Stone sculpture

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Carved stone human figures, known as Moai, on Easter Island AhuTongariki.JPG
Carved stone human figures, known as Moai, on Easter Island

A stone sculpture is an object made of stone which has been shaped, usually by carving, or assembled to form a visually interesting three-dimensional shape. Stone is more durable than most alternative materials, making it especially important in architectural sculpture on the outside of buildings.

Contents

Stone carving includes a number of techniques 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 stonework, though not all areas of the world have such abundance of good stone for carving as Egypt, Persia(Iran), Greece, Central America, India and most of Europe. Often, as in Indian sculpture, stone is the only material in which ancient monumental sculpture has survived (along with smaller terracottas), although there was almost certainly more wooden sculpture created at the time.

Unakoti group of rock reliefs of Shiva, Tripura, India. 11th century Unakoti group of bas-relief sculptures, Tripura, India.jpg
Unakoti group of rock reliefs of Shiva, Tripura, India. 11th century

Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are perhaps the earliest form: images created by removing part of a rock surface which remains in situ, by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. Rock reliefs, carved into "living" rock, are a more advanced stage of this. Monumental sculpture covers large works, and architectural sculpture, which is attached to buildings. Historically, much of these types were painted, usually after a thin coat of plaster was applied. 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. Alabaster or mineral gypsum is a soft mineral that is easy to carve for smaller works and still relatively durable. Engraved gems are small carved gems, including cameos, originally used as seal rings.

Boundary wall featuring a dry stone sculpture, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK Dry stone globe.jpg
Boundary wall featuring a dry stone sculpture, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK
Ancient Egyptian triple portrait in greywacke, a very hard sandstone that takes a fine polish Statue, Egyptian Museum, al-Qahirah, CG, EGY (47908985571).jpg
Ancient Egyptian triple portrait in greywacke, a very hard sandstone that takes a fine polish

Carving stone into sculpture is an activity older than civilization itself, beginning perhaps with incised images on cave walls. [1] Prehistoric sculptures were usually human forms, such as the Venus of Willendorf and the faceless statues of the Cycladic cultures of ancient Greece. Later cultures devised animal, human-animal and abstract forms in stone. The earliest cultures used abrasive techniques, and modern technology employs pneumatic hammers and other devices. But for most of human history, sculptors used a hammer and chisel as the basic tools for carving stone.

Types of stone used in carved sculptures

Soapstone, with a Mohs hardness of about 2, is an easily worked stone, commonly used by beginning students of stone carving.

Alabaster and softer kinds of serpentine, all about 3 on the Mohs scale, are more durable than soapstone. Alabaster, in particular, has long been cherished for its translucence.

Limestone and sandstone, at about 4 on the Mohs scale, are the only sedimentary stones commonly carved. [2] Limestone comes in a popular oolitic variety, about twice as hard as alabaster, that is excellent for carving. [3] The harder serpentines can also reach 4 on the Mohs scale.

Marble, travertine, and onyx are at about 6 on the Mohs scale. Marble has been the preferred stone for sculptors in the European tradition ever since the time of classical Greece. It is available in a wide variety of colors, from white through pink and red to grey and black. [3]

The hardest stone frequently carved is granite, at about 8 on the Mohs scale. It is the most durable of sculptural stones and, correspondingly, an extremely difficult stone to work. [2]

Basalt columns, being even harder than the granite, are less frequently carved. This stone takes on a beautiful black appearance when polished.

Rough and unfinished statues

Rough block forms of unfinished statuary are known and are in museums. Notable are the Akhenaten, Amarna Period statuary found at Akhetaten. One known sculptor, Thutmose (sculptor), has his entire shop excavated at Akhetaten, with many unfinished block forms.

The process of stone sculpture

different mallets and pitching tool Mallet & pitch.jpg
different mallets and pitching tool
Roughed out carvings Roughed out.jpg
Roughed out carvings
This shows the process of "pointing", the traditional method of making exact copies in stone carving. A point machine is used to measure points on the original sculpture (seen on the right) and transfer those points onto the stone copy (left). Here we see the very early stages, where points have been measured and marked on the stone copy. These markings point out the high points of the surface so that the stone carver knows which surfaces to sink and which to leave alone. Pointing a copy of the Charioteer of Delphi in limestone.jpg
This shows the process of "pointing", the traditional method of making exact copies in stone carving. A point machine is used to measure points on the original sculpture (seen on the right) and transfer those points onto the stone copy (left). Here we see the very early stages, where points have been measured and marked on the stone copy. These markings point out the high points of the surface so that the stone carver knows which surfaces to sink and which to leave alone.

In the direct method of stone carving, the work usually begins with the selection of stone for carving, the qualities of which will influence the artist's choices in the design process. The artist using the direct method may use sketches but eschews the use of a physical model. The fully dimensional form or figure is created for the first time in the stone itself, as the artist removes material, sketches on the block of stone, and develops the work along the way. [4]

On the other hand, is the indirect method, when the sculptor begins with a clearly defined model to be copied in stone. The models, usually made of plaster or modeling clay, may be fully the size of the intended sculpture and fully detailed. Once the model is complete, a suitable stone must be found to fit the intended design. [4] The model is then copied in stone by measuring with calipers or a pointing machine. This method is frequently used when the carving is done by other sculptors, such as artisans or employees of the sculptor. [ citation needed ]

Some artists use the stone itself as inspiration; the Renaissance artist Michelangelo claimed that his job was to free the human form hidden inside the block. [1]

Copying by "pointing"

The copying of an original statue in stone, which was very important for Ancient Greek statues, which are nearly all known from copies, was traditionally achieved by "pointing", along with more freehand methods. Pointing involved setting up a grid of string squares on a wooden frame surrounding the original, and then measuring the position on the grid and the distance between grid and statue of a series of individual points, and then using this information to carve into the block from which the copy is made. Robert Manuel Cook notes that Ancient Greek copyists seem to have used many fewer points than some later ones, and copies often vary considerably in the composition as well as the finish. [5]

Roughing out

When he or she is ready to carve, the carver usually begins by knocking off, or "pitching", large portions of unwanted stone. For this task, he may select a point chisel, which is a long, hefty piece of steel with a point at one end and a broad striking surface at the other. A pitching tool may also be used at this early stage; which is a wedge-shaped chisel with a broad, flat edge. The pitching tool is useful for splitting the stone and removing large, unwanted chunks. The sculptor also selects a mallet, which is often a hammer with a broad, barrel-shaped head. The carver places the point of the chisel or the edge of the pitching tool against a selected part of the stone, then swings the mallet at it with a controlled stroke. He must be careful to strike the end of the tool accurately; the smallest miscalculation can damage the stone, not to mention the sculptor’s hand. When the mallet connects to the tool, energy is transferred along the tool, shattering the stone. Most sculptors work rhythmically, turning the tool with each blow so that the stone is removed quickly and evenly. This is the “roughing out” stage of the sculpting process.

Refining

Once the general shape of the statue has been determined, the sculptor uses other tools to refine the figure. A toothed chisel or claw chisel has multiple gouging surfaces which create parallel lines in the stone. These tools are generally used to add texture to the figure. An artist might mark out specific lines by using calipers to measure an area of stone to be addressed and marking the removal area with pencil, charcoal or chalk. The stone carver generally uses a shallower stroke at this point in the process.

Final stages

Eventually, the sculptor has changed the stone from a rough block into the general shape of the finished statue. Tools called rasps and rifflers are then used to enhance the shape into its final form. A rasp is a flat, steel tool with a coarse surface. The sculptor uses broad, sweeping strokes to remove excess stone as small chips or dust. A riffler is a smaller variation of the rasp, which can be used to create details such as folds of clothing or locks of hair.

The final stage of the carving process is polishing. Sandpaper can be used as a first step in the polishing process or sand cloth. Emery, a stone that is harder and rougher than the sculpture media, is also used in the finishing process. This abrading, or wearing away, brings out the colour of the stone, reveals patterns in the surface and adds a sheen. Tin and iron oxides are often used to give the stone a highly reflective exterior. Today, modern stone sculptors use diamond abrasives to sand in the final finishing processes. This can be achieved by hand pads in rough to fine abrasives ranging from 36 grit to 3000 grit. Also, diamond pads mounted on water-cooled rotary air or electric sanders speed the finishing process.

Contemporary techniques

Sculptor Karen LaMonte examines Cumulus, a stone sculpture that she created with the help of weather models, a super computer, and robots. Karen LaMonte examines Cumulus.png
Sculptor Karen LaMonte examines Cumulus, a stone sculpture that she created with the help of weather models, a super computer, and robots.

In the 21st century, stone sculpture has grown to encompass technologically advanced tools including robots, super computers, and algorithms. In 2017, Karen LaMonte first displayed Cumulus , her eight-foot-tall, two-and-a-half ton sculpture of a cumulus cloud carved from Italian marble. To create the work, LaMonte collaborated with California Institute of Technology scientists to model conditions needed to create a cumulus cloud. She then replicated the resulting cloud model in marble using a combination of robot and hand carving. "Rarely does someone just start chipping away in stone," LaMonte told Caltech magazine. "Think about Michelangelo; he submerged his wax model of David in water, exposing it layer by layer and carving the marble to match the emerging figure. Three hundred years later, Antonio Canova perfected the pointing machine to transfer exact points from a model onto marble, followed by Benjamin Cheverton’s patented 3-D pantograph. Only by using technology could I make the diaphanous solid and the intangible permanent." The sculpture required four weeks of robot-driven carving, followed by four weeks of hand-finishing, to complete. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabaster</span> Lightly colored, translucent, and soft calcium minerals, typically gypsum

Alabaster is a mineral and a soft rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions and usages for the word alabaster. In archaeology, the term alabaster is a category of objects and artefacts made from the varieties of two different minerals: (i) the fine-grained, massive type of gypsum, and (ii) the fine-grained, banded type of calcite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sculpture</span> Artworks that are three-dimensional objects

Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving and modelling, in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast.

<i>David</i> (Michelangelo) Renaissance statue in Florence, Italy

David is a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture, created from 1501 to 1504 by Michelangelo. With a height of 5.17 metres, the David was the first colossal marble statue made in the early modern period following classical antiquity, a precedent for the 16th century and beyond. David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of twelve prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in the public square in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. In 1873, the statue was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, and in 1910 replaced at the original location by a replica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chisel</span> Tool for cutting and carving

A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end; for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, struck with a mallet, or mechanical power. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marble sculpture</span> Three-dimensional art form from marble

Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface before refracting it in subsurface scattering. This gives an attractive soft appearance that is especially good for representing human skin, which can also be polished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonemasonry</span> Creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone

Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar, to wall or cover formed structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood carving</span> Form of working wood by means of a cutting tool

Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object. The phrase may also refer to the finished product, from individual sculptures to hand-worked mouldings composing part of a tracery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Relief</span> Sculptural technique of embossed depth

Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. When a relief is carved into a flat surface of stone or wood, the field is actually lowered, leaving the unsculpted areas seeming higher. The approach requires a lot of chiselling away of the background, which takes a long time. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, particularly in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be simply added to or raised up from the background. Monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone carving</span> The act of shaping stone materials

Stone carving is an activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, stone work has survived which was created during our prehistory or past time.

This page describe terms and jargon related to sculpture and sculpting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rasp</span> Filing tool

A rasp is a coarse form of file used for coarsely shaping wood or other material. Typically a hand tool, it consists of a generally tapered rectangular, round, or half-round sectioned bar of case hardened steel with distinct, individually cut teeth. A narrow, pointed tang is common at one end, to which a handle may be fitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical sculpture</span> Sculpture from ancient Greece and Rome

Classical sculpture refers generally to sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, as well as the Hellenized and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence, from about 500 BC to around 200 AD. It may also refer more precisely a period within Ancient Greek sculpture from around 500 BC to the onset of the Hellenistic style around 323 BC, in this case usually given a capital "C". The term "classical" is also widely used for a stylistic tendency in later sculpture, not restricted to works in a Neoclassical or classical style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architectural sculpture</span> Use of sculptural techniques in architecture

Architectural sculpture is the use of sculptural techniques by an architect and/or sculptor in the design of a building, bridge, mausoleum or other such project. The sculpture is usually integrated with the structure, but freestanding works that are part of the original design are also considered to be architectural sculpture. The concept overlaps with, or is a subset of, monumental sculpture.

The Greek Slave is a marble sculpture by the American sculptor Hiram Powers. It was one of the best-known and critically acclaimed American artworks of the nineteenth century, and is among the most popular American sculptures ever. It was the first publicly exhibited, life-size, American sculpture depicting a fully nude female figure. Powers originally modeled the work in clay, in Florence, Italy, completing it on March 12, 1843. The first marble version of the sculpture was completed by Powers' studio in 1844 and is now in Raby Castle, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Getty kouros</span> Greek kouros statue, possible forgery, at the Getty Museum

The Getty kouros is an over-life-sized statue in the form of a late archaic Greek kouros. The dolomitic marble sculpture was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, in 1985 for ten million dollars and first exhibited there in October 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pointing machine</span> Sculpting tool

A pointing machine is a measuring tool used by stone sculptors and woodcarvers to accurately copy plaster, clay or wax sculpture models into wood or stone. In essence the device is a pointing needle that can be set to any position and then fixed. It further consists of brass or stainless steel rods and joints which can be placed into any position and then tightened. It is not actually a machine; its name is derived from the Italian macchinetta di punta. The invention of the tool has been ascribed to both the French sculptor and medallist Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux (1751–1832) and to the British sculptor John Bacon (1740–1799). It was later perfected by Canova. However, similar devices were used in ancient times, when the copying of Greek sculptures for the Roman market was a large industry.

The Compleat Sculptor, Inc., is an American retailer of sculpture supplies. Established in New York City in 1995 as a comprehensive source of sculptural materials and tools, it is one of the largest sculptural materials suppliers in the world. It also provides classes and related services for professional sculptors, as well as other users of sculptural materials, such as movie and television set designers and law enforcement forensic teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kouros of Apollonas</span>

The Kouros of Apollonas, also called the Colossus of Dionysus, is a 10.7 metre tall unfinished statue of light grey Naxian marble with a weight of around 80 tonnes. It is located in an ancient quarry near Apollonas, a small town in the northern part of Naxos, one of the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea. The statue is a kouros dating from Archaic period of Ancient Greece, around the turn of the seventh and sixth centuries BC.

Cumulus is a monumental sculpture carved from Italian marble and based on the dimensions and weight of an atmospheric cumulus cloud. The work was created in 2017 by American artist Karen LaMonte and first displayed at the Glasstress exhibition during the 57th Venice Biennale. Cumulus stands seven feet tall, weighs two-and-a-half tons, and was carved by hand and robot. LaMonte worked with scientists from the California Institute of Technology, who used a supercomputer and weather modelling software to generate a three-dimensional cloud surface for LaMonte to replicate in stone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sculpture in the Renaissance period</span> Sculpture during the Renaissance period

Renaissance sculpture is understood as a process of recovery of the sculpture of classical antiquity. Sculptors found in the artistic remains and in the discoveries of sites of that bygone era the perfect inspiration for their works. They were also inspired by nature. In this context we must take into account the exception of the Flemish artists in northern Europe, who, in addition to overcoming the figurative style of the Gothic, promoted a Renaissance foreign to the Italian one, especially in the field of painting. The rebirth of antiquity with the abandonment of the medieval, which for Giorgio Vasari "had been a world of Goths", and the recognition of the classics with all their variants and nuances was a phenomenon that developed almost exclusively in Italian Renaissance sculpture. Renaissance art succeeded in interpreting Nature and translating it with freedom and knowledge into a multitude of masterpieces.

References

  1. 1 2 Liebson, Milt (1991). Direct Stone Carving. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN   0-88740-305-0. Page 9.
  2. 1 2 Liebson, page 20.
  3. 1 2 Liebson, page 21.
  4. 1 2 Liebson, pages 63-64.
  5. Cook, R.M., Greek Art, p. 147, Penguin, 1986 (reprint of 1972), ISBN   0140218661
  6. "Cloud Sourcing". Caltech Magazine. Retrieved 2020-02-27.