine)

Polycleitus

A notable sculptor of the Greek Classical period whose aim was depict people as they were; Used scale of proportions known as canon (ex: Doryphoros, Diadumenos)

Canon

The palm of the hand is 4 the breadth of the finger, the length of the foot is 4x the breadth of the palm, the breadth of the shoulders is 4x the breadth of the head and the height of the figure is 7x the length of the head

Praxiteles

A notable sculptor of the Greek period who always tried new techniques to be as natural as possible; Style was delicate and luminous, giving the body a sensuous texture and implemented the new pose, Praxitelian Curve (ex: Aphrodite of Cnidus, Hermes with the Child Dionysus)

Praxitelian Curve

Exaggerated contrapposto. A sensuous, even erotic, modeling of the body and a severe countenance with an unmistakable glaze

Roman

This period revived the ideal forms of Greek Art; Naturalism in sculpture was revived through the accurate portrayal of facial expressions; Realistic effects were applied in relief sculptures to create the illusion of advancing and receding

Golden Age of Roman Sculpture

Revival of Grecian tastes that stimulated a renewed interest in nude sculpture in the round during the reign of Harden

Negative Relief

Technique by the Romans; Undercutting with a drill around the figure rather than modeling them in rounded forms producing a strong but flattering contrast of light and darkness

Relief, Funeral Relief, Free-Standing, Portrait

What are the four types of Roman sculptures?

Roman

This period introduced the lost wax method; Burials had the need for finely carved sarcophagi in elaborate motifs

Early Christian

This period no longer corresponded to the classical ideas of beauty and had a diminished role because of the biblical prohibition of graven images

Early Christian

This period developed most notably in miniature form, on ivory and wooden reliefs; Tritons, nereids, and other symbols of eternity were used as decoration

Byzantine

This period was where sculpture in the round plays a minimal role; It was a period of Iconography and came in the form of mosaics, mural paintings, book illustrations, ivories, enamels, and icons

Iconoclastic Age

Removal of the figure of Christ from the gates of Imperial Palace and replaced with a cross as a protest against the literal worship of images

Romanesque

This period was where engraved patterned stones were found in monastic sites; Developed into elaborate sculptured crosses six meters high or more

Romanesque

This period had advanced from engraving to relief sculptures; Designs were usually in geometric and interlace patterns and was more commonly carved in reliefs

Gothic

This period made facade sculptures more independent of the wall while subordinating it to the discipline and linear clarity of the architectural design; Purified cylindrical shapes, elongation, strict frontality and tectonic mobility

High Gothic

This Gothic period had sculptures with deeper meanings with other religious figures used as subjects; Attached to the columns but stand on pedestals; Proportions are ideally perfect but no longer elongated and more natural

Late Gothic

This Gothic period gave emphasis to individual free standing or altar pieces; They float than stand on the pedestals and were more realistic

Nicola Pisano

A Gothic artist who had classical leanings and continues the Italian tradition of elaborate freestanding carved pulpits, managed crowded figures, merged into broad narrative panels instead of being tightly compartmented in the Romanesque manner

Giovanni Pisano

A gothic artist who developed free standing sculptures in wood, ivory, and marble

Renaissance

This period showed a full range of human emotions and had an exact knowledge of anatomy and body mechanics, perspective and laws of dynamics were translated with great flexibility into marble

Renaissance

This period freed from its medieval function of architectural decoration with monumental free standing sculptures designed to be seen from all sides

Leon Battista Alberti

A Renaissance artist who gave a practical and theoretical lead to painters and sculptors, giving them not only perspective formulas and proportional canons but also principles of style

Lorenzo Ghiberti

A Renaissance artist who developed Renaissance sculpture from its previous Gothic Styles; Demonstrated knowledge of ancient sculptures and also showed his mastery of the laws of scientific perspective (ex: Gates of Paradise)

Jacobo della Quercia

A Renaissance sculptor of great and sensitive talent

Donatello

Greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance; Has a profound understanding of human psychology and psychological conviction coupled with an unerring sense of theatre

Andrea de Vorrochio

A Renaissance artist who was an influential sculptor, goldsmith, and painter; Created an underage and modestly clad version of David

Michelangelo

A Renaissance artist who carved the first monumental sculptures of the era, the Pieta and David

Mannerist

This period supplanted the Renaissance style; Made a virtue of complexity, distortion and artifice; Focus on the human form, a depiction in intricate poses and in exaggerated and not always realistic settings

Bienvenido Cellini

A Mannerist artist who was known to have a terrible character. Inspired by the drawings of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Rafaello (ex: Perseus)

Giambologona

A Mannerist artist with an elegant and carefully studied formalism with refined and dynamically balanced figures; Output was prodigious and most variously inventive and had equal virtuosity in stone or bronze; Excelled in the creations of fountains (ex: Mercury)

Baroque

This period was where figures moved, flew or contorted with agony; Abundant draperies fell in folds or were swept by the wind; More dramatic by vivid light and dark contrasts produced by pronounced undercutting or deep indentions

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

A Baroque artist with a strong interplay of light, shadow, and movement characterizes all of his works and he was typified by the use of illusion, excitement, and spectacular effects (ex: David, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Cathedra Pietri)

Rococo

This period maintained the theatricality of Baroque, with figures that were more melodramatic and compositions were more complex; Movement away from the grandeur and monumental style of Baroque

Clodion

A Rococo artist who used terracotta; His subjects are nymphs, satyrs, bacchantes, and other classical figures sensually portrayed; Decorator of candelabra, clocks, and vases

Etienne Maurice Falconet

A Rococo artist who became the director of sculpture at the Sevres porcelain factory; Combined Baroque and classical elements and his forte was gentle erotic figures such as the Bather

Neoclassical

This period had noble simplicity and serene grandeur and a clear definition of line and contour; Much inspiration was derived from the archaeological excavations that took place in Italy and in the Mediterranean area

Antonio Canova

A Neoclassic sculptor who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh (ex: Theseus and the Minotaur, Cupid and Psyche)

Berthel Thorvaldsen

A Neoclassic artist inspired by antique and he was so famous in his day for his works that a special museum was built in Copenhagen as a memorial to him (ex: Hebe)

Edgar Degas

French artist from the Contemporary/Modern period whose work consisted of ballet dancers, women bathing and racehorses; Catches the action of the moment; Prefers to work in the studio and had little interest in landscape and uses mixed media (ex: Little 14 year old Dancer)