Sculpture ARTS 1313

Carving – Subtractive Process Paleolithic Woman- Venus of Willendorf 28,00 0– 20,000 BCE Paleolithic period Limestone, 4 inches high Found near Villendorf, Austria

• Carved – took advantage of shape of rock • Not naturalistic – but stylized female form • Focus on breasts, navel, pubic area suggests focus on female as child bearer • Perhaps a “fertility figure”

Carving – subtractive process Relief - Mesopotamian

Stele with Laws of Hammurabi 1780 BCE Basalt, c 7ft tall Found at Susa, Iran Currently in the Louvre in Paris

• Carved relief • Top relief depicts King Hammurabi raising his arm in respect to the sun god Shamash who hands him the symbols of building – a coiled rope and measuring rod. These symbolize the role of Hammurabi to build a strong social order - render judgment and enforce the 300 laws depicted in 3500 lines of Akkadian cuneiform script • Bottom relief - Laws/punishment pertain to everyday life in Babylon regarding theft, violence, murder, divorce, incest

Carving – subtractive process “Low” Relief - Greek

Maidens and Stewards – fragment of Panathenaic Procession, east frieze (sculptural band) of the Parthenon Acropolis, Athens, 447 – 438 BCE Marble, 43 inches high

While very naturalistic, this is considered a low relief because no figure projects more than ½ its entire form from the base. Note rendition of drapery ; some contrapposto poses. If this is indeed, a rendition of the Panathenaic Procession that took place every four years, it is very significant that the Greeks felt that they could depict common man directly next to their Gods and Goddesses.

High Relief (carved and cast) - Competition for bronze door panels at Baptistery of San Giovanni

Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-1402 Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-1402 Competition for east door panels - gilded bronze, Competition for east door panels - gilded bronze, 21” x 17 “ 21” x 17 “ Carved –subtractive process High Relief Egyptian

Menkaure and Khamerernebty Fourth Dynasty, Egypt 2490-2472 BCE Graywacke, 4’6” high MFA –Boston

Egyptian kings were divine, so a formula developed for depicting them: Perfect body, flawless face-whatever his true age was. He wore a simple kilt, Linen folded headdress, attached beard – (postiche). The stance is rigid and the male and female while touching, are serious with eyes forward. The remaining stone between the two figures causes this to be classified as a high relief sculpture – rather than sculpture in the round. The Development of Sculptural Style and aesthetics

Kritios Boy from Acropolis- Kouros (youth) from Attica, 600 BCE, Artist : – Apoxyomenos- (The Nike of Samothrace-Winged Victory- marble- 480 BCE –marble- c 3’ high – Archaic Period, marble 6’ grave Scraper)- Roman copy of Greek original 190 BCE- 8’ 1” high-Nike is an attribute of first to depict contrapposto- statuary, one of earliest life size- bronze-330 BCE-marble 6’ 9”- Late Athena Goddess of Wisdom- Hellenistic Period – makes this the Classical formal pose-like Egypt-BUT nude and Classical Period -new formula of high drama, energy, movement- Nike lands on Period -weight shift-natural negative space is carved away, so- proportion-head is now 1/8 of body – ship’s prow to crown a naval victor, wings rather than formal formula- free standing 3-d sculpture- man and natural, energetic athlete scraping- extended-drapery flowing revealing power of head turned gods shown the same projection of arm into space depicts true wind-placed in fountain of splashing water Acropolis, Athens Metropolitan NYC sculpture in round-Vatican Museum Louvre, Paris

David – As portrayed by three artists in three time periods

Artist Donatello, 1440-1460 – Bronze- Artist , 1501-1504 – marble, 17’ Artist Bernini, 1623 from the Villa Borghese, Rome, 5’2” high, Museo Nazionale del Bargelo, for the Piazza della Signoria, Florence – marble 5’7” high – Baroque Period, expansive, Florence – relaxed contrapposto – 1st monumental High classic dramatic energy, time and motion – sculpture twists Renaissance nude sculpture –victorious contrapposto nude depicting the emotionalism and turns and pushes out in space as is in the biblical hero David was symbol of of the Hellenistic Greek period as he focuses on process of slinging the stone at Goliath – compares to Florentine Republic ideals of freedom the (implied) Goliath before the battle – the Hellenistic Greek Period and independence and favored by the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence Galleria Borghese, Rome wealthy patrons-the Medici Casting (lost wax casting) - France

Pathos is a quality of an experience in life, or a work of art, that stirs up emotions of pity, sympathy, and sorrow. Pathos can be expressed through words, pictures, or even with gestures of the body. Pathos is an important tool of persuasion in arguments

Auguste Rodin – The Burghers of Calais, 1884-5 - Bronze, 6ft. 7 ½ in. x 6 ft. 8 in. - size and complexity called for casting this in several pieces, then welded together- Sculpture commissioned by the city of Calais to commemorate six of its leading citizens (burghers) who, during the 100 Years War in 1347, agreed to sacrifice themselves to the English in order to save their town. Rodin focused on the emotions of the burghers and expressively used postures and hands to help express their pathos. Displayed at ground level for a more inclusive, immediate impact. Place de l’Hotel de Ville, Calais, France Modeling – then Casting China Tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi 221-206 BCE 6,000 Painted ceramic figures Found in 1974 by well diggers who accidentally dug into the tomb of the Emperor

These figures are realistic soldiers, ,scribes, horses, clerks and court figures whose role was to be immortal bodyguards for the king. They were modeled in clay, cast into forms , assembled and painted.

Ceramics are the art form made from clay that has been fired in various types of ovens (kilns). Pieces are first bisque fired to make them hard and then a second firing would be required for glazed, non-porous vessels.

Assemblages additive process

Top Louise Nevelson – Topical Garden II, 1957-59 – wood painted black – c. 6 ft. x 11 ft. Russian born artist created architectural and found object . She was interested in creating a mysterious field of shapes and shadows – left open to imagination and interpretation. Musee National d’ArtModerne,Grorges Pompidou, Paris

Right Display Piece – Yoruba Culture – early 20th century - Cloth, basketry, beads, and fiber-Height 41 inches – For the Yoruba, geometric shapes divided into smaller shapes suggest the infinite cosmos . The variety of geometric patterns and beads suggest the idea of whole completeness. They refer to this as “shine.” British Museum, London Installations Sarah Sze, Triple Point (Pendulum) 2013 salt, water, stone, string, projector, video, pendulum, and mixed media Dimensions variable Additive process

A huge variety of common objects are grouped around a circle with the points of a compass . A motorized pendulum swinging erratically gives a sense of purpose and randomness. The artist wants the work to be an experience of something alive – to have a feeling that it was improvised. One might sense a great accumulation of “stuff” that has the potential to increase and take over our environment.

Earth Art

Robert Smithson Spiral Jetty April 1970, Great Salt Lake, Utah Black rock, salt crystals, earth and red water (algae) 3ft. X 15 ft. x 1500 ft.

The spiral form is one used frequently in many cultures to symbolize motion of the cosmos, expansion and contraction, life and death… Smithson created a man-made landscape which, he knew, would change with time. Shortly after its construction, it disappeared as the lake rose. It re-surfaced in 2003 encased in salt crystals- a new man/earth landscape. This piece was inspired by The Great Serpent Mound in Ohio- built by the Native American Hopewell between 600 BCE – 200 CE Sculptural Form Emerging from the Earth

Maya Lin Vietnam Veterans Memorial (looking north) Washington, D.C. 1981 – 1983

This was initially very controversial because of the lack of traditional figurative imagery commemorating power or war. In fact, the memorial has become one of the most visited across the nation. The “voices” of the deceased heroes resonate as visitors look on and often touch the sober list of 58,000+ names of men and women who gave their lives in the Vietnam conflict. Environments – Ernesto Neto, TorusMacroCopula – 2012 Tokyo

One of four sculptures in Madness is Part of Life – polypropylene, polyester string, and plastic balls 25 ft. 7in.

Body and mind are linked as one walks, unbalanced, on the suspend balls in the netting tunnels. Neto is creating an experience outside of our normal “being” Art Parks

Zhang Huan – Three-Legged Buddha, 2007 – steel and copper, 28ft. X 42ft. X22ft This was conceived as a tribute to all the Buddha sculptures destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and the 1970s. The legs are modeled on Buddha sculpture fragments, perforations on the surface allow smoke from incense to be seen. The head rising from the earth is a self portrait. Smoke emerges from his eyes. There are doors for entrance into the sculpture. Storm King Art Center, Hudson Valley, New York