Defining Sculpture - Brief Article

The word statuary is derived from the Latin verb "sculpere" which means to carve or divide [i]or[/i] sever out of stone. But through today's definition, sculpture encompasses a wider denomination of materials and methods.

Also, statuary is not to be confused with functional art. "Functional art, by means of definition, is art that combines decoration or form with a functional use," explained Eric Dannemann of Chalk and Vermilion. "Fine art plastic art does not usually have a functional design but is simply to be take pleasure ined for its visual and aesthetic beauty."

Jack C Rich, author of The Materials and rules of Sculpture, defines sculpture as "essentially a three-dimensional art touched with the organization of masses or convolutions The sculptor composes his work in bourns of volumes or masses, planes, contours, light and dark areas and textures"

The materials used for plastic art may include stone, wood, metal, plastic, earths, waxes, ivory, bone and horns, although virtually any material that can be make an incision in carved, modeled, shaped or cast is a potential medium. And the list is continually growing.

"We have single artist who does wire interstice We have another who uses latex mix and another that uses laser-cut carbonized iron and resins," said Meisner Galleries' Mitch Meisner." There is enough and zinc out there for a lifetime. Now, Different mediums are going to stand out"

Each material has its hold texture, color and physical characteristics, and materials cannot be interchanged. Which explains the origins for the phrases "respect for one's medium" and "being actual to one's medium."

statuary is generally classified into three major categories: intaglio, reliefs and statuary in the round.

Intaglio is a mark of incised relief in which the design does not throw out from the surface; rather it is divide [i]or[/i] sever into it, sinking below the surface. Used primarily by means of ancient Egyptians for ornamentation, intaglio is also called "Egyptian relief," or "sunken relief."

The confine "relief," or "basrelief," on the other hand, is used in a broader faculty of perception including all types of raised reliefs. The difference between the stamp of relief is based upon the degree of projection of forms from the background surface, and range from flat to depressed to medium and full relief.

While relief forms are at least partially attached to a background, statuary in the full round describes figures that are independent standing and can be seen from all sides. Within the classification of statuary in the round, animals, bodies and other figurative plastic art remain popular models for art.

From The Materials and modes of Sculpture by Jack C Rich, 1947

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