Sculpture Review - Fall 98
|
This issue of Sculpture Review includes articles about: |
||
 |
The Column A Brief History by John Harvey The Politics of Public Monuments The Story of my Prometheus In the Judgment of Spectators Illuminating the shadows The Art of Judgement Casting of the Monument |
||
The Column A Brief History by John Harvey (Page 28 to 29) Since ancient times, the column has played a fundamental role in architecture both technically and stylistically. Originating from the use of circular poles as supports—such as tree trunks, canes strapped together, or other forms of poles where vegetation was scarce—the column evolved primarily through the creation of two elements: the base and the capital. The need to enlarge the supportive base and to isolate it from ground humidity necessitated the placement of a block, generally a slab of stone, underneath the column. Similarly, to support the superstructure, the entablature, the capital was developed and, in its visually privileged position, was elaborated upon as the crown of the column, giving it stylistic or symbolic predominance. |
|||
| The Politics of Public Monuments Rodin’s Victor Hugo and Balzac by Ruth Butler (Pages 8 to 15) Greeted with enthusiastic public acclaim in the 1897 Paris Salon, Auguste Rodin’s Victor Hugo Monument represented the biggest success that the artist had ever known. At the Salon the following year, his Balzac Monument met a very different reception. Denounced as “monstrueuse,” the work was so critically panned that its Salon showing was an unmitigated disaster, one that virtually changed Rodin’s life as an artist. |
|||
| The Story of my Prometheus by Jacques Lipchitz (Pages 22 to 23) The first sketches which I made, in 1933, showed Prometheus triumphant. He had already broken his chains, and a small vulture, barely alive, was no longer able to bar his forward path. This expressed my desire for reality. The events which followed in Europe showed me that I anticipated too much, and that my finished work could not give me the satisfaction that I felt in my preliminary sketches. |
|||
| In the Judgment of Spectators Felipe Vigarny, Alonso Berruguete, and the Choir Stalls of Toledo Cathedral by Samuel Heath (Pages 16 to 21) Artists of the Renaissance thrived on competition. They sought to outshine each other, shamelessly stole each others secrets, and promoted themselves with bravado against their competitors. Patrons pitted artists against each other to hold prices down and to push them to excellence and innovation. The legendary competition between the aging Leonardo da Vinci and the young Michelangelo, who were commissioned by the Florentine Republic to paint matching frescoes in the government meeting hall, changed the course of Renaissance art even though neither painting was ever completed. The spectacular choir of Toledo Cathedral, the masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture in Spain, was a product of similar competition. Felipe Vigarny and Alonso Berruguete, artists of different generations, nationalities, training, and artistic temperaments, split the choir commission in self-conscious, untempered conflict. Forced to conform to a unified program and architectural plan, they drew from each others strengths to reinvent themselves as artists. |
|||
| Illuminating the shadows by Martine McManus (Pages 24 to 25) |
|||
| The Art of Judgement Mujer Azul by Javier Marín (Page 30 to 31) |
|||
| Casting of the Monument Victor Hugo by Rodin by Frédéric Colombier and Jean Dubos – Fonderie de Coubertin (Pages 26 to 27) |