The human figure in sculpture is a powerful form, capable of great expression and depth. Sculpting the figure in any medium is a rewarding practice, but one that presents special challenges for the maker. Tanya Russell, founder and principal of the Art Academy in London, details the whole creative process for sculpting the figure, from the fundamental conceptual and practical considerations through to the finished and presented work. She covers essential tools and equipment, methods for building armatures, and the processes for creating not only realistic, but also abstract and expressive figures, in a variety of styles and materials. Techniques are supported by practical exercises with step-by-step instructions and images. The book is filled with the inspiring works of contemporary sculptors, all of whom are tutors, students, or alumni of the Art Academy. Modelling and Sculpting the Figure is an essential companion for beginners and established artists alike.

Initially, they were the waste product of wooden bowls turned in an ancient technique by Robin Wood of the United Kingdom, an expert pole-lathe turner and author. Known for his historical and functional objects made on a foot-powered lathe, Wood keeps the tradition of pole turning alive. The leg-powered process Wood uses results in thousands of solid, round chunks - Cores - that get broken out of the center of the bowl at the last moment. Wood donated 100 Cores, which ranged in size from 2 x 2 to 3 x 4 to The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia. The Center sent Cores to two-score artists who agreed to the challenge of reworking them into new pieces of art. These works, shown here in more than 240 color photos, formed the exhibition - Robin Wood's CORES Recycled - by The Center for Art in Wood.

In the 1930s sculptors began to heat and shape metal directly and a new type of sculpture and artist emerged. This revised and expanded edition retains all the techniques and inspiration to help artists find the answers they needed for creating direct metal sculpture. New chapters update its history over the past quarter century. One new chapter explains the impact public art programs are having on culture in our cities. There are also sections on the impact of the computer on design and marketing of art. This is the latest, most complete, and practical book about an art form destined to become increasingly popular. Over 475 illustrations offer ideas, inspiration, techniques, and finished examples of art. This book is a must own for artists, craftsmen, collectors, designers, gallery owners, museum curators, and everyone interested in metal sculpture. Historical examples show where the art has been, where it is, and who is doing it.

T.J. Neil shares his techniques and recipes for success in the creation of enormous concrete sculptures strong enough to withstand transport and the tests of time. This book provides valuable insights into the successful construction of concrete art through text and 371 clear color photos of concrete sculptures, both complete and under construction. A list of required materials and sound advice for procuring and mixing concrete are provided. The wide variety of concrete sculpture subjects portrayed provide artists with inspiration for projects large and small. See fishermen, strong men, mermaids, alligators, dolphins, manatees, frogs, grizzly bears, whales, horses, panthers, cows, sharks, elephants, and even a ten-foot, five thousand pound dragon that hisses three-foot flames. are also shown. Concrete craftsmen will find this book an endless source of inspiration.

Catalogue and iconography of the extraordinary wealth of images of Sir Isaac Newton, both before and after his death. Sir Isaac Newton [1642-1727] is rare among figures of the past for the number of authentic paintings, engravings and images of him which survive. He was painted by some nine different artists in the latter part of his life, and after his death both portraits and sculptures continued to proliferate, the amazing demand for representations of his image demonstrating his immense fame. This iconography, lavishly illustrated in both colour and black and white, and involving the disciplines of History of Art and History of Science, catalogues 231 icons in two sections, and is thus an invaluable guide to the images. Part I contains 122 portraits and Part II 109 sculptures, about fifty of which were produced before his death, the rest from then until 1800.

This inspiring and beautifully illustrated book chronicles the lives of seventeen pioneering women sculptors who dared to speak their truths about inequality and injustice and overcame obstacles of gender and race in the last hundred and fifty years. The works that these talented artists cast, carved, and moulded mirror both their internal worlds and the society surrounding them. There is no better way to inspire young women to fulfil their destiny with courage than to give them these brilliantly brief and cogent portraits of great women who shaped the world of sculpting and through that, our culture, and our world. Ausherman puts the spotlight on women artists simply by celebrating them insightfully, and so well. With many helpful references for additional in-depth readings and beautiful photographs taken by Steven Taylor, this book is a gem for anyone who loves reading how immensely skilful and creative people pursue their passions through the art of sculpture.

Nancy Holt: Inside/Outside takes a journey through the artist's key experiments in visual art presenting works never seen before, commissioning new critical thinking, and amplifying knowledge of an artist whose ideas are fundamental to how we define art today. Over the course of fifty years, Nancy Holt's rich output spanned concrete poetry, audio, film and video, photography, drawings, room-sized installations, earthworks, and public sculpture. Nancy Holt: Inside/Outside details her unique and significant contributions, situating an important female voice within the narratives of land art and conceptual art. Initiating her art practice in 1966 with concrete poetry, she soon expanded her ideas into other media and the landscape. Through each of the mediums she worked in, Holt explored how we understand our place in the world by investigating perception and site within and outside of traditional museum contexts. In the mid-1970s Holt completed her most influential earthwork, Sun Tunnels, an artwork central to the definition of land art. Rigorous documentation of Holt's work, as well as contributions by key scholars, previously unseen photoworks and drawings, and a revealing, never-before-published "self-interview" by the artist bring her work into far fuller context. Developed in close consultation with Holt/Smithson Foundation, an artist endowed organization dedicated to preserving and extending the work of Nancy Holt and her husband Robert Smithson, this expansive publication will serve as a major contribution to the critical ongoing research into the art of our time. This new book is published to coincide with an exhibition anchored at Bildmuseet in Umea, Sweden, and traveling to MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona and further internationally.

Raised as a Quaker in Eastern Pennsylvania, designer and sculptor Paul Evans is known for his highly unusual and yet completely functional furniture designs. Evans produced more than a dozen lines of furniture and countless design variations during his thirty-year career as a mid- to late 20th century artist and designer. Regardless of his materials, whether metal, wood, or even cardboard, his work continues to defy easy categorization. It is modern and yet independent of recognizable influences. Other designers and manufacturers openly copied his work, though these copies lacked the presence Evans easily achieved. At the height of his popularity in the mid-1970s, Evans employed nearly ninety people. Several museums and galleries exhibited his work, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Today, his work is sought by collectors, who value its style and quality. His unusual furniture and sculpture stand the test of time and are displayed here in over 220 vivid photos. It appears classic and contemporary at the same time. This book will be treasured by all who have a passion for design.

This title was first published 2003. In the twentieth century, Britain was rich in artistic achievement, especially in sculpture. Just some of those working in this field were Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro, Richard Long, Mona Hatoum and Anish Kapoor. The work of these and other known and less well-known artists has an astonishing variety and expressive power, a range and strength that has placed Britain at the hub of the artistic world. Alan Windsor has compiled a concise biographical dictionary of sculpture in Britain in book form. Richly informative and easy-to-use, this guide is an art-lover's and expert's essential reference. Written by scholars, the entries are cross-referenced and each concise biographical outline provides the relevant facts about the artist's life, a brief characterization of the artist's work, and, where appropriate, major bibliographical references.

This lavishly illustrated book breaks new ground in focusing on some of the many successful professional British women sculptors active during this period. Largely unknown, the few women who have been mentioned in histories of twentieth century British sculpture have been those who adhered to the (masculine) Modernist canon. Organized by theme this book explores and illustrates an unusually large number of and stylistically varied works. The social and cultural contexts in which these women sculptors were working are investigated, revealing how, mostly male, commentators often fixated on their gender at the expense of seriously engaging with their work. A wide variety of sources are used, ranging from contemporary art historical accounts to articles in popular magazines. This book explores contemporary sculptural developments, art school training, exhibiting opportunities, and the writings of influential critics. It also reveals how important photography, film and the written word were in the creation of reputations. Alongside revealing important works and individuals, this book's originality also lies in its scope, covering diverse sculptural genres such as decorative sculpture and utilitarian objects for the home and garden; portraits and statues; architectural sculpture, war memorials and ecclesiastical work.

The first biography of sculptor Chana Orloff. In Sculpting a Life, the first book-length biography of sculptor Chana Orloff (1888-1968), author Paula Birnbaum tells the story of a fiercely determined and ambitious woman who fled antisemitism in Ukraine, emigrated to Palestine with her family, then travelled to Paris to work in haute couture before becoming an internationally recognized artist. Against the backdrop of revolution, world wars, a global pandemic and forced migrations, her sculptures embody themes of gender, displacement, exile, and belonging. A major figure in the School of Paris, Orloff contributed to the canon of modern art alongside Picasso, Modigliani and Chagall. Stories from her unpublished memoir enrich this life story of courage, perseverance, and extraordinary artistic accomplishments that take us through the aftermath of the Holocaust when Orloff lived between Paris and Tel Aviv. This biography brings new perspectives and understandings to Orloff's multiple identities as a cosmopolitan emigre, woman, and Jew, and is a much-needed intervention into the narrative of modern art.

The notion that the practice of abstraction was confined to Western Europe while a stereotyped form of figuration defined the art of the Eastern bloc continues to dominate art historical accounts of public sculpture of the post-war period. This book offers a number of alternative readings, and demonstrates strategic uses of figuration and abstraction across East and West. Encompassing sites of memory (including war memorials and Holocaust memorials), state, civic and corporate sculpture, as well as temporary and unexecuted projects, the book shows that persuasive advocates of figuration were to be found in the West, while in the East imaginative experiments in abstraction were proposed in the name of Social Realism. Presenting fresh insights into sculptural practice in the period between 1945 and 1968, this book brings together a wide range of authors, some of whom have never before been published in English. Their essays are complemented by extracts from documentary texts, which give a flavour of contemporary debates, and a biographical section includes entries on many sculptors who will be unfamiliar to an English-speaking audience.

The institution of the pantheon has come a long way from its classical origins. Invented to describe a temple dedicated to many deities, the term later became so far removed from its original meaning, that by the twentieth century, it has been able to exist independently of any architectural and sculptural monument. This collection of essays is the first to trace the transformation of the monumental idea of the pantheon from its origins in Greek and Roman antiquity to its later appearance as a means of commemorating and enshrining the ideals of national identity and statehood. Illuminating the emergence of the pantheon in a range of different cultures and periods by exploring its different manifestations and implementations, the essays open new historical perspectives on the formation of national and civic identities.

The expression 'the Zola of Sculpture' was coined in the circles of the Royal Academy in the 1880s as a term of abuse. Rodin: 'The Zola of Sculpture' reveals how the appraisal of Rodin in British culture was shaped by controversies around the literary models of Zola and Baudelaire, in a period when negative notions about French culture were being progressively transformed into positive expressions of modern sculpture. Embedded within this collaborative book is the editor's proposition that Rodin came to play an important role in the cultural politics of the Entente Cordiale at a critical juncture of European history. Encompassing new scholarship in several disciplines, drawn from both sides of the Channel, Rodin: 'The Zola of Sculpture' offers the first in-depth account of Rodin's career in Britain in the period 1880-1914 and weaves this historical trajectory into a complex investigation of the interactions between French and British cultures. The authors examine the cultural agencies in which conceptions of Rodin's practice played a defining role, dealing in turn with artists' professional associations, art criticism, private and public collectors and the education of women sculptors.

The first book-length examination of the clay models and creative process of the preeminent neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova The most celebrated sculptor of the neoclassical age, Antonio Canova (1757–1822) established himself as the preeminent artist of his time with his funerary monuments and meticulously carved marbles on classical themes. Although his idealized and sensual sculptures are widely known, this is the first book devoted entirely to the brilliantly expressive clay models that he made in preparation for his marble sculptures. Only sixty-five of his terracotta models survive today. Extraordinarily modern in their boldness, the models retain the touch of the artist’s hand and yield a revelatory glimpse into Canova’s imaginative and technical process. The authors, with expertise in art history and conservation, examine Canova’s techniques for making terracotta models, including how he used clay to develop full-scale models that his assistants copied in marble, and his practice of gifting his models to friends. Distributed for the National Gallery of Art, Washington Exhibition Schedule: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (June 11–October 9, 2023) Art Institute of Chicago (November 19, 2023–March 18, 2024)  

The power and beauty of traditional African sculpture has influenced 20th century art and design around the world. Found in many museums, its abstract forms, skillful rendering, and deep symbolism has also made it a welcome addition to the homes of private collectors. This new book offers a broad survey of the traditional sculpture that is available in the marketplace. The sculpture shown here covers a span of 100 years and focuses on masks, statuary, and architectural carvings in wood, bronze, and terracotta from sub-Saharan Africa with a sampling of the contemporary work in stone. The works are presented in beautiful color photographs, and accompanied by helpful, informative captions and a guide to values in today's market. The book helps the collector evaluate the quality and authenticity of African sculpture.

A Host of Devils provides an in-depth account of the background, origin and development of the spirit figure sculptures which emerged during colonial times among the Makonde people of Mozambique.
The creation of such works is shown to connect with a regional system of knowledge and practice, within which spirits function as a format for expression. The book describes the ways in which the sculpture emerged, as well as the author's experience of learning how to carve.

The world that shaped Europe's first national sculptor-celebrities, from Schadow to David d'Angers, from Flaxman to Gibson, from Canova to Thorvaldsen, was the city of Rome. Until around 1800, the Holy See effectively served as Europe's cultural capital, and Roman sculptors found themselves at the intersection of the Italian marble trade, Grand Tour expenditure, the cult of the classical male nude, and the Enlightenment republic of letters. Two sets of visitors to Rome, the David circle and the British traveler, have tended to dominate Rome's image as an open artistic hub, while the lively community of sculptors of mixed origins has not been awarded similar attention. Rome, Travel and the Sculpture Capital, c.1770-1825 is the first study to piece together the labyrinthine sculptors' world of Rome between 1770 and 1825. The volume sheds new light on the links connecting Neo-classicism, sculpture collecting, Enlightenment aesthetics, studio culture, and queer studies. The collection offers ideal introductory reading on sculpture and Rome around 1800, but its combination of provocative perspectives is sure to appeal to a readership interested in understanding a modernized Europe's overwhelmingly transnational desire for Neo-classical, Roman sculpture.

I am interested in your personal hang-ups: Not your lifetime neuroses but your (ideal) hat, coat and/or clothes tree or hanger, wall hooks, free standing pole, rack, stand or small wall system. With this invitation Gail M. Brown, an independent curator, challenged artists to create inventive forms for an exhibition at The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia. The resulting sculptures by 38 artists ranged from a straightforward coat rack to a four-foot apartment house riding on a fish, from a scepter-like paean to Joan Miro to a four eyes nun-backed chair, and from a bird house to a wall-mounted seat and desktop. The artists used a wide range of woods, from the ordinary to the exotic, as well as rubber, steel, and gold-plated brass. The works project grace, intelligence, whimsy, humor, and serious craft.

This title was first published 2003. In the twentieth century, Britain was rich in artistic achievement, especially in sculpture. Just some of those working in this field were Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro, Richard Long, Mona Hatoum and Anish Kapoor. The work of these and other known and less well-known artists has an astonishing variety and expressive power, a range and strength that has placed Britain at the hub of the artistic world. Alan Windsor has compiled a concise biographical dictionary of sculpture in Britain in book form. Richly informative and easy-to-use, this guide is an art-lover's and expert's essential reference. Written by scholars, the entries are cross-referenced and each concise biographical outline provides the relevant facts about the artist's life, a brief characterization of the artist's work, and, where appropriate, major bibliographical references.

This book elaborates on the social and cultural phenomenon of national schools during the nineteenth century, via the less studied field of sculpture and using Belgium as a case study. The role, importance of, and emphasis on certain aspects of national identity evolved throughout the century, while a diverse array of criteria were indicated by commissioners, art critics, or artists that supposedly constituted a "national sculpture." By confronting the role and impact of the four most crucial actors within the artistic field (politics, education, exhibitions, public commissions) with a linear timeframe, this book offers a chronological as well as a thematic approach. Artists covered include Guillaume Geefs, Eugene Simonis, Charles Van der Stappen, Julien Dillens, Paul Devigne, Constantin Meunier, and George Minne.

This book examines a famous series of sculptures by the German artist Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783) known as his "Character Heads." These are busts of human heads, highly unconventional for their time, representing strange, often inexplicable facial expressions. Scholars have struggled to explain these works of art. Some have said that Messerschmidt was insane, while others suggested that he tried to illustrate some sort of intellectual system. Michael Yonan argues that these sculptures are simultaneously explorations of art's power and also critiques of the aesthetic limits that would be placed on that power.

An incisive history revealing Britain's conquest of the Kingdom of Benin and the plunder of its fabled Bronzes. The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum's most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa's most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the Bronzes' renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy Docherty's searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Blood and Bronze sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the Empire's true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria.

Considerations about size and scale have always played a central role within Greek and Roman visual culture, deeply affecting sculptural production. Both Greeks and Romans, in particular, had a clear notion of “colossality� and were able to fully exploit its implications with sculpture in many different areas of social, cultural and religious life. Instead, despite their ubiquitous presence, an equal and contrary categorization for small size statues does not seem to have existed in Greek and Roman culture, leading one to wonder what were the ancient ways of conceptualizing sculptural representations in a format markedly smaller than “life-size.� Even in the context of modern scholarship on Classical Art, few notions appear to be as elusive as that of “small sculpture�, often treated with a certain degree of diffidence well summarized in the formula Klein, aber Kunst? In fact, a large and heterogeneous variety of objects corresponds to this definition: all kinds of small sculpture, from statuettes to miniatures, in a variety of materials including stone, bronze, and terracotta, associated with a great array of functions and contexts, and with extremely different levels of manufacture and patronage. It would be a major misunderstanding to think of these small sculptures in general as nothing more than a cheap and simplified alternative to larger scale statues. Compared with those, their peculiar format allowed for a wider range of choices, in terms, for example, of use of either cheap or extremely valuable materials (not only marble and bronze, but also gold and silver, ivory, hard stones, among others), methods of production (combining seriality and variation), modes of fruition (such as involving a degree of intimacy with the beholder, rather than staging an illusion of “presence�). Furthermore, their pervasive presence in both private and public spaces at many levels of Greek and Roman society presents us with a privileged point of view on the visual literacy of a large and varied public. Although very different in many respects, small-sized sculptures entertained often a rather ambivalent relationship with their larger counterparts, drawing from them at the same time schemes, forms and iconographies. By offering a fresh, new analysis of archaeological evidence and literary sources, through a variety of disciplinary approaches, this volume helps to illuminate this rather complex dynamic and aims to contribute to a better understanding of the status of Greek and Roman small size sculpture within the general development of ancient art.