This document provides an overview of sculpture, including its history, types, and fundamental concepts. It discusses how sculpture has been used since prehistoric times to represent ideas in 3D forms. Sculpture can be functional or non-functional, and styles have varied across cultures like Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, and Native Americans. The text also defines key elements of sculpture like form, space, and techniques, as well as principles such as balance, proportion, and movement. Different types of sculpture are explained, including freestanding, relief, low relief and high relief sculptures.

1. SculptureSculpture
Chapter 1Chapter 1

2. Intro
❖ Sculpture- is the art of using materials to transform an
idea into a real object. Sculpture is used to designate a
3D form that is mostly non functional.
❖ Functional Sculpture- Useable art. You can wear it, eat
out of it, or use it for a functional purpose.
❖ Non Functional- Decorative and artistic only. You can not
use it for a functional purpose.

3. History
❖ Sculpture can be dated to prehistoric times a much as
30,000 years ago.
❖ Prehistoric and Neolithic people used stone, shells, and
bone to carve small animals.
❖ They also carved practical tools like knives, axes, and
storage vessels. They are so well designed that they are
considered sculptures.

4. ❖ In ancient Mesopotamia
(Sumerians, Babylonians,
Assyrians, Persians) created
both small and sculptures
out of marble, stone, and
precious metal.
❖ Many of the works depicted
rulers, court life, indicating
the importance of
government.
Mesopotamia

5. Egypt
❖ Sculpture was closely
related to religious life.
❖ Sculptures varied:
colossal stone, reliefs of
rulers, life-size gold
coffins, carved scarabs.
❖ Sculptors followed strict
rules for creating
sculptures, style was
unchanged for over
2,000 years.

6. China
❖ Sculptors were masters
of bronze casting,
creating intricate ritual
vessels, and containers
covered with designs of
human and animal form.

7. Greece and Rome
❖ Sculptures show the
preoccupation with
achieving perfection of
the human form.
❖ Focus was on the
individual and the work
became increasingly
naturalistic yet highly
idealize.

8. Native American
❖ Used stone, clay,
feathers, and readily
available materials.
❖ Mayan: Clay sculptures
Inca: works in metal
❖ Today- Pueblo: Kachinas
Northwest coast tribes:
Totem Poles

9. Vocabulary
❖ Mobile- A sculpture
constructed of shapes
that are balanced and
arranged on wire arms
and suspended from
above so as to move
freely in air currents
❖ Kinetic- 3d art that
contains moving parts
and can be set in motion
by air currents or a
motor.

10. ❖ Form- is the total mass or configuration that the subject
or idea takes. It is the final physical structure of the
sculpture. It has volume and mass and is 3D.
❖ Content- The message the artist is trying to convey
through the sculpture.
❖ Technique- is the marriage of materials and tools with the
ability of the sculptor. It is the result of the artists’
knowledge, skill, practice and preparation. Ideas are just
ideas without technique.
Fundamentals

11. Elements of Art
❖ Form- 3D mass; it is an object that has height, width, and depth.
Forms can either be geometric (regular) or organic (irregular).
❖ Shape- is 2D or flat. They can be geometric or organic.
❖ Texture- in sculpture it is real; it can be touched or felt.
❖ Space- The area around or within the sculpture as well as the
area that the sculpture occupies. Positive space: The sculpture
itself. Negative space: The area around and within the sculpture.
❖ Line- a mark made by a moving point. It directs the visual path
from one point to another. Line can define the solid mass- it
serves as an outline or as surface decoration on the form.

12. ❖ Color- Many sculptors prefer the natural color of the
medium but some sculptures use patinas, stains, and
other surface treatments to change the color.
❖ Values- define a work by creating a pattern of light and
dark that shows its 3D form.

13. ❖ Balance-Whether all parts of the work have equal visual
“weight” and create a feeling of equilibrium. Balance is a
structural issue, if the work does not fall over and can
support itself then it is balanced.
❖ Radial Balance- all sides rotate or radiate from a
center point.
❖ Symmetrical Balance- When both sides of the design
are exactly the same. Mirror image
❖ Asymmetrical Balance- opposing sides have the same
visual weight but different number of objects.
Principles of Art

14. ❖ Proportion- size relationship from one part to another.
Exaggeration proportions are often used to convey a
symbolic meaning.
❖ Scale- size relationship; it is the size of one object
compared to other objects or its surroundings.
❖ Contrast- Great difference between two things.
❖ Emphasis- The subject or focal point.
❖ Unity- the appearance that all of the components of a
sculpture are working together.

15. ❖ Variety- adds visual interest to a sculpture and keeps the
viewer curious.
❖ Pattern- the repetition of texture, forms, colors, and other
designs elements.
❖ Movement- sense of movement created by angles or
planes to further the sculptural idea.
❖ Rhythm- use of pattern, or repeated elements or
recurring paths of movement. A visual beat or tempo.

16. ❖ Freestanding- A sculpture that is “in the round” a work
that has been made to be viewed from all sides.
❖ Relief- A sculpture juts out from a surface or wall and has
at least one side that is not developed.
❖ Low relief (Bas-relief)- a sculpture that only projects
slightly from the background.
❖ High relief - about one half of a figures normal
thickness projects from the background.
Sculpture Concepts