Sculpture in ReliefDFA 2173

Shazwina Manmohan12002200

History of Relief Sculpture

• Sculpture may be the oldest of the arts. People carved before they painted or designed

dwellings. The earliest drawings were probably carved on rock or incised (scratched) in earth.

• These drawings were as much forerunners of relief sculpture as of painting.

• The development of relief sculpture was marked by swings between pictorial and

sculptural dominance.

• Egyptian sculptors always presented ideas clearly. The pharaoh or noble is made larger than

less important people. In relief sculpture every part of a figure is clearly shown.

• The Egyptians often combined features from various creatures to symbolize ideas

• Egyptian sculptors made standing and seated figures in the round and in relief; changes in

style reveal changed circumstances.

• For instance in Greek art, reliefs are more like contracted sculpture than expanded

pictures. Figures inhabit a space which is defined by the solid forms of the figures

themselves and is limited by the background plane.

• Background plane is not used to create a receding perspective but rather as a finite

impenetrable barrier in front of which the figures exist.

• Renaissance relief sculpture makes full use of perspective, which is a pictorial

method of representing a 3 dimensional spatial relationships on a 2 dimension

surface, and thus has much in common with fine art painting

What is Relief Sculpture?• A sculpted art work in which figures are either carved into a level plane or more

typically the plane is removed to create images sculpted on its surface without

completely disconnecting them from the plane

• Not free-standing or in the round, but usually has a background from which the main

elements of the composition rise

• Relief sculpture has a notable history dating back over 20,000 years in both eastern

and western cultures.

• Often found on the walls of monumental buildings, several panels or sections of relief

together may represent a sequence of scenes.

• Relief figures and backgrounds are sculpted from the same material, but there are a

few exceptions in Greek art and in the decorative work of the Chinese and Japanese,

and others who used inlaid ivory, gold and cloisonné (glass/gemstones) techniques to

form reliefs

• Relief focuses more on contour than line and the use of chiaroscuro in defining

form

• Believed to have pre-dated sculpture in round, as it is easier to create than a

free-standing full-figure.

• In larger reliefs, marble, broze and terra-cotta have often been used.

• In smaller reliefs, ivory, stucco, enamel and wood are used more often.

Types of Relief Sculpture

• Low relief or (bas-relief) is a sculpture technique in which figures and/or other design

elements are just barely more prominent than the (overall flat) background.

• Bas-relief sculpture is stone sculpture made by chipping away at a slab of rock to

make a picture that stands out

• The Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and many others have used bas-relief.

• Bas relief is created either by carving away material (wood, stone, ivory, jade, etc.) or

adding material to the top of an otherwise smooth surface (say, strips of clay to

stone).

• This is a technique as old as humankind's artistic explorations, and is closely related

to high relief.

• High-relief or (alto-relievo), from the Italian, involves the undercutting of at least the

most prominent figures of the sculpture so that they are rendered at more than 50

percent in the round against the background.

• The degree of relief may vary across a composition, with prominent features such as

faces in higher relief.

• All cultures and periods where large sculptures were created used this technique as

one of their sculptural options.

• Present in monumental sculpture and architecture from ancient times to present.

• Theme topes from the Parthenon is among the best known examples of alto-relievo

• Sunken relief or (intaglio relief), where the carving is sunk below the level of the

surrounding surface and is contained within a shapely incised boundary line that

frames it with a powerful line of shadow.

• Describes an image that is carved into a flat surface, with the images usually mostly linear in

nature.

• This form is most famously associated with the art of Ancient Egypt, where strong sunlight

and resulting heavy shadow is present most of the time.

• Included in this category is picture-writing (hieroglyphs), which was used to inscribe images

on stone monuments and Egyptian reliefs. Hieroglyphs are also seen in various kinds of metal

and wood inlay

• In the sculpture of many cultures, including Europe, intaglio is mostly used for inscriptions, as

often seen on headstones or buildings.

Example of Relief SculpturesLow-relief panel from door of Santa Sabina showing a scene from an apocryphal Old Testament section of the Book of Daniel, Book of Daniel, “Bel and the Dragon”.

Egyptian figures in high relief

Persian low relief from Qajar era in the style of Persepolis.

High-reliefs from the Parthenon

Sunken-relief of Pharaoh Ankhenaten with Nefertiti and their Daughters

Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1897, Bosont, combinin free-standing elements with high and low relief

Materials in Relief Sculpture

Classic methods of sculpting usually call for clay, marble, wood or bronze; however,

any durable material can be used. Some of the more exotic materials used are

fabrics, glass and even ice. Some materials that never find their way into the actual

finished piece of art still play a critical role. Materials like sand or wax, used in the

casting process for metals, are a prime example of supporting materials; without

which, making the final work of art would be difficult, if not impossible.

• Stone is a very challenging sculpting material, one false stroke of the hammer on the

chisel and the entire statue is left permanently marred or even ruined. Given the cost

of working stone and its unforgiving nature, most people will take a class at a local art

college before attempting their first major stone work. On a positive note, stone is

famous for its ability to endure the ages; high quality stone sculptures can command

impressive prices.

• The most famous metal for sculpting is bronze, which is most often cast using the

wax replacement method. Wax replacement in its simplest form uses a sand mold

over a carved wax sculpture, complete in its own right. Different combination of

chemical treatments result in different color shades, which can drastically alter the

mood of a work of art, creating the patina. A patina can also be created by natural

aging.

• Sculpting with iron and steel has become more common as the price and quality of

modern welding equipment makes working these harder metals less troublesome.

• Clay is a long standing favorite of sculptors, since it can be worked using either

a reductive method in a fashion similar to carving, or built up using an additive

method, where separate pieces are bonded before firing the item in a kiln to fix

the final shape. Sculptors often also use unfired clay to make working models to

consult while carving larger items.

• Glass is a popular sculpting material for those with the proper training.

Unfortunately, glass has rather high-end shop facility requirements, making it

somewhat inaccessible outside of art colleges and professional studios.

• Organic materials like wood are popular as base materials for folk art

applications, which isn't to say that hardwoods can't be used for making high

class sculptures as well. Wood is ideal for use with lacquers, making it

extremely versatile in the variety of effects it can convey.

Techniques in Relief Sculpture