Sculpture - Post #1

What Constitutes as Sculpture?

Why Sculpture?

Through the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Sculpture is more than painting. It is greater to raise the dead to life than to create phantoms that seem to live.”

Sculpture is, according to Marriam-Webster’s online dictionary, “a three-dimensional work of art.”

So what is sculpture? Well, to start, sculpture is a little bit of everything. It’s a three-dimensional piece of visual art that allows the work to come to life. Take “The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin, for example. Rodin sculpted this work of art in 1902, during a time when he begin to focus more on themes of masculinity and femininity. So not only is this a three-dimensional work of art, but it holds special meaning and in Longfellow’s words: “raise[s] the dead to life.” Sculpture allows artists, and the average citizen alike, to lift their beliefs to a higher level and explore societal norms.

When it comes to sculpture, I will be investigating various mediums used for sculpture around the world. These include, but are not limited to: clay, wood, stone, glass, and metal. Through the exploration of these various mediums of sculpture, it will be easy to compare various cultures' views on gender and sexuality and how these cultures portray their beliefs through sculpture.

The main reason I chose to delve into the world of sculpture is because of my mother and her adventures in Kenya, Africa during her pre-teen years. She lived there for about two years with her immediate family (her mother, father, and four brothers) and then moved back home for high school. Therefore, I have grown up around sculptures and visual art that my mother, and grandmother, brought back from their time in Kenya. The sculptures themselves, mainly wooden ones, always fascinated me because even as a child I knew there was some deeper meaning behind them. Today, through this blog and personal research, I will be able to dive into the world I always knew existed but never truly knew much about—the world of sculpture as it pertains to gender and sexuality!

Kristen

Works Cited

"Rodin, Auguste." Info:Main Page - New World Encyclopedia. 4 Oct. 2008. Web. 01 Feb. 2012. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Auguste_Rodin>.

"Sculpture - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 01 Feb. 2012. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sculpture>.

"Sculpture." ModernSculpture.com - Contemporary & Modern Art. Web. 31 Jan. 2012. <http://www.modernsculpture.com/sculpture.htm>.

"The Thinker." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 26 Jan. 2012. Web. 01 Feb. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker.