Sculpture is an art that stands proudly side-by-side with other expressive forms like painting and photography to convey the emotions and yearnings of humankind. The human body has been one of its favorite subjects to recreate.
Sculpting the Human Body
Ideas, representations, and obsessions about the human body have been depicted by sculpting artists throughout the centuries. These sculptors were and are ardent observers of the human anatomy as they see it on the surface. The concepts of symmetry, balance, harmony, and movement are conveyed through these human body sculptures according to the impression of the artists. These pieces of art, chiseled in various materials like clay, wood, marble, bronze, steel, concrete, and many others are either executed in realistic, life-like form or in abstract depictions. It is quite important that these artists are keen observers of the distinctive differences between the male and female anatomy because they uniquely and elaborately sculpt their separate uniqueness into their sculptures.
Well-Known Sculptors and Their Works
There are several prominent names in the sculpting world, but here are some prominent artists worth mentioning because of their trailblazing work:
- Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Michelangelo dominated art in the European enclave for centuries until Picasso made an impact. He was not only a sculptor but a painter and an architect. Michelangelo is the typical artist who is temperamental, moody, and melancholic. You won’t expect what his emotion is next. He had an obsession with the male human body form, which he conveyed as his expression of human beauty, sensibility, and spirituality. He also portrayed the male physique as the ultimate standard for all things: perfect symmetry, muscular, confident, and near divine and godly. But he also made works of art that portrayed the flaws, imperfections and weaknesses of the human image. He constantly borrowed from Greek and Roman ideals, being a Renaissance man. David is one of his famous sculptures. It is made out of marble and depicts the prominent Biblical personality of the same name. Michelangelo completed David in three long years. It was a commissioned work that was supposed to be lined up with other sculptures in a different location. Instead, it was prominently displayed solo in a public square in Florence, Italy. It came to represent the protection of civil rights for the then city state of Florence, and its stern gaze was directed towards the adversary which was Rome.
- Donatello di Niccolò di Betto Bardi. Donatello perfected his sculpting on several materials like stone, bronze, wood, and terra cotta. Other famous artists in his heyday of the early Renaissance were reinventing other art forms while he was trailblazing sculpture. He created works that combined reality and emotion and were aesthetically beautiful. But at the same time, these sculptures were full of energy and meaning and looked as if they could come to life at any moment. Donatello’s life-sized Magdalene Penitent sculpture is an amazing work of the depiction of the imperfect Mary Magdalene as a disheveled and starving woman who the masses can relate to as well as a character with a divine level due to her relationship with Christ. Donatello’s understanding of body anatomy was evident with the realistic depiction of the effects of food deprivation on the face and body of the sculpture.
Sculpture in Comparison to Other Art Forms
Sculpture is three-dimensional art, having length, width, and height. Sculpture can be performed on just about any material that can be chiseled bit by bit. In comparison, painting expresses art through a surface. An artist can also paint on any surface that he desires like a canvas or even a wall. It is two-dimensional and doesn’t interject into space.
Photography is an art form somewhat like painting because it is also two-dimensional. You can walk around a sculpture and still see parts of it, but you can only walk in front of a painting or photograph to be able to appreciate its art.
But both sculpture and painting take a much longer time to accomplish (hours, days, months, or even years) than photography. With the advent of digital photography, it only takes minutes or even seconds to take a picture that is art worthy. In this time and age of modernity, it still takes days to accomplish an art-worthy sculpture or painting.
Materials Used in Sculpting
Any material that can be chiseled into a three-dimensional form can be used for sculpture. The sculpture that we are used to seeing lasts for decades and centuries like those sculpted in marble, stone, bronze or steel. But there are also sculptures that only lasts for hours like ice sculptures, which ultimately melt after being appreciated for a couple of hours.
Classical vs Modern
Sculptures from earlier centuries were fixated on mythology and Biblical personalities and events. The depiction of the human anatomy was realistic, whether they emitted a positive or negative emotional portrayal. They were almost lifelike in representation.
Modern sculptures also have realistic aspects to their form, but increasingly, most present-day sculptures are in abstract form. They don’t always follow traditional sculpting of bodies with one head, two arms, two legs, one torso. Rather, artists distort this conservative human anatomy concept into portrayals according to what these sculptors perceive in their subconscious and dreams. All these makes sculpture as an art form more exciting as this art form continues to evolve.
