Sculpture glossary

Definitions taken from the Grove Dictionary of Art and from Bassett, Jane and Peggy Fogelman. Looking at European sculpture : a guide to technical terms. Los Angeles, Calif. : J. Paul Getty Museum in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1997.

And Janet Burnett Grossman, Looking at Greek and Roman sculpture in stone : a guide to terms, styles, and techniques. Los Angeles : The J. Paul Getty Museum, c2003.

Marble Quarries

QuarryAn open pit, a hillside opening, or an underground

mine where naturally occurring stone such as marble is extracted from

the earth.

Roughing out (or blocking out)The first stage of producing a sculpture from a block of marble was generally done with

pointed tools such as picks and points, often at the quarry site in antiquity. The block was reduced to a very rough form of the sculpture to reduce its weight prior to transporting it

to a workshop for finishing.

ReliefA 2-d work in which carved figures project for a background plane. In high relief that

figure project at least half of their natural circumference from the background, whereas in low relief figures project only slightly

Plastic and Plasticity[ad. L. plastic-us (Vitr.), a. Gr.

that may be moulded, belonging to moulding or modelling, plastic, f. - formed, moulded,

f. to mould, form. So F. plastique (1556 in Hatz.-Darm.).]     

 A. adj.    I. In active sense.     1. a. Characterized by moulding, shaping, modelling, fashioning, or giving form to a

yielding material, as clay or wax; capable of shaping or moulding formless matter.  plastic art ( art plastic), the art of shaping or modelling; any art in which this is done,

as sculpture or ceramics.

FreestandingA sculpture carved in-the-round that stands on its own.

In –the-RoundA sculpture meant to be viewed from all sides. An in the round statues is three-

dimensional with all parts of it fully carved or modeled. The viewer must walk around the figure fully to appreciate its form.

Privileged view point or Primary point of viewThe angle from which a sculpture yields its most pleasing, comprehensive, informative

view. The primary view may be from an oblique angle or from the side rather than fro the front.

FrontalA sculpture is described as frontal when it has a definite orientation toward the

prospective viewer– the front of the statue is the intended view. Its visual impact is the result of this frontal presentation. The backs of such statues are sometimes not

completely carved.

Multiple viewsA term applied to all sculpture that is intended to be seen from various point of

view, all of which are pleasing and/or essential for understanding the work.

IdealisticSculptures could express either an idealized image of the sitter or one more naturalistic

or true to life. In Classical Greece carved portraits represented a generalized ideal of beauty at the expense of individual characteristics.

ContrappostoContrapposto, the Italian term for a pose in which one part of the body is turned in the opposite direction from another. In particular, it is used to denote the asymmetrical, but balanced, posture of the standing human figure that first appeared in 5th-century Greek

sculpture and was developed and elaborated in the Renaissance.In Egyptian and earlier Greek sculpture standing figures were always represented with

the weight evenly distributed on both feet and with the pelvis horizontal, so that the frontal view of the figure was essentially symmetrical. During the 5th century BC Greek sculptors freed the standing figure from this rigid frontality and developed a new scheme in which the centre of gravity remained in the middle, but in which most of the weight of the body was carried on one leg that was held obliquely, so that the pelvis on the weight-bearing side was thrust outwards and higher than on the non-weight-bearing side, while the free leg was bent at the knee. Above, the torso and shoulders were tilted out of the vertical in

the opposite direction from the pelvis, and the head was inclined sideways. The total effect is of a rhythm of strong curves on the supporting side, contrasting with a relaxed

fall on the free side.This scheme of balancing and offsetting the masses of the body is one of the great

achievements of Greek art, since it greatly enriched the plastic possibilities and expressive range of the sculpted figure

Contrapposto

POLYKLEITOSDoryphorosca. 450-40 B.C.from Pompeii

Non-finito(Italian, not finished). A term used to describe a sculpture that is considered unfinished

because tool marks are still visible and/or it lacks its final carving, polishing, and refinement of details or a sculpture that is deliberately made to look unfinished. The term

is frequently applied to Michelangelo’s sculptures, and later 19th C artists like Auguste Rodin who purposefully adopted their rough unfinished look as an aesthetic ideal

Technical information, tools, etc.

ModelingA method of manipulating a sculptural medium such as clay, plaster, or wax to create a

form. Modeling involves building up and shaping a pliable material, in contrast to carving, which involves cutting away a hard substance such as stone, wood, or ivory.

CarvingSculptures made of wood, ivory, amber or stone are formed by cutting and shaping with a variety of carving tools, including chisels of various types, rasps, and drills. The stages of carving or sculpting a three-dimensional figure from a single block of material are:

1) sketch or incise the profile of the intended figure on opposite sides of the block and partially carve the profile; 2) sketch or incise the front view on the front of the block and partially carve this view and cut out the interior spaces (such as between arms and legs3) partially smooth the figure;4) define musculature and clothing and carve the hairstyle and the facial features 5) finish the figure with incised surface details and surface polishing.

Tools and Tool marksDistinctive markings on marble and other stone made by the

tools used for sculpting.

Pick A large tool used primary for quarrying marble and roughly finishing a block of marble. A pick has a metal head with either points at both ends or one end pointed and the other shaped into a flat blade; the head is attached to a long wooden handle that is held by

both hands. It makes distinctive marks with the form of crushed grooves, some of which are still visible on the walls of ancient marble quarries.

MalletA hammer made of either wood or metal used for striking a chisel in sculpting

wood or stone.

Roman relief depicting mallet and hammer.

Roughing out (or blocking out)The first stage of producing a sculpture from a block of marble was generally done with

pointed tools such as picks and points, often at the quarry site in antiquity. The block was reduced to a very rough form of the sculpture to reduce its weight prior to transporting it

to a workshop for finishing.

Claw chisel (or toothed chisel)A toothed tool used for the removal of the outer layer of stone. Made from iron or a

copper-based alloy in antiquity, it can vary considerably in size and the number of teeth (although the minimum is 4).

The great advantage of the claw chisel is that it is easy to control and bites quickly into the stone without damaging the surface. It can be used for modeling, surfacing, and fine finishing; depending on the angle at which it is held relative to the plane of the stone: to

model, it is held almost perpendicular to the surface and hit forcefully with the mallet, which quickly removed layers of stone; to produce finer detail or a finished surface, the

tool is held at progressively lower angles.

Effects of claw chisel on surface

Flat chiselA tool of various widths with a straight cutting edge used for smoothing the surface of the stone; it creates flat

surfaces and smoothly finished forms. Details and lines can be cut with the

corner of the flat chisel, leaving a slightly cut v-shaped channel. The Greeks used the flat chisel after point and claw chisel work as an intermediary tool and to level a surface in preparation for smoothing by abrasives. The Romans used it primarily to smooth and create a uniform surface.

On the back of the cranium, the marks of the flat chisel can be seen on the right

and of the scraper on the left.

Curved (bull-nosed) chiselThis tool is similar to the flat chisel in that the cutting edge is flat in section, but rounded

rather than squared at the end, which helps to prevent breaking delicate corners and fine details on the stone. It can be used as an intermediary tool or as a finishing tool. The

marks of this took often create a light hatching of curved marks, one following the other along the tool’s line of passage.

Point (or punch) The tool used for roughing out a block

of quarried stone in to the general shape and form of an intended statue.

A length of square, rectangular, or round-sectioned metal bar was

hammered to a point at one end. When a point is held at right angles to the surface and tapped with a mallet, it

stuns the stone and flakes pieces off. When held at an oblique angle, short furrows are created on the stone if the tool is removed after each strike; long furrows remain if the point is struck in

succession with lifting it from the surface of the stone.

The hair on the back of this girl’s head has been left roughened with marks of

the point still visible.