A Brief History of 3-Dimensional Art

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A Brief History of 3-Dimensional Art

• Mr. Lasseter

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Prehistoric Sculpture

• The first sculptures were made out of bone,
  stone, or antlers.
• They were engraved, carved in deep relief, or
  sculptures in-the-round sculptures to be viewed
  from all sides.
• Many sculptures are thought to be fertility
  fetishes like the Venus of Willendorf.

Venus of Willendorf, 25,000 -20,000 B.C.
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Prehistoric Architecture

• Earliest architecture began around 5,000 B.C.
• Consisted of large stones in various arrangements
• Stonehenge is believed to be an accurate
  astronomical calendar used for ritual purposes

Stonehenge, 2,350-1600 BCE Wiltshire, England.
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Mesopotamian Architecture

• Sumer- Modern day Iraq
• Ziggurats were flat-sided, stepped pyramids used
  as temples.
• Designed as a meeting place for man and gods

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Egyptian Art

• Egyptian society was obsessed with immortality.
• The characteristics of Egyptian art remained the
  same for 3,000 years.
• Egyptian art centered around Egyptian rulers and
  their after-life. The rulers, or pharaohs, were
  considered gods in the after-life. The pharaohs
  spirit, also called ka, was immortal. Many
  sculptures were created as the eternal dwelling
  place for the ka.
• Egypt is considered the first great civilization.
  They advanced in literature, medical science,
  and mathematics.

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Egyptian Architecture

• There are 80 known remaining pyramids.
• The pyramids were burial chambers for pharaohs.
• The largest is the Great Pyramid of Cheops at
  Giza. It took 23 years to construct and was made
  of limestone.

Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza, 2600 B.C.
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Egyptian Tombs

• Much of what we know about Egypt comes from
  existing tombs. The tombs were filled with
  earthly treasures that the pharaoh would use in
  the after-life.
• Sculptures were placed in the tomb to accompany
  the dead.

The Great Sphinx at Khafres Tomb
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Egyptian Tombs

• flatroofed, mudbrick, rectangular building with
  sloping sides that marked the burial site of many
  eminent Egyptians of the Egypt's ancient period
• Mastaba a low rectangular tomb

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Egyptian Sculpture

• Sculptures followed a rigid formula for
  representing the human figure.
• The human form in relief
• (a sculpture which projects from the background
  to be seen only from the front and sides) is
  depicted with a front view of the eye and
  shoulders and profile view of head, arms, and
  legs.
• The size of the figure indicated rank.
• Typically depicted Kings and Queens
• The human form in-the-round
• was always stiff, frontal and bisymmetrical,
  with arms close to the torso and one foot
  slightly forward

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Greek Art- 800-400 B.C.

• There was an explosion of creativity in all areas
  that resulted in an unparalleled level of
  excellence in art, architecture, poetry, drama,
  philosophy, government, law, logic, history, and
  mathematics.
• Greek thought and art focused on the importance
  of man, order, and balance.
• The Greeks invented the nude in art with an
  emphasis on the perfection of the body and mind.

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Greek Sculpture

• Most, if not all, of their sculptures are in
  motion. Greek statues were not originally white
  like we see them today. They were painted with a
  mixture of powdered pigment and hot wax to give
  color to the hair, lips, eyes, and nails.
• They discovered contrapposto, the Greek word that
  describes the stance of a person who is standing
  in a relaxed and natural pose, with the weight of
  the body on one leg.

Kritios Boy 480 BCE
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Nike of Samothrace, 190 B.C.a.k.a. Winged Victory
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Greek Architecture Styles of Columns

• Doric Ionic
  Corinthian
• Most basic scroll top
  most elaborate
• No base (spiral)
  acanthus leaves on capitols

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Greek Architecture

• The Parthenon, 447-438 BCE Acropolis, Athens.
• Built by Iktinos and Kallikrates
• Doric style columns
• Built without mortar, it remained intact until
  1687, when a direct rocket hit destroyed its core

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End Part I
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Roman Art

• The Romans were influenced heavily by the Greeks.
• Many Roman artists made copies of the Greek
  statues.
• Roman art is less idealized than Greek art, and
  more secular and functional.
• Romans gradually developed their own distinctive
  style.
• Romans made sculptures of emperors, politicians,
  and military leaders.
• They also created narrative reliefs depicting
  military exploits.

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Colosseum, 70-82 CE

• Seated 50,000 spectators.
• At one time it was flooded in order to perform
  naval battles.
• Utilizes all three types of columns.
• Inspired present-day stadium design.
• It was originally faced with marble. The marble
  was later removed for other building projects.

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The Pantheon, 118-125 CE

• Constructed to honor the gods and is located in
  Rome, Italy. It has a huge dome that rests on a
  large drum. Its only light is the hole, or
  oculus, in the ceiling.

Interior- represents Earth Dome- represents
heavens
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Roman Sculpture

• Marcus Aurelius, 175 CE. Capitoline Hill, Rome.
• Emperor who detested war
• Conveys the awesome power of the emperor as the
  ruler of the world

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Greek vs. Roman

• Mythology subject matter
• Temples to glorify gods
• Rectangles and straight lines
• Doric and Ionic Columns
• Idealized gods and goddesses

• Civic and Military subject matter
• Civic buildings to honor empire
• Circles and curved lines
• Corinthian columns
• Realistic human beings, idealized officials

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Gothic Architecture- 1200-1500

• Vertical Emphasis with soaring architecture
• Main trait is the pointed arch and bright
  ambiance
• Breakthroughs- ribbed vaulting and external
  support called buttresses
• Gothic cathedrals were a symbol of civic pride
• Used gargoyles and stained glass in designs

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Chartres Cathedral- 1134, rebuilt 1194
Jamb Statues, Royal Portals.
Exterior View
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Rose Window in Chartres
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Notre Dame

• Construction began in Paris, France in 1163
• It took over 100 years to complete.

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Italian Renaissance
1400s-1600s

• Italian term meaning rebirth
• A period of intense artistic creativity with a
  rediscovery of the art and literature of Greece
  and Rome
• Categorized into Early, High, and Northern
  Renaissance
• There was a greater understanding of anatomy and
  perspective.
• Sculpture was focused on human proportion and
  anatomy.

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Brunelleschi (1377-1446)

• First great Italian Renaissance architect
• Rediscovered Classical forms and simplicity
• First self-supporting dome
• Inner and Outer Dome

Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of Florence
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Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378
1455)

• 15th cent. sculptor
• Best known for works in sculpture and
  metalworking.

Gates of Paradise East doors of the Cathedral
of Florence
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Donatello (1386-1466)

• Recaptured the idea of contrapposto from
  Classical sculpture
• Carved figures and draped them realistically with
  a sense of their underlying skeletal structure
• First life-size, freestanding nude sculpture
  since the Classical period

David, 1420s-1450s.
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Michelangelo (1475-1564)

• His father figure was a stonecutter. He was
  obsessed with any form of art.
• He believed that artists were divinely inspired.
  He preferred to be by himself and he rarely let
  anyone see his art in progress.
• He always carved his figures from one block while
  other artists would join different pieces
  together.
• He dissected cadavers to learn about anatomy.
• He lived to be 90, carving until he died.

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Michelangelo
Pieta, 1498-1500.
David, 1501-1504
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End Part II
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Baroque Sculpture (1600-1750)

• Added emotion to the ideals of the Renaissance
• Term baroque often used negatively to mean
  overwrought and ostentatious
• Began with Catholic popes financing magnificent
  cathedrals attempting to entice new worshippers

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Bernini (1598-1680)

• Greatest sculptor of the Baroque period
• Architect, painter, playwright, composer, and
  theater designer
• Son of a sculptor
• Carved David at the age 25
• Dynamic and explosive energy epitomized Baroque
  art

David, c. 1623.
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19th Century Sculpture

• Abstracting the figure becomes popular.
• Abstract Art emphasizes subject rather than
  trying to create an accurate representation of
  its appearance.
• Also non-objective comes onto the scene.
  Non-objective art focuses on the elements and
  principles of art, not on any particular subject.
• Non-objective art has no recognizable subject
  matter such as objects, trees, or figures. Rather
  the subject matter may be the color or the
  composition.

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Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

• By Rodins time, sculpture had become little more
  than decorative public monuments. Rodin
  single-handedly revived the medium of sculpture.
• He learned by observing the masters of sculpture,
  Donatello and Michelangelo.
• Rodin would sculpt from live models. He refused
  to use the Greek and Roman sculptures as models.
• He made small models out of clay before sculpting
  the final piece.

The Thinker
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Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957)

• This Romanian artist striped his sculptures of
  all detail.
• He saw reality in terms of a few basic, universal
  shapes the egg, the smooth pebble, and the blade
  of grass. He would take any object and simplify
  it into one of these three shapes out of metal,
  wood, or marble.
• He studied under Rodin.

Bird in Space
The Kiss
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Dada

• Founded in Zurich in 1916 by a group of refugees
  from WW1.
• They wanted to protest the madness of the war.
  Their goal was to overthrow all authority and to
  cultivate absurdity. Its main strategy was to
  denounce and shock.
• Dada artist, Marcel Duchamp, changed the concept
  of art.
• Created readymades

Fountain, 1917.
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Post War Sculpture

• These artists worked with new materials like
  scrap metal, new techniques like welding, and new
  forms like assemblage and mobiles.
• Giacometti (1901-1966) elongated the human figure
• His art was thought to represent loneliness and
  alienation from humanity

Man Pointing, 1947
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Marisol (born 1930)

• She created box-like figures with attached body
  parts.

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Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 1959)

• American architect
• Fallingwater (Kauffman House)(1935), which has
  been called "the best all-time work of American
  architecture".

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Henry Moore

• He based his work on organic forms like shells,
  pebbles, and bones. Many of his sculptures
  depict the reclining figure, mother and child,
  and family.
• He aimed not for beauty but power of expression.
• His figures seem to emerge out of his medium.
• Abstracted sculptures based on the human form

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Henry Moore (1898-1986)
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Alexander Calder (1898-1976)

• Invented the kinetic sculpture (sculpture in
  motion) and mobile
• He called his mobiles four-dimensional
  drawings. The mobiles move with the slightest
  breeze, changing the composition.
• Typically used primary colors, black and white.
• Powered by air

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Louise Nevelson (1899-1988)

• She created sculpture walls that consist of
  cubicles crammed full of carpenters cast-offs.
  She wanted more than a painting and more than a
  sculpture.
• Her art is an assemblage- made up of found
  objects
• She paints the walls one color to create unity.

Sky Cathedral, 1958.
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Barbara Hepworth (1903 May 1975)

• English sculptor
• Created simplified biomorphic forms
• Worked in wood, bronze, and marble.

Assembly of Sea Forms
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Isamu Noguchi (1904 1988)

• Contemporary Sculpture
• Prominent stone carver who explored pure form in
  his non-objective work.

• Great Rock of Inner Seeking

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George Segal (b. 1924)

• He would cast figures out of plaster and put the
  casts in natural environments.
• He would wrap plaster bandages around living
  people creating white, ghostlike figures
  depicting loneliness and alienation.

Walk, Dont Walk, 1976.
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Duane Hanson (1925-1996)

• From plaster casts of real people, Hanson
  constructs tinted fiberglass models. He then
  outfits with the figures with wigs, glasses, and
  jewelry so they are nearly identical to the real
  thing.

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Christo (b. 1935)

• He creates large scale sculpture by wrapping the
  environment in large pieces of fabric.
• His most recent work consisted of installing red
  fabric gates through New York Citys Central
  Park.

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Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929)

• Swedish sculptor, best known for his Pop Art
  installations featuring very large replicas of
  everyday objects.
• Soft Sculptures

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Environmental Art

• (left) Andy Goldsworthy
• (right) Robert Smithson. Spiral Jetty, 1970.