The Lives of Chinese Objectsis a fascinating book. It is the result of excellent historical research as well as curatorial expertise. The reader is taken on an amazing journey starting with the startling discovery of the image of five Chinese bronzes on display as part of the Great Exhibition in 1851...The stories uncovered are riveting, a mix of curatorial detail and description, historical research and theoretical analysis. This book is beautifully written - clear, detailed and informative. The author is ever present in the text and the book is as much a story of her journey, as it is a story of the lives of the 'Putuo Five'. I just wanted to keep reading." . Suzanne MacLeod, University of Leicester

This is the biography of a set of rare Buddhist statues from China. Their extraordinary adventures take them from the Buddhist temples of fifteenth-century Putuo - China's most important pilgrimage island - to their seizure by a British soldier in the First Opium War in the early 1840s, and on to a starring role in the Great Exhibition of 1851. In the 1850s, they moved in and out of dealers' and antiquarian collections, arriving in 1867 at Liverpool Museum. Here they were re-conceptualized as specimens of the 'Mongolian race' and, later, as examples of Oriental art. The statues escaped the bombing of the Museum during the Second World War and lived out their existence for the next sixty years, dismembered, corroding and neglected in the stores, their histories lost and origins unknown.

As the curator of Asian collections at Liverpool Museum, the author became fascinated by these bronzes, and selected them for display in the Buddhism section of the World Cultures gallery. In 2005, quite by chance, the discovery of a lithograph of the figures on prominent display in the Great Exhibition enabled the remarkable lives of these statues to be reconstructed.

Newly published in paperback to coincide with the Barbara Hepworth retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain in 2015, this fascinating book combines a fully illustrated catalogue of the sculptor's surviving prototypes in plaster (and a number also in aluminium and wood), generously gifted to The Hepworth Wakefield by the Hepworth Estate, with a detailed analysis of her working methods and a comprehensive history of her work in bronze. The Hepworth's collection of over forty unique, unknown sculptures are the surviving working models from which editions of bronzes were cast. They range in size from works that can be held in the hand to monumental sculptures, including the Winged Figure for John Lewis's Oxford Street headquarters. The majority are original plasters on which the artist worked with her own hands and to scale. It was in plaster that Hepworth experimented most as she made the transition from stone and wood to bronze, testing the potential of her new material as she went. Sophie Bowness's illuminating text describes the different means by which this increasingly important artist made her plaster works, and why. Drawing extensively on archival records and photographs, this publication is an important source of information about a significant collection of work, the gallery which houses it and Hepworth in general. The catalogue illuminates the histories of Hepworth's sculptures through fascinating archival photographs, which demonstrate everything from the varied tools used by Hepworth to the logistical problems of transporting her monumental pieces through the narrow streets of St Ives. The book provides a much-needed account of Hepworth's studio practice, her relations with foundries, and the evolution of her public commissions.

Explore the human form in depth, from concept sketches and armatures to detailed instructions for constructing legs, torso, arms, hands, and head from clay. In Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay, renowned sculptor and instructorCristina Cordova teaches everything you need to know to replicate the full human figure using clay. Start by developing meaningful sketches and reference points. Then learn how to make and use an armature to create hollow forms that are safe to fire in a kiln. Using patterns and slabs, you can move on to develop a full human form, head to toe. Work along with the author to create a form about two-feet tall, or choose your own size: the patterns and instructions can work in a variety of scales. Photographic demonstrations and diagrams cover the construction and articulation of feet and legs, the hip area and upper torso, arms, hands, neck, and head. Cristina includes supplementary tips and insights throughout to support the sculpting process and enhance naturalism. You'll also find a brief section on general anatomical concepts and modeling strategies to facilitate accuracy and expression as all the components come together. Whether you are a clay artist with limited experience in figurative sculpture or a figurative sculptor outside the world of ceramics looking for a straightforward fabrication strategy to create permanent compositions from clay, Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay will expertly guide your way.

Having met the elusive Maggi Hambling, This book is pure Maggi at her best.The book details the first ideas for the scallop to its placing on Aldeburgh beach .The book also tells us how Maggi became an artist. Anyone from Suffolk will relate to Maggi's work.First published in hardback 2010.

This beautifully illustrated reference work is the only source of information on American women sculptors as a group. Virginia Watson-Jones presents the accomplishments of more than 350 contemporary American women sculptors through photographs of their major works and detailed information about their lives and careers. For each artist information is provided on her birthplace and birth year, education, preferred media, major exhibitions, location of work in public collections, awards, selected private collectors, professional interests other than sculpture, teaching position (if applicable), and mailing address. Each entry also includes a statement by the sculptor and her signature.

In the past decade, there has been a surge of Anglophone scholarship regarding Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which has led to a reframing of the discourses around Spanish culture of this period. Despite this new interest-in which painting, in particular, has been singled out for treatment-a comprehensive study of sculpture collections and the status of sculpture in Spain has yet to be produced. Sculpture Collections in Early Modern Spain is the first book to assess the phenomenon of sculpture collecting and in doing so, it alters the previously held notion that Spanish society placed little value in this art form. Di Dio and Coppel reveal that, due to the problems and expense of their transport from Italy, sculptures were in fact status symbols in the culture. Thus they were an important component of the collections formed by the royal family, cultivated noble collectors, humanists, and artists who had pretensions of high status. This book is especially useful to specialists for its discussion of the typologies of collections and objects, and of the mechanics of state gifts, transport, and collection display in this period. An appendix presents extensive archival documentation, most of which has never before been published. The authors have uncovered hundreds of new documents about sculpture in Spain; and new documentary evidence allows them to propose several new identifications and attributions. Firmly grounded in extensive archival research, Sculpture Collections in Early Modern Spain redefines the socio-political and art historical importance of sculpture in early modern Spain. Most importantly, it entirely transforms our knowledge regarding the presence of sculpture in a wide range of Spanish collections of the period, which until now has been erroneously characterized as close to non-existent.

Join the home pottery revolution! Whether you have access to a communal studio or not, hand building projects can travel just about anywhere. Take your clay outside or work at the kitchen table, with instruction from best-selling ceramics author Sunshine Cobb. In this book, you'll find all the necessary fundamentals, including a thorough discussion of clay as well as helpful tips for keeping your body and mind in top shape. Then pick the path that's right for you in the chapters that follow. Develop new skills and unlock your own creativity as you explore: Sculptural projects like miniature animals and plants. Functional items like scoops, a citrus reamer, and a coffee pour-over vessel. Mixed media projects including a candlestick holder, mobile, and a soap dish. All along the way, skill-building is front and center, with conversational instructions and tips to help you make pieces you're proud to show off. Gallery work from some of today's top artists are sure to inspire potters of all levels. What will you make first? For beginners and those returning to ceramics, the Essential Ceramics Skills series from Quarry Books offer the fundamentals along with fresh, contemporary, and simple projects that build skills progressively.

The first book to devote serious attention to questions of scale in contemporary sculpture, this study considers the phenomenon within the interlinked cultural and socio-historical framework of the legacies of postmodern theory and the growth of global capitalism. In particular, the book traces the impact of postmodern theory on concepts of measurement and exaggeration, and analyses the relationship between this philosophy and the sculptural trend that has developed since the early 1990s. Rachel Wells examines the arresting international trend of sculpture exploring scale, including American precedents from the 1970s and 1980s and work by the 'Young British Artists'. Noting that the emergence of this sculptural trend coincides with the end of the Cold War, Wells suggests a similarity between the quantitative ratio of scale and the growth of global capitalism that has replaced the former status quo of qualitatively opposed systems. This study also claims the allegorical nature of scale in contemporary sculpture, outlining its potential for critique or complicity in a system dominated by quantitative criteria of value. In a period characterised by uncertainty and incommensurability, Wells demonstrates that scale in contemporary sculpture can suggest the possibility of, and even an unashamed reliance upon, comparison and external difference in the construction of meaning.

Richly illustrated, Early Gothic Column-Figure Sculpture in France is a comprehensive investigation of church portal sculpture installed between the 1130s and the 1170s. At more than twenty great churches, beginning at the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis and extending around Paris from Provins in the east, south to Bourges and Dijon, and west to Chartres and Angers, larger than life-size statues of human figures were arranged along portal jambs, many carved as if wearing the dress of the highest ranks of French society. This study takes a close look at twelfth-century human figure sculpture, describing represented clothing, defining the language of textiles and dress that would have been legible in the twelfth-century, and investigating rationale and significance. The concepts conveyed through these extraordinary visual documents and the possible motivations of the patrons of portal programs with column-figures are examined through contemporaneous historical, textual, and visual evidence in various media. Appendices include analysis of sculpture production, and the transportation and fabrication in limestone from Paris. Janet Snyder's new study considers how patrons used sculpture to express and shape perceived reality, employing images of textiles and clothing that had political, economic, and social significances.

Antony Gormley occupies an unusual position as a highly popular sculptor - known chiefly for his Angel of the North (1998), a national landmark in the UK - who is also widely regarded as one of the most intellectually challenging artists working internationally. He is grounded in archaeology and anthropology, and looks to Asian and Buddhist traditions as much as to Western sculptural history, which he believes reached a punctuation point with Rodin. This is the first book to focus on Gormley's thoughts on sculpture, positioning his career and artistic philosophy in relation to its history. The book is structured thematically over four chapters: the first explores Gormley's thoughts on the body, time and space in relation to major works including European Field (1993) and 'Still Standing' (2011), Gormley's rehang of the classical rooms at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The second chapter, 'Sculptors', was first delivered as a series of five lectures for the BBC; in each, Gormley discusses a sculpture he considers to be of huge creative importance: Epstein's The Rock Drill (1913-15), Brancusi's The Endless Column (1935-38), Giacometti's La Place (1948-49), Joseph Beuys's Plight (1985) and Richard Serra's The Matter of Time (2005). In the third chapter, Gormley outlines the influence of Buddhist and Jain sculpture on his work and ideas, and the fourth showcases the artist's most recent sculptures.

Although the integration of sculpture in gardens is part of a long tradition dating back at least to antiquity, the sculptures themselves are often overlooked, both in the history of art and in the history of the garden. This collection of essays considers the changing relationship between sculpture and gardens over the last three centuries, focusing on four British archetypes: the Georgian landscape garden, the Victorian urban park, the outdoor spaces of twentieth-century modernism and the late-twentieth-century sculpture park. Through a series of case studies exploring the contemporaneous audiences of gardens, the book uncovers the social, political and gendered messages revealed by sculpture's placement and suggests that the garden can itself be read as a sculptural landscape.

A practical and in-depth look at modelling faces in clay covering essential information from choosing your clay and modelling tools to drying your work and types of natural finishes. This is a practical and in-depth look at modelling faces in clay, using step-by-step pictures, which is ideal for anyone who wants to have a go at working in detail. As the face gives the figure life and personality, it is an important focus once the body has been created. This book examines the various aspects that make up the face in depth, and which need to be considered when modelling, such as the proportions of the head, bone structure, muscles and expressions. From the face of a child to that of an adult, and from sadness to joy, the enormous variety of faces and expressions all require a different approach and convincing details to complete the figure or bust. All these things are covered thoroughly using diagrams, step-by-step images and clear explanations in order to help you create a face for your work and to improve your modelling. The book also covers essential information such as how to get started, choosing your clay and modelling tools, drying your work and types of natural finishes such as wax.

ANDY GOLDSWORTHY: TOUCHING NATURE

A new and revised edition of our best-selling book on Andy Goldsworthy. A completely rewritten exploration of the sculptor, updated to include recent works such as Night Path (2002) and Chalk Stones (2003) in Sussex, Three Cairns (2002) on the American East and West coasts, Stone Houses (2004) and Garden of Stones (2003) in Gotham, Passage (2005) in London, and Slate Domes (2005) in Washington, DC.

Known as a 'land', 'earth', 'nature' or 'environmental' artist, Andy Goldsworthy works with(in) nature. He uses natural materials in natural shapes and forms often set in natural contexts (but also in cities, towns, parks, sculpture parks, and many spaces created or adapted by people). FROM THE INTRODUCTION

In the 1990s, Andy Goldsworthy's art began to rise in popularity: the glossy coffee table book Stone became a bestseller (bear in mind it was then priced at $55). In 1994 Goldsworthy took over some West End galleries with a large one-man show. In 1995 he was part of an intriguing group show at the British Museum (Time Machine), creating sculptures, along with Richard Deacon, Peter Randall-Page and others, in amongst the monumental statuary of the famous Egyptian Hall. Also in 1995, Goldsworthy designed a set of Royal Mail stamps (and again in 2003). Digne in France became an increasingly important Goldsworthy location, with shows in 1995, 1997 and 2000). Prestigious commissions occurred in the US from the mid-1990s onwards. For instance: the giant Wall at Storm King Art Center in 1998; the Three Cairns on the East and West Coasts and Iowa in 2001-02; the 'stone houses' at the Metropolitan Museum in Gotham in 2004; the monument to the Holocaust (also in New York) in 2003; and the slate domes in Washington, DC in 2005. Goldsworthy continues to work in countries such as Japan, Australia, Holland, Canada, North America and France (with France and the US becoming primary centres of Goldsworthy activity), but his home ground of Dumfriesshire in Scotland remains (at) the heart of his work.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

William Malpas has written books on Richard Long and land art, as well as three books on Andy Goldsworthy, including Andy Goldsworthy In America. Malpas's books on Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy are the only full-length studies of these artists available.

Fully illustrated, with a revised text. Bibliography and notes. 312pp. ISBN 9781861714138. www.crmoon.com

Large numbers of Buddhist believers regarded Buddhist statues in surprising ways in late- tenth and early eleventh century Japan. Examination of such questions of functionality contributes to a broader view of Buddhist practice at a time when Buddhism was rapidly spreading among many levels of Japanese society. This book focuses particularly on the function of the following types of images: "secret Buddhas" ("hibutsu"), which are rarely if ever displayed; Buddhas who exchange bodies with sufferers ("migawari" "butsu"); and masks of bodhisattvas used in a ritual called "mukaeko," Primary sources for these topics include collections of popular tales ("setsuwa"), poetry, ritual texts, and temple histories ("engi").

THE ART OF ANDY GOLDSWORTHY

This is the most comprehensive and detailed study of British artist Andy Goldsworthy, and is the only full-length exploration of Goldsworthy and his art available anywhere. The book has been completely rewritten and brought up to date for this new edition.

Andy Goldsworthy makes land or earth art out of, among other materials, stacks of rocks, or stalks tied together, or mud thrown into rivers or poppy petals wrapped around boulders. His art is a sensitive, intuitive response to nature, light, time, growth, the seasons and the earth.

Fully illustrated, with a revised text. Bibliography and notes. 348pp. ISBN 9781861714106. www.crmoon.com

EXTRACT FROM THE CHAPTER ON GOLDSWORTHY'S LEAFWORKS

It is the leafworks that are the most colourful of Andy Goldsworthy's sculptures. What the leaf sculptures show is how beautiful the colours of nature are: Goldsworthy presents the viewer with these subtle colours by contrasting one leaf with another. Maple patch grouped the red/ orange/ yellow of Japanese maple leaves together; Poppy leaves contrasted the red poppy leaves against the mid-green of an elderberry bush; a Stone Wood sculpture of 1992 consisted of poppy leaves wrapped around a hazel branch, the red constrasting vividly with the wet green leaves. Two sycamore leafworks of 1980 and 1981 are very simple: a leaf black from cows is placed against pale Autumn leaves; another leaf, bleached white, is set down on a bed of dark leaves. He pins together two colours of sycamore leaves (sycamore is a favourite Goldsworthy medium) in Sycamore leaf sections (1988), and hangs the line of leaves from a tree. Shot with the sun behind them, the photograph of the leaves shows them glowing green and gold, the two classic colours of poetry and alchemy. The Fall colours of course connote nostalgia, decadence, sensuality, Romanticism, time passing, the decay of the year, and so on.

REVIEW ON AMAZON

A happily received gift. It's worth the price for one who wants a scholarly while earthy (sorry, couldn't help it) approach to the work. There's a quirkiness about the writing style that is engaging and honest. I'm glad I have the book and will reread it as I purchase other books on Goldsworthy where the work is shown via great photography.

REVIEW ON AMAZON

This is a chatty informational book. It has stories of many artists that have been associated with Andy Goldsworthy in his long career as a contemporary nature sculptor. If you are looking for a personal history this is a book for you.

REVIEW ON AMAZON

I'm no expert on visual art, nor would I claim to be, but I found this to be a useful book, and the only one I've been able to find about the work of Andy Goldsworthy. The author has taken the time to round up a large amount of varied source material which makes this book well worth seeking out.