Class Handouts

1. 1/7/2015
1
SCULPTURE
Sir Pen
Sculpture
• Latin sculptūra to sculpt
• sculpere to carve
• Art of carving, casting, modelling or
assembling materials into three-
dimensional figure or forms.
Medium used in sculpture
wood Semi-precious
stones
stone
papermetalceramic
Elementsand Principlesof
Sculpture
• Line and silhouette
• Form and space
• Balance and orientation
• Scale and proportion
• Texture
• Light
• Value
• Color
• Movement and emphasis
• Pattern and rhythm
• Contrast
Line & silhouette
• Line is the path of a moving point
• Contour line is the outline that forms the edges of the
sculpture that create its silhouetteThe characteristics of a
sculpture’s contour lines determine the shape and feeling
of its silhouette.
• Characteristics of contour lines include:
• Width- thick, thin, tapering, uneven
• Length - long, short, continuous, interrupted
• Direction- horizontal, vertical, diagonal, perpendicular,
parallel, radial
• Focus- sharp, blurry, fuzzy, choppy
• Feeling- sharp, jagged, graceful, smooth, curved, zigzag

2. 1/7/2015
2
Line & silhouette Form & space
• A form is three-dimensional – it has height, width and
thickness while shapes are flat, or twodimensional
• geometric forms, or forms with names, such as spheres,
cubes, cylinders, cones, etc
• organic forms, or irregular forms with no names that
may appear to have grown from nature.
• Space refers to the area between, around, above, below, or
within elements in a work of art.
• Positive space is the part of the work that is filled with
subject matter – the actual physical forms making up the
sculpture.
• Negative space is the empty space around and/or above,
below, or within the sculpture. All
Form & space
Louise Bourgeois. Arch of Hysteria, 1993. Polished bronze.
Balance & orientation
• The balance of a sculpture has two aspects.
• Actual physical stability- sculpture stable enough in itself to
stand firmly
• compositional balance refers to the way the elements of a
piece of art are arranged to be visually appealing and to
create a static feeling
• There are 3 main types of balance:
• symmetric balance, in which the sculpture can be divided
evenly in half by one axis
• asymmetric balance, in which the two sides of the
sculpture are different
• radial balance, in which the sculpture is in a spherical
arrangement
• Orientation (L atinoriens = rising sun) is the arrangement of
the sculpture in space.
Balance & orientation
Left: radial balance Olafur Eliasson. Multiple Grotto, 2004.
Stainless steel.
Right: symmetric balance. Justin Knowles.Broken Circle, 1998.
Stainless steel.
Proportion and scale
• Proportion refers to
how big each part of
the sculpture is
relative to the other
parts.
• Scale of a sculpture
refers to its size
relative to the size of
its surrounding
environment.

3. 1/7/2015
3
Texture
• Texture is the way
something feels
when you touch it.
• There are two kinds
of texture:
- Real texture is the
actual surface
quality of the work
of art, or how the
actual sculpture
would feel like if you
touched it.
- Implied texture is the illusion of
texture that an artist creates to
simulate the texture of objects in
real life
Light, value & color
• Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. In sculpture, value
is often created by the way light hits and/or passes through
the piece.
• Color is the way light waves are absorbed or reflected by
everything around us.
• Without enough value and/or color contrast between the
sculpture and its environment, viewers will not notice the
artwork!
Light, value & color Movement & emphasis
• Movement can be said as :
• The arrangement of visual elements to cause the viewer’s eyes to
move over the artwork in a specific direction, sequence, or
pattern;
• the illusion of motion in a piece of art.
• Emphasis refers to the creation of focal points, which are the
part(s) of the sculpture that take on the most visual weight or
dominance (relating to balance), demanding the most visual
attention.
• Primary focal point is the first element the viewer notices in the
piece, and is the part of the piece that demands the most
attention;
• Secondary focal points are what the viewer notices after noticing
the primary focal point, and are the second-most emphasized
parts of the work.
Movement & emphasis
Tom Friedman. Untitled,
1995.
30,000 toothpicks.
Eduardo Chillida. How profound is the Air
(Lo profundo es el aire),
1996. Alabaster.
Pattern and Rhythm
• Pattern is the
repetition of
elements within a
piece of art
• Rhythm is a visual
tempo or beat which
relies on repeated
elements

4. 1/7/2015
4
Contrast
• Contrast refers to the juxtaposition of forms, objects, textures,
values, or colors to stress the differences between them. Contrast
makes art eye-catching, reinforces the illusions of dimension and
space, and directs attention to focal points.
Brief history of sculpture
Prehistoric Sculpture
• The earliest known
examples are the two
primitive stone
effigiesThe Venus of
Berekhat Ram
(Israel) and The Venus of
Tan-Tan (Morocco).
• Figures of men, women,
and animals served to
forces of nature, which
were worshiped as evil or
good spirits
Brief history of sculpture
Egyptian sculpture
• Based on the belief in a life
after death.
• Life-size and even larger
statues, carved in slate,
alabaster, and limestone
• Noble people are made
larger than less important
people
• Human and animal are often
combined to symbolize ideas
like human intelligence and
animal strength.
• Standing and seated figures
Brief history of sculpture
Greek Sculpture
• the Greek belief that "man
is the measure of all
things“
• the Greeks developed a
standing figure of a nude
male, called the Kouros or
Apollo.
• the most important
function of Greek
sculpture was to honor
gods and goddesses.
• sculptors described their
figures in as natural and
exact way as possible.
Brief history of sculpture
Roman Sculpture
• Roman art is founded
upon that of the Greeks
• Produced civic sculpture
celebrating statesmen and
their achievements.
• The most important
contributions of the
Roman sculptors were
portraits.
• Most are in bust forms
and prominent men and
women in the society
ColossusofConstantine
Greek vs Roman

5. 1/7/2015
5
Brief history of sculpture
Gothic
• The faces of the statues
have expression, and
their garments are
draped in a natural way.
• Natural and life-like air
with an impression of
real bodies and limbs
underneath the clothes
French Gothic
relief sculpture door
jambs
13th Century
Brief history of sculpture
Renaissance
• New emphasis on
glorifying the human
figure.
• No longer was sculpture
to deal only with idealized
saints and angels;
• a more elegant, decorative
style, relying on a smooth,
precise finish and
complex, elaborate
designs mannerism
Brief history of sculpture
Baroque
• Characterized by
dynamism (a sense of
motion), which is
augmented by
extravagant effects like
strong curves and rich
decoration
• Swirling draperies or
brilliant gilding.
Cathedra petri ("Chair of Saint Peter") by Bernini
Brief history of sculpture
Rococo
• Purely ornamental
• Features a sense of
dynamism and
extravagance
• Rococo works are gentle
and playful especially in
figurines

6. 1/7/2015
6
Vertumne et Pomone () by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne
Brief history of sculpture
Neoclassic and Romantic
Sculpture
• deliberate return to
classical subject matter
and style
• Perfect human anatomy
• Calm, reflective look
(immitation of the
Greeks)
• Based on imagination
and appeal to the
emotions
Psiche svenuta (1823-1828)
by Tenerani Pietro
Philippine Sculpture
• Before the coming of
the Spaniards,
Philippine sculpture
had a striking
similarity with the
Egyptian sculpture
which is
characterized
by frontal nudity.
The bulol, symbolizes a rice god who
guards the Cordilleran’s rice granary.
Philippine Sculpture
• Woodcarving comes
in ornamental form
in the which features
the"panolong", an
extended beam
carved with the
Sarimanok or the
Naga design.
Philippine Sculpture
• These multi-purpose
blades come in
different materials and
designs. Blades were
made of iron which
local smiths fashioned
according to their own
design. Some metal
blades were
ornamented with gold,
silver, ivory, and brass.

7. 1/7/2015
7
NapoleonAbueva: NationalArtist for
SculptureandFatherof Contemporary
Filipino Sculpture
• Noted for his works on varied media like wood,
bronze, coral and stone
• Many of his sculptures that now sit in public
places in the Philippines and abroad convey a
sense of realism with their intimately physical
presence, lifelike forms and evocative gestures.
• Mythology, history and day-to-day life was the
inspiration of Abueva Blood Compact
Nine Muses of the Arts
The Power Form
Family Group