{"id":144,"date":"2015-04-10T20:54:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T20:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/masteryart1x6xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=144"},"modified":"2015-06-07T22:15:15","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T22:15:15","slug":"oer-1-25","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-artappreciation\/chapter\/oer-1-25\/","title":{"raw":"Reading: Types of Sculpture and Other Three-Dimensional Media","rendered":"Reading: Types of Sculpture and Other Three-Dimensional Media"},"content":{"raw":"Sculpture is any artwork made by the manipulation of materials resulting in a three-dimensional object. The sculpted figure of the\u00a0Venus of Berekhat Ram<\/a>, discovered in the Middle East in 1981, dates to 230,000 years BCE. It is the oldest example of artwork known. The crudely carved stone figure will fit in the palm of your hand. Its name derives from the similarity in form with so-called female fertility figures found throughout Europe, some of which date to 25,000 years ago. For example, the form of the\u00a0Venus of Willendorf<\/em>\u00a0below shows remarkable skill in its carving, including arms draped over exaggerated breasts, an extended abdomen and elaborate patterning on the head, indicating either a braided hairstyle or type of woven cap. Just as remarkable, the figure has no facial detail to indicate identity. The meaning behind these figures is difficult to put into context because of the lack of any written record about them or other supporting materials.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"176\"]\"Venus Venus of Willendorf,\u00a0c.25,000 BCE.\u00a0Natural History Museum, Vienna.\u00a0Image in the public domain[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThese earliest images are indicative of most of the cultural record in sculpture for thousands of years; singular figurative objects made within an iconographic context of myth, ritual or ceremony. It\u2019s not until the Old Kingdom period of Egyptian sculpture, between 3100 and 2180 BCE, that we start to see sculpture that reflects a resemblance of\u00a0specific figures<\/a>.\r\n\r\nSculpture can be\u00a0freestanding<\/strong>, or self-supported, where the viewer can walk completely around the work to see it from all sides, or created in\u00a0relief,<\/em><\/strong>where the primary form\u2019s surface is raised above the surrounding material, such as the image on a coin.\u00a0Bas-relief<\/strong>\u00a0refers to a shallow extension of the image from its surroundings,\u00a0high relief<\/strong>\u00a0is where the most prominent elements of the composition are undercut and rendered at more than half in the round against the background. Rich, animated bas-relief sculpture exists at the Banteay Srei temple near Angor Wat, Cambodia. Here humans and mythic figures combine in depictions from ancient Hindu stories.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"432\"]\"Bas-relief Bas-relief sculpture at the temple Banteay Srei, Angor, Cambodia. Tenth\u00a0century. Sandstone.\u00a0Image in the public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe\u00a0Shaw Memorial<\/a>\u00a0combines freestanding, bas-, and high-relief elements in one masterful sculpture. The work memorializes Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth regiment, the first African American infantry unit to fight for the north in the Civil War.","rendered":"

Sculpture is any artwork made by the manipulation of materials resulting in a three-dimensional object. The sculpted figure of the\u00a0Venus of Berekhat Ram<\/a>, discovered in the Middle East in 1981, dates to 230,000 years BCE. It is the oldest example of artwork known. The crudely carved stone figure will fit in the palm of your hand. Its name derives from the similarity in form with so-called female fertility figures found throughout Europe, some of which date to 25,000 years ago. For example, the form of the\u00a0Venus of Willendorf<\/em>\u00a0below shows remarkable skill in its carving, including arms draped over exaggerated breasts, an extended abdomen and elaborate patterning on the head, indicating either a braided hairstyle or type of woven cap. Just as remarkable, the figure has no facial detail to indicate identity. The meaning behind these figures is difficult to put into context because of the lack of any written record about them or other supporting materials.<\/p>\n

\"Venus<\/p>\n

Venus of Willendorf,\u00a0c.25,000 BCE.\u00a0Natural History Museum, Vienna.\u00a0Image in the public domain<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

These earliest images are indicative of most of the cultural record in sculpture for thousands of years; singular figurative objects made within an iconographic context of myth, ritual or ceremony. It\u2019s not until the Old Kingdom period of Egyptian sculpture, between 3100 and 2180 BCE, that we start to see sculpture that reflects a resemblance of\u00a0specific figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sculpture can be\u00a0freestanding<\/strong>, or self-supported, where the viewer can walk completely around the work to see it from all sides, or created in\u00a0relief,<\/em><\/strong>where the primary form\u2019s surface is raised above the surrounding material, such as the image on a coin.\u00a0Bas-relief<\/strong>\u00a0refers to a shallow extension of the image from its surroundings,\u00a0high relief<\/strong>\u00a0is where the most prominent elements of the composition are undercut and rendered at more than half in the round against the background. Rich, animated bas-relief sculpture exists at the Banteay Srei temple near Angor Wat, Cambodia. Here humans and mythic figures combine in depictions from ancient Hindu stories.<\/p>\n

\"Bas-relief<\/p>\n

Bas-relief sculpture at the temple Banteay Srei, Angor, Cambodia. Tenth\u00a0century. Sandstone.\u00a0Image in the public domain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The\u00a0Shaw Memorial<\/a>\u00a0combines freestanding, bas-, and high-relief elements in one masterful sculpture. The work memorializes Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth regiment, the first African American infantry unit to fight for the north in the Civil War.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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