1. Chapter 9
Sculpture

2. A sculptor is a person obsessed with the form and shape of things, and it’s not just the shape of one thing, but the shape of anything and everything: the hard, tense strength, although delicate form of a bone; the strong, solid fleshiness of a beech tree trunk –Henry Moore

3. Introduction What is sculpture? Why is sculpture important to us?
Introduction
What is sculpture?
Why is sculpture important to us?
Why does sculpture create an emotion in humans?
Why have we felt the need to create sculptures and monumental sculptures throughout our history?

4. Sculpture
Sculpture - The art of carving, casting, modeling, or assembling materials into three-dimensional figures or forms
Relief sculpture
Bas-Relief or low relief
High Relief
Freestanding sculpture

5. Subtractive and Additive Types of Sculpture
Subtractive Process - Carving, unwanted materials are removed.
Additive Process - Modeling, Casting, Construction

7. Carving
Carving - removing portions of a block of material to create a form.
Can use stone, wood, ivory, chocolate…

8. Figure 9. 2, p. 179 MICHELANGELO. The Cross-Legged Captive (c
Figure 9.2, p.179 MICHELANGELO. The Cross-Legged Captive (c. 1530–1534). Marble. H: 7’6 1⁄2”.

9. Modeling
Modeling - using a pliable material, such as clay or wax, the artist shapes the material into a 3D form.
Can be done by hand or tools.

10. Casting
Casting - liquid metal material is poured into a mold to create a form.
Mold - the form into which the material is poured and imparts its shape.
Any material that hardens can be used for casting.
One of the oldest and most common is Bronze.

11. Figure 9. 3, p. 179: LOUISE BOURGEOIS. Portrait of Robert (1969)
Figure 9.3, p.179: LOUISE BOURGEOIS. Portrait of Robert (1969). Cast bronze with white patina.
13” x 12 1⁄2” x 10”.

12. The Lost-Wax Technique
The artist creates a form, and from this form a mold is created by covering the shape, usually in plaster or resin.
The inside of the mold is then filled or covered with wax.
The wax is removed and covered in a sandy mixture of silica, clay and plaster to create a investiture.
Investiture - a fire resistant mold into which the liquid metal will be poured.
The wax is heated and poured out of the now sold investiture and replaced with the liquid metal.
The finished metal sculpture is removed from the investiture, and burnished.
Burnished - treated chemically to take on a texture and color.

13. Figure 9. 6, p. 181: SHERRIE LEVINE. Fountains after Duchamp (1991)
Figure 9.6, p.181: SHERRIE LEVINE. Fountains after Duchamp (1991). Bronze. Installation view at Sherrie Levine Exhibition in the Zürich Kunsthalle ( – ), Zürich, Switzerland.

14. Figure 9.7, p.181: GEORGE SEGAL. Three Figures and Four Benches (1979). Painted bronze. 52” x 144” x 58”.

15. Construction
Constructed sculpture - forms are built from materials such as wood, paper, string, sheet metal, and wire.

16. Types of Materials
Stone
Wood
Clay
Metal

17. Stone Stone is extremely hard It is also very durable
Appropriate for monuments and statues
Stone tools include the chisel, mallet, and rasp.
Artists also use contemporary power tools

18. Figure 9. 8, p. 182: LOUISE BOURGEOIS. Eyes (1982). Marble
Figure 9.8, p.182: LOUISE BOURGEOIS. Eyes (1982). Marble. 74 3⁄4” x 54” x 45 3⁄4”.

19. Wood Wood can be carved, scraped, drilled, polished, molded and bent.
Different types of woods vary in how hard they are.
Wood appeals to sculpture artists, because of its grain, color, and workability.
Wood is easier to carve than stone.
Tensile strength - the inherent strength of a material.

20. Figure 9. 10, p. 184: PO SHUN LEONG. Figure (1993)
Figure 9.10, p.184: PO SHUN LEONG. Figure (1993). Mahogany with hidden drawers. H: 50”.

21. Clay Clay is more pliable than stone or wood
Clay is not very strong.
Nor is is permanent.
Armature - an inner skeleton normally made of metal, used to help give clay additional strength.

22. Metal
Metals can be cast, extruded, forged, stamped, drilled, filed, and burnished.
Cast bronze sculptures
Direct-metal sculptures - Assembling sculpture by welding, riveting, and soldering.
Patinas - the colors created on bronze due to oxidation.

23. Figure 9. 12, p. 185: RICHARD SERRA
Figure 9.12, p.185: RICHARD SERRA. Installation view, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain.

24. Modern and Contemporary Materials and Methods
Throughout history sculptors have searched for new forms of expression.
Constructed sculpture
Assemblage
Readymades
Mixed media
Kinetic sculpture
Light sculpture
Land art

25. Constructed sculpture
The artist “builds” the sculpture
Materials could include, sheet metal, cardboard, celluloid, or wire
Some artworks are lighter than those from stone or wood
Unorthodox materials can also be used

26. Constructed sculpture
Figure 9.13, p. 186 PABLO PICASSO. Mandolin and Clarinet (1913). Wood construction and paint.

27. Figure 9. 14, p. 186: CLAES OLDENBURG. Soft Toilet (1966)
Figure 9.14, p.186: CLAES OLDENBURG. Soft Toilet (1966). Vinyl filled with kapok painted with Liquitex,
and wood. 57 1⁄16” x 27 5⁄8” x 28 1⁄16”.

28. Assemblage A form of constructed sculpture
Pre-existing or found objects take on a new form as artwork
Novel combinations that take on a new life and meaning
One of the best-known examples is Picasso’s Bull’s Head

29. Readymades
Found objects can be elevated to works of art on pedestals, such as Duchamp’s urinal, turned upside down.
This is a 20th-century artistic trend
No assembly is needed for this artform

30. Mixed Media
Mixed Media - Use materials and found objects that are not normally elements of a work of art.
Artists, such as Rauschenberg (see Ch. 20), may attach other materials to their canvases.
What might be some the materials you could use in a Mixed Media sculpture?

31. Kinetic Sculpture
Kinetic sculpture - Sculptures that move, art + action. Example: the mobile.
Forms of movement might include:
Wind
Magnetic fields
Jets of water
Electric motors
The intensity of light
Human manipulations

32. Light Sculpture
Light and its reflections have always been an important elements in sculpture (and art!)
However, “light sculpture” is a 20th-century artform
What are the physical and psychological effects of color and the creation of illusion?

33. Other Materials
Sculpture today uses not only traditional materials, but also materials that have never been used before.
Example: beeswax, microcrystalline wax, chocolate, styrofoam, etc…

34. Figure 9. 22, p. 191: JANINE ANTONI. Chocolate Gnaw (1992)
Figure 9.22, p.191: JANINE ANTONI. Chocolate Gnaw (1992). Chocolate (600 lb before biting), gnawed by the artist. 24” x 24” x 24” (61 cm x 61 cm x 61 cm).