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Sculpture is the oldest form of art. Humans have been making sculpture art for over 200,000 years.
Sculpture art periods begin in prehistoric times. Small figures soon gave way to monumental stoneworks. Sculpture was used to represent the ideals and power of civilizations throughout history. It was not until the 1800s that sculpture became a means for individual expression.
Almost every known culture made sculpture art, and learning about this indelibly human expression is fascinating. In this article, we will take a peek back in time to the origins of sculpture art and follow its development throughout history. View our collection of beautiful art gifts.
Many consider the Upper Paleolithic era to be the official beginning of sculpture creation.However, sculpture was created all throughout the stone age. The earliest carving found dates back to 230,000 BCE. During the Paleolithic Era sculpture flourished, and thousands of pieces from 35,000-20,000 BCE have been found.
Prehistoric sculpture began with small figurines. These figurines were often anthropomorphic creatures that blended human and animal features and voluptuous female figures. These carvings gave way to massive monuments over time.
The Paleolithic saw an abundance of “Venus” figurines. Thousands of small statuettes have been found carved into the shape of women with large bellies and breasts, no distinct facial features, and small feet.
The most famous of these is theVenus of Willendorf, a limestone statuette dated to c. 28,000-25,000 BCE. Another famous sculpture from the Paleolithic is The Lion Man of the Hohlenstien. Found in the Hohlenstein mountains of Germany, this ivory figure is a man with a lion’s head and dates to c. 38,000 BCE
The Mesolithic saw a decline in Venus figurines and a rise in megalithic rock art. This period marks the transition from the hunter-gatherer societies of the Ice Age to the established agricultural settlements of the Neolithic.
Two significant temple monuments have been found in what is today South-eastern Turkey. These monuments contain relief sculptures, 100’s of two-inch (5.08 cm) human figurines, and life-size limestone and wooden sculptures.
The Shigir idol was discovered in a peat bog in Russia by gold prospectors. This wooden ritualistic figure is nine feet tall and composed of several carved pieces put together. It is thought to have been made about 12,500 years ago.
The Neolithic era was defined by the advent of agriculture worldwide. Massive settlements and cities arose all over the world. The Neolithic is well-known for its intricate pottery work. Bronze was discovered at this time and became a popular medium for sculpture-making.
Neolithic Sculpture art was massive and meant to decorate or enhance the huge temples, city walls, and palaces that were built during this time. Mesopotamian sculpture exploded with the Sumerians, one of the first empire civilizations.
This is also the era of the Egyptian pyramids. The famous Great Sphinx was made in 2500 BCE, and the pyramids were full of intricate sculptures representing deities and the buried dead.
The Bronze age shifted sculpture into the realm of metalwork. Up until now, sculpture had been primarily made from wood, bone, ivory, terra cotta, and stone. Many highly developed civilizations worldwide were greeting marvelous works of art.
The Shang Dynasty in China brought us the Sanxingdui Bronzes, a collection of bronze masks made with incredible skill and artistry. This period in China was a mecca of sculpture. Thousands of bronze sculptures were made. The Bronze age is also considered the height of jade carving in China.
India had massive temples by this time. The mind-blowing reliefs on the Kandariya Mahadeva Hindu Temple are thought to be one of the best examples of sculpture from this era.
The Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia was also constructed and carved during the bronze Age. This temple features 1200 square meters of bas reliefs telling eight different Hindu stories, including the creation story Churning of the Ocean of Milk.
Bronze was used liberally throughout the city-states of the Mediterranean. Tools and artistic sculptures were made from bronze. Small figurines of ivory or wood were also popular at this time.
Massive reliefs decorating monumental buildings were made throughout the region. Syrian cylinder seals of incredible artistry were created at this time. Pottery was a predominant form of sculpture and served a practical and creative purpose.
In Mesoamerica, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was giving way to sedentary settlements centered around agriculture. Pottery was made in abundance, as well as ceramic figurines. Jade carving continued to flourish, and massive stone heads were created by the Olmec civilization.
The Classical era is considered the birth of Western art. Worldwide, sculpture became or continued to be incredibly lifelike. Marble joined the ranks as a popular carving medium. The intricacy of design that had existed in other cultures for centuries made its way to the West.
Most sculpture during this time was centered around promoting the dominating empires, their rulers, and sacred deities.
This period represents the climax of Grecian art. Classical Greece is most well known for Kouros - sculptures of the standing male nude. Sculptures were defined by hyper-realism based on an aesthetic ideal for the human form.
Bronze, marble, and terra-cotta were the materials most used by sculptors. The bronze statue Diadoumenos by Polykleitos is a prime example of Greek Classical Sculpture. Polykleitos is known for perfecting a system of proportions, helping him create incredibly lifelike figures.
The bronze and marble sculptures from Greece dominated the creative mind of the Western world, with several later cultures imitating the sculpture art from this time.
By this time, the Celts had settled all across Northern and Western Europe and were fully established in the British Isles. The Classical Celtic sculpture was defined by intricate metalworks featuring intricate patterns and sacred figures.
The metal and stonework carved by the Celts were heavily inspired by nature. They were known to make large life-size monuments and small figurines. The sacred Ogham alphabet was often carved into stones, both large and small.
Roman sculpture was heavily inspired by the Greeks but was singularly created to promote the power and might of the empire. This spawned a period of art that was realistic, stern, and utilitarian.
Portrait busts of emperors, their wives, and notable politicians replaced the expressive full-figure statues of the Greeks. The Romans decorated their temples with bas-reliefs of their many victories.
Many marble imitations of Greek bronze sculptures were also created, giving us a catalog of art from the classical period.
Once Christianity took hold and the Roman Empire began to crumble, sculpture diminished considerably. Carven images were considered blasphemous by the Eastern Orthodox doctrine, and the Christian church as a whole moved away from decorating their holy places with sculpture.
Sculpture was not valued by the religious powers of the time. The dark ages of Europe completely collapsed art-making for three hundred years.
During the Medieval period, Europe was struggling to define itself as a civilization. As a result, sculpture fell to the wayside as the population struggled with war, disease, and the collapse of infrastructure following the fall of Rome.
The Renaissance arrived as a complete counterbalance to the last thousand years. A revival of Greek and Roman culture swept through Europe.This meant that sculpture enjoyed a return to mainstream culture.
Renaissance artists sought to create realistic, perfectly proportioned sculptures of religious significance.Sculptors such as Michelangelo, Donatello, and Brunelleschi created some of the most iconic European artworks celebrating the human form.
Sculptures of the figure were hugely popular, and marble was used heavily by artists looking to replicate the Grecian ideal.
Notable sculptures from this time include:
The subject matter of the Renaissance was heavily religious. Sculptures were commissioned by the church to create masterful artworks meant to “reinforce the Christian reality” and inspire devotion from the people.
Wealthy merchants, nobility, and royalty also commissioned sculptures of their likenesses and that of their families. Art at this time was not yet expressive of individual feelings but rather cultural ideas reinforced by powerful people.
In response to the short-lived Rococo movement that was defined by flourishes and overly-sensuous figures, the neoclassical movement exploded upon archaeological discoveries from Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The classic Greek attitude, with its simple lines and minimalistic approach, was fully revived in Neoclassical sculpture. The goal was to create a path for the eye to follow and represent the ideal human form as simple as possible.
Similarly to the Renaissance, neoclassical sculpture was defined by a surge of Greek and Roman art imitations. The subjects were simple figures draped in cloth, dominating the aesthetic. Oftentimes Greek and Roman deities were portrayed.
Mercury Attaching His Talaria by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle andSleeping Cupid by Bertel Thorvaldsen are two famous neoclassical sculptures.In addition to Roman mythology, the wealthy continued to commission busts and life-size statues of themselves.
During the turn of the century, sculpture continued to be heavily influenced by Greco-Roman realism. However, the emphasis shifted from upholding the status quo to starkly questioning it.
Individual expression slowly began to dominate the subject matter. Sculptors created based on what interested them, as they were no longer dependent on one single patron but rather on sales to the general public.
The era of Modern Sculpture begins with the artistAuguste Rodin. A French sculptor, Rodin moved the subject matter of sculpture from powerful icons to reflections on the human psyche. His work was amazingly expressive and quite remarkable for the times.
This brought about a new era in sculpture. Now artists had license to individually express themselves, rebelling against cultural ideas of what “good” art is. The Modernist movement sought to capture movement, not static poses, and convey deep emotion.
With the onslaught of the industrial age came a new aesthetic. For the first time, sculptures took on machine-like elements and ventured into the abstract. A sense of distortion and disruption reflected a world torn apart by war.
New materials arrived in sculpture during the Industrial Age. Plastics, aluminum, motors, and electricity were incorporated by artists like Camille Claudel and Isamu Noguchi.
In the second half of the 20th century, sculpture began to reflect the predominance of technology. The interaction between positive and negative space was emphasized, and abstract forms became increasingly popular.
The movements of art at this time sought to simplify art to the point of non-form. The idea was to express a form in its most basic elements.
By the 1960s, sculpture became incredibly experimental. It moved away from figures, anatomy, and proportions and into obscure symbolism meant to be powerfully evocative for the viewer.
Works like Fountain by Marcel Duchamp or The Large Horse by Raymond Duchamp-Villon are prime examples of Modern Sculpture from the Technological Age.
Here is a quick summary of sculpture art periods:
Sculpture has a rich history, and I hope you enjoyed journeying through the periods of sculpture art.
