What makes a sculpture great

I looked around on the net to see if I could find other info on this and I thought this was appropriate. For me this is something to consider as I design a sculpture. Precision: This refers to how accurately elements of the sculpture are carved. For example, how repeated elements resemble each other, how well pieces are fitted together, or how completely all-waste material is removed. Proportion: This refers to how different parts or areas of the sculpture relate to one another in terms of relative size.

Degree of difficulty: This is whether the sculpture as completed is a challenging project for an experienced professional sculptor. The factors considered here are usually those of fragility, physical balance and the structural limitations.

Finish: This refers to the final treatment of the surfaces of the sculpture. This can be smooth and polished, or textured.

Whichever is the case, the uniformity and diligence with which the sculptor carries out his apparent intent should be considered. Creativity: This refers to the newness and originality of the design, which could include a new treatment of, or new viewpoint on, previously known ideas. Composition: This refers to the visual balance, static or dynamic, of the various elements of the sculpture.

Note that the piece should be viewed from all sides when judging it for composition. Expression of meaning: This is how well the sculpture makes its own theme clear to the viewer.

Expression of emotion: This is the extent to which the sculpture can be expected to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. Overall impression: This addresses the sculpture as a whole, and is often based on the first glimpse of the finished piece. Without regard to the other criteria, does it stand on its own as a good sculpture?

Good question :. The first thing I notice is the way the piece makes me feel. The mood it evokes is much more important to me that most other things. Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts.

The Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. Over time, the use of sculptures evolved such that by the start of civilization, people used them as a representation of gods. Ancient kings who wished to immortalize their rules had statues made in their likeness, and in so doing, they led to the beginning of portrait sculpting, an art that continues to date.

In sculpture, the early Greeks followed the Egyptian format very closely, carving very stiff, blocky figures in stone. During the Early Classical period of the 4th and 5th centuries BC, and transitioning into the Hellenistic period, sculptors began to break away from the rigid, Egyptian influenced model. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search.

The lost-wax method was a common technique during the Renaissance era. It was also a widely used technique in African sculpture from Benin and Yoruba.

Sculpting in clay dates from the Paleolithic era of the Stone Age. Known when fired as terracotta sculpture , it is the most plastic of all sculpting methods, versatile, light, inexpensive and durable.

Although clay mainly used for preliminary models, later cast in bronze or carved in stone, it has also been used to produce full-scale sculpture. The earliest known clay sculpture is the Venus of Dolni Vestonice c. A third prehistoric masterpiece is the Thinker of Cernavoda c. However, the most famous example of clay sculpture must be the Chinese Qin Dynasty Terracotta Army the 'Terracotta Warriors' , a collection of 8, clay warriors and horses unearthed in in Shaanxi province, China.

Dating to BCE, each of the 8, clay soldiers is unique, with a different facial expression and hairstyle. Other traditional materials employed to create sculptures include ivory and whalebone, as well as precious metals. Famous works made from precious stones include the Mesopotamian sculpture known as the Ram in a Thicket c. Modern Materials Used in 20th Century Sculpture.

Materials employed by 20th century sculptors include secondary materials such as concrete, as well as an endless list of modern materials such as stainless steel, fibreglass, aluminium, foam rubber, papier mache, bicycle-parts, plastics, stained glass, "found" items, and so on.

For more about certain types of postmodernist plastic art, see: Ice sculpture and also Sand art. Notable 20th century sculptures made from non-traditional materials include:. By Kurt Schwitters Both by the Surrealist artist Salvador Dali By the Superrealist American sculptor Duane Hanson By the contemporary Neo-expressionist artist Jeff Koons b.

By the "contemporary Surrealist" Louise Bourgeois By the postmodernist sculptor and artist Damien Hirst b. The basic traditional forms of this 3-D art are: free-standing sculpture, which is surrounded on all sides by space; and relief sculpture encompassing bas-relief, alto-relievo or haut relief, and sunken-relief , where the design remains attached to a background, typically stone or wood.

Examples of relief work can be seen in megalithic art such as the complex spiral engravings found at Newgrange Ireland , on Trajan's Column in Rome, the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, and the Parthenon.

Gothic architectural reliefs appear on all major European Cathedrals of the period: witness the Saints on the south trancept of Chartres cathedral, and the apostles on the north trancept of Rheims cathedral. It can also be classified by its subject matter. A statue, for instance, like the two versions of David by Donatello and Michelangelo, is usually a representational full length 3-D portrait of a person, while a bust usually depicts only the head, neck and shoulders - see the bust of George Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon A statue of a person on horseback, such as the one by Giambologna of Cosimo de' Medici in Florence, is termed an equestrian sculpture.

Religious wood-carving was taken to new heights during the Northern Renaissance by master carvers like: Tilman Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss, known for their intricate wooden altarwork and figurines, while the Baroque Counter-Reformation stimulated supreme examples of Catholic Christian art in the form of bronze and marble sculptures by inter alia Gianlorenzo Bernini , known for the Cornaro Chapel series including The Ecstasy of St Teresa.

Modern secular public art features famous sculptures like the Statue of Liberty , the Chicago Picasso - a series of metal figures produced for the Chicago Civic Centre and the architectural sculpture The Spire of Dublin , known as the 'spike', created by Ian Ritchie b.

Contemporary public sculpture continues to challenge traditional concepts of 3-D art through its new spatial concepts and its use of everyday materials assembled or created in numerous installation-type and fixed forms of sculpture. Since the s, so-called modern art has been replaced by contemporary art or postmodernism. Unlike the earlier modernists, today's postmodernist sculptors eg.

Pop artists like Claes Oldenburg, Robert Indiana and Neo-Pop artist Jeff Koons , feel free to use a wider variety of materials, images and methods of display. Styles tend to be more localized, as today's tendency among contemporary art movements is to distrust the grand ideas and internationalism of the modern art movements of the late 19th century and early-mid 20th century.

All rights reserved. David by Michelangelo. What is Sculpture? The Kiss , by Auguste Rodin. This influential marble cast of which there are three copies typifies Rodin's unique ability to express intense emotion through the physicality of sculpture. Ever-Expanding Art Form This is because the definition or meaning of sculpture has widened a great deal during the 20th century. Definition of Traditional Sculpture Traditional sculpture prior to the 20th century had four main defining characteristics.

Definition of Modern and Contemporary Sculpture The art of sculpture is no longer restricted by traditional sculptural concepts, materials or methods of production. Early man created utilitarian objects that were decorated with sculptural forms. Ancient peoples also created small animal and human figures carved in bone, ivory, or stone for possible spiritual or religious purposes. Traditions of carving and casting emerged from the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean.

The cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia often created sculptures on a monumental scale. These sculptures related to religious life or functioned as a lasting memorial to the power of rulers. In ancient Greece and Rome, the human form was the dominant subject in sculpture, and the artists of classical Greece achieved a high degree of naturalism in sculpting the human form.

From the rigid archaic male figures, known as kouroi , of the sixth century B. The stiff and elongated figural forms of the Gothic style that were popular in the 12th through 14th centuries see "Gothic Art" on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History gave way, in the Renaissance, to the re-birth of ancient Greek and Roman naturalism and subject matter.

Michelangelo borrows from the ancient world in his famous sculpture of David by carving the human form in a contrapposto pose—depicting an individual in a relaxed, natural stance on one weight-bearing leg.

Artists from the Baroque period that followed continued to depict the human form, often composing their works using multiple figures in very dynamic compositions. Human forms were depicted spiraling and twisting around an empty central vortex, or reaching out into the surrounding space. The movement and energy of these human forms gave viewers multiple viewing angles, such as that seen, below, in the sculpture Pluto Abducting Prosperine by Girardon.