Sculpture 

is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials,

typically stone such as marble, metal, glass, or wood, or plastic materials such
as clay, textiles, polymers and softer metals. The term has been extended to works including sound, text
and light.

Found objects may be presented as sculptures. Materials may be worked by removal such as carving; or
they may be assembled such as by welding , hardened such as by firing, or molded or cast. Surface
decoration such as paint may be applied.[1] Sculpture has been described as one of the plastic
arts because it can involve the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated.

Sculpture is an important form of public art. A collection of sculpture in a garden setting may be referred
to as a sculpture garden.

Types of sculpture
Some common forms of sculpture are:

 Free-standing sculpture, sculpture that is surrounded on all sides, except the base, by space. It is
also known as sculpture "in the round", and is meant to be viewed from any angle.
 Sound sculpture
 Light sculpture
 Jewellery or Jewelry
 Relief - the sculpture is still attached to a background; types are bas-relief, alto-relievo,
and sunken-relief
 Site-specific art
 Kinetic sculpture - involves aspects of physical motion
 Fountain - the sculpture is designed with moving water
 Mobile (see also Calder's Stabiles.)
 Statue - representationalist sculpture depicting a specific entity, usually a person,
event, animal or object
 Bust - representation of a person from the chest up
 Equestrian statue - typically showing a significant person on horseback
 Stacked art - a form of sculpture formed by assembling objects and 'stacking' them
 Architectural sculpture
 Environmental art
 Environmental sculpture
 Land art
Materials of sculpture through history
Sculptors have generally sought to produce works of art that are as permanent as possible, working in
durable and frequently expensive materials such as bronze and stone: marble,limestone, porphyry,
and granite. More rarely, precious materials such as gold, silver, jade, and ivory were used for
chryselephantine works. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider
consumption, including glass, hardwoods (such as oak, box/boxwood, and lime/linden); terracotta and
other ceramics, and cast metals such as pewterand zinc (spelter).

Sculptures are often painted, but commonly lose their paint to time, or restorers. Many different painting
techniques have been used in making sculpture, including tempera, [oil painting], gilding, house paint,
aerosol, enamel and sandblasting.[2][3][4]

Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. Jim Gary used stained glass and automobile
parts, tools, machine parts, and hardware. One of Pablo Picasso's most famous sculptures
included bicycle parts. Alexander Calder and other modernists made spectacular use of painted steel.
Since the 1960s, acrylics and other plastics have been used as well.Andy Goldsworthy makes his
unusually ephemeral sculptures from almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. Some sculpture,
such as ice sculpture, sand sculpture, and gas sculpture, is deliberately short-lived.

Sculptors often build small preliminary works called maquettes of ephemeral materials such as plaster of
Paris, wax, clay, or plasticine, as Alfred Gilbert did for 'Eros' at Piccadilly Circus, London.
In Retroarchaeology, these materials are generally the end product.

Sculptors sometimes use found objects.

Asian
Many different forms of sculpture were used in Asia, with many pieces being religious art based
on Hinduism and Buddhism (Buddhist art) and greco-Buddhist art. A great deal of Cambodian Hindu
sculpture is preserved at Angkor, however organized looting has had a heavy impact on many sites
around the country. In Thailand, sculpture was almost exclusively of Buddha images. Many Thai
sculptures or temples are gilded, and on occasion enriched with inlays. See also Thai art

East Asia
China

Artifacts from China date back as early as 10,000 BC and skilled Chinese artisans had been active very
early in history, but the bulk of what is displayed as sculpture comes from a few select historical periods.
The first period of interest has been the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050-771 BC), from which come a
variety of intricate cast bronze vessels. The next period of interest was the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220
AD), beginning with the spectacular Terracotta Army assembled for the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the
first emperor of the important but short-lived Qin Dynasty that preceded the Han. Tombs excavated from
the Han period have revealed many figures found to be vigorous, direct, and appealing 2000 years later.

The first Buddhist sculpture is found dating from the Three Kingdoms period (3rd century), while the
sculpture of the Longmen Grottoes nearLuoyang, Henan Province (Northern Wei, 5th and 6th century)
has been widely recognized for its special elegant qualities.

The period now considered to be China's golden age is the Tang Dynasty, coinciding with what in Europe
is sometimes called the Dark Ages). Decorative figures like those shown below became very popular in
20th century Euro-American culture, and were made available in bulk, as warlords in the Chinese civil
wars exported them to raise cash. Considered especially desirable, and even profound, was the Buddhist
sculpture, often monumental, begun in the Sui Dynasty, inspired by the Greco-Buddhist art of Central
Asia, and many are considered treasures of world art.

Following the Tang, Western interest in Chinese artifacts drops off dramatically, except for what might be
considered as ornamental furnishings, and especially objects in jade. Pottery from many periods has
been collected, and again the Tang period stands out apart for its free, easy feeling. Chinese sculpture
has no nudes—other perhaps than figures made for medical training or practice—and very little
portraiture compared with the European tradition. One place where sculptural portraiture was pursued,
however, was in the monasteries.

Almost nothing, other than jewelry, jade, or pottery is collected by art museums after the Ming
Dynasty ended in the late 17th century—and absolutely nothing has yet been recognized as sculpture
from the tumultuous 20th century, although there was a school of Soviet-influenced social realist sculpture
in the early decades of the Communist regime, and as the century turned, Chinese craftsmen began to
dominate commercial sculpture genres (the collector plates, figurines, toys, etc) and avant garde Chinese
artists began to participate in the Euro-American enterprise of contemporary art.

Calvalryman, Qin Dynasty
Terracotta Army soldier and Chimera (from a tomb) ,Han
Wine jar, Western Zhou
horse from the Qin Dynasty Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD)
Dynasty (1050 BC-771 BC)
Tomb figure, Han Northern Wei Tang Dynasty rider (618-907) Tang Dynasty girl figurine (618-

Dynasty(202 BC-220 AD) DynastyMaitreya (386-534) 907)

The Leshan Giant

Buddha,Tang Dynasty,
Boddisatva, Tang Seated Buddha, Tang Portrait of monk, Song Dynasty,
completed in 803.
Dynasty(618-907) Dynasty ca. 650. 11th century

A wooden Bodhisattvafrom A glazed stoneware statue,Ming Statue of Guanyin, by Blue underglaze statue of a man

the Song Dynasty(960-1279) Dynasty (16th century) Chaozhong He, Ming with his pipe,

Dynasty (1368-1644) fromJingdezhen, Ming

Dynasty(1368-1644)

Doctor's lady, mid-19th

century
Japan

Countless paints and sculpture were made, often under governmental sponsorship. Most Japanese
sculpture is associated with religion, and the medium' use declined with the lessening importance of
traditional Buddhism. During the Kofun period of the third century, clay sculptures called haniwa were
erected outside tombs. Inside the Kondo at Hōryū-ji is a Shaka Trinity (623), the historical Buddha flanked
by two bodhisattvas and also the Guardian Kings of the Four Directions. The wooden image ( 9th c.) of
Shakyamuni, the "historic" Buddha, enshrined in a secondary building at the Murō-ji, is typical of the
early Heian sculpture, with its ponderous body, covered by thick drapery folds carved in the hompa-shiki
(rolling-wave) style, and its austere, withdrawn facial expression. The Kei school of sculptors, particularly
Unkei, created a new, more realistic style of sculpture.

Central Asia
Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between
the Classical Greek culture andBuddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years
in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, and
the Islamic conquests of the 7th century CE. Greco-Buddhist art is characterized by the strong idealistic
realism of Hellenistic art and the first representations of the Buddha in human form, which have helped
define the artistic (and particularly, sculptural) canon for Buddhist art throughout the Asian continent up to
the present. It is also a strong example of cultural syncretism between eastern and western traditions.

The origins of Greco-Buddhist art are to be found in the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian kingdom (250 BCE-
130 BCE), located in today’s Afghanistan, from which Hellenistic culture radiated into the Indian
subcontinent with the establishment of the Indo-Greek kingdom (180 BCE-10 BCE). Under the Indo-
Greeks and then the Kushans, the interaction of Greek and Buddhist culture flourished in the area
of Gandhara, in today’s northern Pakistan, before spreading further into India, influencing the art
of Mathura, and then the Hindu art of the Gupta empire, which was to extend to the rest of South-East
Asia. The influence of Greco-Buddhist art also spread northward towards Central Asia, strongly affecting
the art of the Tarim Basin, and ultimately the arts of China, Korea, and Japan.

The Buddha, flanked

Winged Atalante.
byHerakles/ Vajrapani andTyche/ Hariti.

Fragment of the wind Gandharan Atalante.

godBoreas, Hadda,Afghanistan.
Gandhara Poseidon(Ancient Orient Triton

Museum)

South Asia
India

The first known sculptures are from the Indus Valley civilization (3300–1700 BC), found in sites
at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in modern-day Pakistan. Later, as Hinduism, Buddhism,
and Jainism developed further, India produced bronzes and stone carvings of great intricacy, such as the
famous temple carvings which adorn various Hindu, Jain and Buddhist shrines. Some of these, such as
the cave temples of Ellora and Ajanta, are examples of Indian rock-cut architecture, perhaps the largest
and most ambitious sculptural schemes in the world.

The pink sandstone sculptures of Mathura evolved during the Gupta Empire period (4th-6th century AD)
to reach a very high fineness of execution and delicacy in the modeling. Gupta period art would later
influence Chinese styles during the Sui dynasty, and the artistic styles across the rest of east Asia. Newer
sculptures in Afghanistan, in stucco, schist or clay, display very strong blending of Indian post-Gupta
mannerism and Classical influence. The celebrated bronzes of the Chola dynasty (c. 850-1250)
from south India are of particular note; the iconic figure of Nataraja being the classic example. The
traditions of Indian sculpture continue into the 20th and 21st centuries with for instance, the granite
carving of Mahabalipuram derived from the Pallavadynasty. Contemporary Indian sculpture is typically
polymorphous but includes celebrated figures such as Dhruva Mistry.

Hindu, Chola period, 1000 Chola-ra bronze, 11th-12th

AD centuries
Hoysala emblem 13th century Ganesha
 Ellora Kailash temple Shiva
14th century sculpture
Siva and Parvarti Bhudevi

In Khajuraho in Ellora cave

Sculpture at Parsurameswar Sculpture of Dancing Woman at

Temple, Bhubaneswar Parsurameswar Temple

Lord Vishnu at A Sculpture in Mukteswar

Bhubaneswar temple, Bhubaneswar

[edit]Africa

African sculptures
The style, key aesthetic characteristics, materials, and techniques used in the creation of a piece of
sculpture reflects the region from which it originates. Sculptures often have unique functions that vary
widely from one geographical region to the next.

In West Africa, the earliest known sculptures are from the Nok culture of Nigeria, which dates around 500
BC. The figures of West African sculptures typically have elongated bodies, angular shapes, and facial
features that represent an ideal rather than an individual. These figures are used in religious rituals. They
are made to have surfaces that are often coated with materials placed on them for ceremonial offerings.
In contrast to these sculptures of West Africa are the ones of Mande-speaking peoples of the same
region. The Mande pieces are made of wood and have broad, flat surfaces. Their arms and legs are
shaped like cylinders.
In Central Africa, however, the main distinguishing characteristics include heart-shaped faces that are
curved inward and display patterns of circles and dots. Although some groups prefer more geometric and
angular facial forms, not all pieces are exactly the same, nor are they made of the same material. The
primary material is wood, though ivory, bone, stone, clay, and metal are also used. The Central African
region has very striking styles that are very easy to identify, making regional identification very easy.

Eastern Africans are not known for their sculpture, but, one type that is created in this area is pole
sculptures, which are poles carved in human shapes, decorated with geometric forms, while the tops are
carved with figures of animals, people, and various objects. These poles are, then, placed next to graves
and are associated with death and the ancestral world.

Southern Africa’s oldest known clay figures date from 400 to 600 A.D. and have cylindrical heads. These
clay figures have a mixture of human and animal features. Other than clay figures, there are also wooden
headrests that were buried with their owners. The headrests had styles ranging from geometric shapes to
animal figures. Each region had a unique style and meaning to their sculptures. The type of material and
purpose for creating sculpture in Africa reflect the region from which the pieces are created.
[edit]Egypt
See also:  Art of ancient Egypt

The monumental sculpture of Ancient Egypt is world-famous, but refined and delicate small works are
also a feature. The ancient art of Egyptian sculpture evolved to represent the ancient Egyptian gods, and
Pharaohs, the divine kings and queens, in physical form. Very strict conventions were followed while
crafting statues: male statues were darker than the female ones; in seated statues, hands were required
to be placed on knees and specific rules governed appearance of every Egyptian god. Artistic works were
ranked according to exact compliance with all the conventions, and the conventions were followed so
strictly that over three thousand years, very little changed in the appearance of statues except during a
brief period during the rule of Akhenaten and Nefertiti when naturalistic portrayal was encouraged.

[edit]The Americas
See also:  Sculpture of the United States, Pre-Columbian art, Northwest Coast art, and  Inuit art

Sculpture in what is now Latin America developed in two separate and distinct areas, Mesoamericain the
north and Peru in the south. In both areas, sculpture was initially of stone, and later ofterracotta and metal
as the civilizations in these areas became more technologically proficient.[5] The Mesoamerican region
produced more monumental sculpture, from the massive block-like works of
the Olmec and Toltec cultures, to the superb low reliefs that characterize theMayan and Aztec cultures. In
the Andean region, sculptures were typically small, but often show superb skill.
In North America, wood was sculpted for totem poles, masks, utensils, War canoes and a variety of other
uses, with distinct variation between different cultures and regions. The most developed styles are those
of the Pacific Northwest Coast, where a group of elaborate and highly-stylized formal styles developed
forming the basis of a vibrant tradition that is in a renaissance today (see Bill Reid) and has moved into
other mediums such as silver, gold and modern materials. The introduction of metal tools introduced new
carving techniques, including the use of ablack type of argillite, also called black slate, which is exclusive
for use by artists of the Haida people.

In addition to the famous totem poles, painted and carved house fronts were complemented by carved
posts inside and out, as well as mortuary figures and other items. Among the Inuit of the far north,
traditional carving styles in ivory and soapstone have been expanded through the use of modern power
tools into new directions for Inuit culture which, like the art of the Northwest Coast, is highly prized by art
collectors for its plastic forms and innovative interpretation of figure and story.

The arrival of European Catholic culture readily adapted local skills to the prevailing Baroque style,
producing enormously elaborate retablos and other mostly church sculptures in a variety of hybrid styles.
[6]
 The most famous of such examples in Canada is the altar area of the Notre Dame Basilicain Montreal,
Quebec, which was carved by peasant habitant labourers. Later, artists trained in the Western academic
tradition followed European styles until in the late nineteenth century they began to draw again on
indigenous influences, notably in the Mexican baroque grotesque style known asChurrigueresque.
Aboriginal peoples also adapted church sculpture in variations on Carpenter Gothic; one famous example
is the Church of the Holy Cross in Skookumchuck Hot Springs, British Columbia.

The history of sculpture in the United States after Europeans' arrival reflects the country's 18th-century
foundation in Roman republican civic values and Protestant Christianity. Compared to areas colonized by
the Spanish, sculpture got off to an extremely slow start in the British colonies, with next to no place in
churches, and was only given impetus by the need to assert nationality after independence. American
sculpture of the mid- to late-19th century was often classical, often romantic, but showed a bent for a
dramatic, narrative, almost journalistic realism. Public buildings during the last quarter of the 19th century
and the first half of the 20th century often provided an architectural setting for sculpture, especially in
relief. By the 1950s, traditional sculpture education would almost be completely replaced by a Bauhaus-
influenced concern for abstract design. Minimalist sculpture replaced the figure in public settings and
architects almost completely stopped using sculpture in or on their designs. Modern sculptors (21st
century) use both classical and abstract inspired designs. Beginning in the 1980s, there was a swing back
toward figurative public sculpture; by 2000, many of the new public pieces in the United States were
figurative in design.

Europe
The earliest European sculpture to date portrays a female form, and has been estimated at dating from
35,000 years ago. The discovery in 2008 has caused experts to revise the history of the development of
art.

Greek-Roman-classical
Features unique to the European Classical tradition:

1. full figures: using the young, athletic male or full-bodied female nude
2. portraits: showing signs of age and strong character
3. use of classical costume and attributes of classical deities
4. Concern for naturalism based on observation, often from live models.

Features that the European Classical tradition shares with many others:

1. characters present an attitude of distance and inner contentment

2. details do not disrupt a sense of rhythm between solid volumes and the spaces that surround
them
3. pieces feel solid and larger than they really are
4. ambient space feels sacred or timeless

The topic of Nudity

An unadorned figure in Greek classical sculpture was a reference to the status or role of the depicted
person, deity or other being. Athletes, priestesses and gods could be identified by their adornment or lack
of it.

The Renaissance preoccupation with Greek classical imagery, such as the 5th century

B.C. Doryphoros of Polykleitos, led to nude figurative statues being seen as the 'perfect form' of
representation for the human body. Subsequently, nudity in sculpture and painting has often represented
a form of ideal, be it innocence, openness or purity. Nude sculptures are still common. As in painting, they
are often made as exercises in efforts to understand the anatomical structure of the human body and
develop skills that will provide a foundation for making clothed figurative work.

Nude statues are usually widely accepted by many societies, largely due to the length of tradition that
supports this form. Occasionally, the nude form draws objections, often by moral or religious groups.
Classic examples of this are the removal of the parts of Greek sculpture corresponding to male genitals
(in the Vatican collection), and the addition of a fig leaf to a plaster cast of Michelangelo's sculpture of
David for Queen Victoria's visit to the British Museum.
Gothic
Gothic sculpture evolved from the early stiff and elongated style, still partly Romanesque, into a
spatial and naturalistic feel in the late 12th and early 13th century. The architectural statues at the
Western (Royal) Portal at Chartres Cathedral (c. 1145) are the earliest Gothic sculptures and were
a revolution in style and the model for a generation of sculptors. Prior to this there had been no
sculpture tradition in Ile-de-France—so sculptors were brought in from Burgundy. Bamberg
Cathedral had the largest assemblage of 13th century sculpture. In England sculpture was more
confined to tombs and non-figurine decorations. In Italy there was still a Classical influence, but
Gothic made inroads in the sculptures of pulpits such as the Pisa Baptistery pulpit (1260) and the
Siena pulpit (1268). Dutch-Burgundian sculptor Claus Sluter and the taste for naturalism signaled
the beginning of the end of Gothic sculpture, evolving into the classicistic Renaissance style by
the end of the 15th century

Techniques
Stone carving

Stone carving is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled
removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest
societies indulged in some form of stone work. Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are perhaps the
earliest form: images created by removing part of a rocksurface which remains in situ, by incising,
pecking, carving, and abrading. Monumental sculpture covers large works, and architectural sculpture,
which is attached to buildings.Hardstone carving is the carving for artistic purposes of semi-
precious stones such as jade, agate, onyx, rock crystal, sard or carnelian, and a general term for an
object made in this way. Engraved gems are small carved gems, including cameos, originally used
as seal rings.
Bronze sculpture

Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply
a "bronze". Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just
before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Their strength and lack of brittleness (ductility) is
an advantage when figures in action are to be created, especially when compared to various ceramic or
stone materials (see marble sculpture for several examples).
Wood carving

is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool held in the hand (this may be a power tool), resulting
in a wooden figure or figurine (this may be abstract in nature) or in the sculptural ornamentation of a
wooden object.
Casting

Casting is a manufacturing process by which a liquid material is (usually) poured into a mold, which
contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solid casting is then
ejected or broken out to complete the process.[14] Casting may be used to form hot liquid metals or various
materials that cold set after mixing of components (such as epoxies, concrete, plaster and clay). Casting
is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make
by other methods.

Casting is a 6,000-year-old process.[15] The oldest surviving casting is a copper frog from 3200 BC.[15] The
casting process is subdivided into two distinct subgroups: expendable and non-expendable mold casting.