Minimalism in Sculpture

MINIMALISM IN SCULPTURE

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Minimalism in Sculpture: Anything which has sparse elements i.e. stripped to its essentials………. Incorporates geometric forms in repetitive patterns and colours straight from tubes………. Interpretation without distraction of composition, theme and other elements of traditional work……… Doesn’t express the emotions or personal experience of the artist……………

CRITICISM OF MINIMALISM: •

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Robert Morris •

Some anxious critics thought Minimalist art represented a misunderstanding of the modern dialectic of painting and sculpture as defined by critic Clement Greenberg, arguably the dominant American critic of painting and sculpture in the period leading up to the 1960s. The most notable critique of Minimalism was produced by • Michael Fried, a Greenbergian As a specific movement in the arts critic, who objected to the work on it is identified with developments the basis of its "theatricality". in post-World War II Western Art, In “Art and Objecthood”, he most strongly with American visual declared that the Minimalist work arts in the late 1960s and early of art, particularly Minimalist 1970s. Prominent artists sculpture, was based on an associated with this movement engagement with the physicality of include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin the spectator. He argued that work and Frank Stella. It is rooted in the like Robert Morris's transformed reductive aspects of Modernism, the act of viewing into a type of and is often interpreted as a spectacle, in which the artifice of

In a three part essay, “Notes on Sculpture 1-3”: He attempted to define a conceptual framework and formal elements for himself and one that would embrace the practices of his contemporaries – “parts... bound together in such a way that they create a maximum resistance to perceptual separation.” “Notes on Sculpture 4: Beyond Object”: “marked lateral spread and no regularized units or symmetrical intervals...”, continuing to say that “indeterminacy of arrangement of parts is a literal aspect of the physical existence of the thing.” The general shift in theory of which this essay is

Goethe's "Good Luck Stone"

There are examples of the Minimalist theory being exercised as early as the 18th century when Goethe constructed an Altar of Good Fortune made simply of a stone sphere and cube. But the 20th century sees the movement come into its own.

The "Good Luck Stone", or "Altar of Agathe Tyche", that is the name of the monument that at the beginning of the year 1777, Goethe had erected in the meadows along the Ilm outside Weimar. The monument was a birthday present for Charlotte von Stein. She was his "soul mate", calming her restless friend who felt like "a ball being thrown by one hour to the next".

Unlike many romantic gardens of the latter half of the eighteenth century, his garden was not cluttered with monuments and inscriptions. The only monument was a plain square cube about 3 feet by 3 feet (1 metre by 1 metre), which was surmounted by a plain stone sphere; Goethe called this his Altar of Good Fortune.

Constantin Brancusi

(French, born in Romania, 1876–

1957)

Don’t look for mysteries; I bring you pure joy

Bird in Space He concentrated not on the physical attributes of the bird but on its movement. In "Bird in Space" • wings and feathers are eliminated, • the swell of the body is elongated, • the head and beak are reduced to a slanted oval plane. Balanced on a slender conical footing, the figure's upward thrust is unfettered. Brancusi's inspired abstraction realizes his stated intent to capture "the essence of flight”

"Rumanian Sculptor Constantin Brancusi had to pay $4,000 to bring his Bird in Flight into the U. S. ... Works of art are duty free. But Sculptor Brancusi's bird had neither head, feet nor feathers. It was four and a half feet of bronze which swooped up from its base like a slender jet of flame. Customs Inspector Kracke said it was not art; merely "a manufacture of

a theme..

picking the lines..

Mother and Child by Adam Walls the piece was intended to depict the relationship of mother and child especially during rain storms where the water runoff from the mother figure flows directly upon the smaller child figure

picking the concept…

ROBERT SERRA

Emphasis on elemental concepts ost-Minimalist installation artist of sculpture: Remarkable • material and contributions to Antiprocess, Form Minimalism • mass and weight, • scale and plane, • site and context.

Torquing ellipses twice as tall as visitors places them inside a shell whose twist is activated by their motion.

The ellipses are visceral, fluent containers that permit the flow of people and space. The twoinch-thick encircling steel plates, each 11 to more than 13 feet tall, bend in and out at proscribed angles of up to 90 degrees. The top and bottom edges of each ellipse, at notably different slants, destabilize the viewer. The chalk, roller, gripper, and other marks of its making punctuate the surface.

Virtually all of his sculptures play with our anxieties about inclusion and exclusion, and this is what gives his spare metal forms their unexpected emotional charge

Perhaps the work will always be doubly ambiguous: never absolutely empty, never completely full. Pickhan's Progress", 1998. Weatherproof steel, six conical/elliptical sections, total length: 86 ft.

“THE WAILING NEWBORN” by Sherrie Levine

ER & CHILD

SQ UA TT IN G M AN

Louise Nevelson

Tony Smith

Coniferous tree Trees : David : Tony Putnam Cubist tree : Tony

Ronald Bladen

“The Lightening”

“Red Horse” : Alexander Calder

“The Horse” : David Smith

“The Flamingo” by Anne Harris

“Minimal”???

The “Eagle” Alexander Calder

“Friends” and “Friendship ”

“Cosmos”

“Wings to the Heaven”

David Ascalon

“Despair” “Desolation”

The Human Emotions

“Light Up” Tony Smith

“Frozen Wave” Victor Bonato

“Retrospection”

Robert Morris “The Frame”

Heinz Aschlimann “Friendship”

“Infinity”

“Stretch”

FAMILY SCULPTURE

A FAMILY

SCULPTURES BY LAWRENCE SCHNEIDER

Mother & Child

Simplicity of form representing loving

Lovers

One ribbon — one couple — two lovers

Dancers (maquette for bronze

sculpture) The synchronized grace of two dancers

Hope- New Life SCULPTURES BY

Harmony-Graceful Agreement

LAWRENCE SCHNEIDER

HENRY MOORE’S RECLINING FIGURES

Howard A. Schroeder

TWO RECLINING WOMEN BY JOSEPH CSÁKY

Nude in the garden Anne Curry SQUATTING WOMEN Clara Hali

Joseph Csáky

SQUATTING WOMEN

SQUATTING WOMAN BY HENRY MOORE

“Resting Woman”

THE WOMAN : JOSEPH CSÁKY 

FILMFARE STATUE THE WOMAN : CARLY SILVA

Bronze sculpture, 'Awakening‘ by Emne Al-Haje

Bronze sculpture- Lying Maddona by Jaqueline Cavalcanti Smooth and supple, the person is presented as a female archetype, titled "Madona Deitada" in Portuguese.

Bronze sculpture, 'Woman III' A sense of flowing grace embellishes the arched torso of a woman in this sculpted piece by Lucia Prata. Arched shoulders reveal a sensual beauty, unaffected by the lack of limbs and anonymity.

Lioness by Joseph

The bird : Joseph Csáky

The fish : Joseph Csáky

TWO AT TANGO

SCULPTURES BY LAWRENCE SCHNEIDER

Endless Joy - A graceful never-ending loop

MOTHER AND THE CHILD TOGETHER AS ONE

INFINITY OF LOVE – FENG JIN

“Inevitability of Agnus” BRIAN USHER

Minimalism, when it reached its peak, forms became simpler and ended to be simplest. But due to the interpretation being left entirely at the disposal of the public, misapprehending forms to be unnecessarily complex and conveying eccentric ideas became exceedingly common. The notion that minimalist sculpture

“Family”

Edward Walsh Figurative Sculpture in Stainless Steel, Marble & Bronze

Sculpture Maquette Wind Bird & Large Kinetic Sculpture Wind Bird II

“Father and Son”

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Fiberwood sculpture It can increasing the space It is singular in shape It is monocrome

Roaring Wind

Lyman Whitaker “The undulating movements of theses sculptures reflect the mood of the wind.  In groupings large or small, the sculptures dance to the rhythms of nature.  Captivating and magical, these fine sculptures will be enjoyed for generations” 

Cloud Cloud •

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Singular material, acromatic, because of The texture and colour it looks like cloud

“Festivity”

32 Metre Sculpture at Goodwood Festival of Speed in Chichester, United Kingdom

Super bowl sculpture to commemorate the ten super bowls that have been played in miami. The sculpture consists of two tapered arches that support a football between them. The arches represent the orange bowl and the dolphin stadium, each hosting five super bowls.

Super Bowl Sculpture, in Miami Beach, United States

“Pondering”

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Its representation of the vast differences between human body and human mind. While human body is plain and simple as a stone human mind is an extremely complex coagulation of thoughts as though a mesh of metal bars.

“Loci of Human Thoughts”

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

“Bent of Mind”

Tony Cragg

“Intrusion”

“Day – Dreamer”

Barnie carreno

“Opposing poles”

This sculpture depicts the need of opposites to come together.

Continuum is the link between a continuous series of energy. The circular stainless steel form evokes energy by being reflective. The repeated lines on the surface of the stainless steel also describe movement and action. The glass blocks are representational of energy-giving forces like water, wind, fire and the sun. The extended rods are the energy escaping. When the wind blows the rods touch and energy sounds are created.

“Continuum”

“Star and Cloud”

Gernand's earlier imagery represents a kind of vulnerability, but this is not the case with Star and Cloud. The contrast between the sharp lines of the star and the soft, enveloping cloud is underlined where they almost connect, just as day merges into night and night into day. In this sculpture elements which are distant yet familiar combine and contrast poetically and mysteriously.

The 3 rings represent the generations. It represents the past, the present and the future. It speaks of the love of their family, in the continuous infinite circles hence they named the sculpture "Cherish".

“Cherish”

Also an eternity symbol. Refers to the bond between peoples or cultures rather than individuals. Traditionally given as an offering of friendship between different tribes. Maori twist symbols also refer to the so called ‘three baskets of knowledge’. This is a concept that, very roughly translated, has to do with how, the for humankind necessary knowledge to survive, came to the world. According to the legend the god Tane (creator of the first man Tiki) brought down those three baskets from the heavens.

“Twist”

The twist provided many challenges, maintaining balance and symmetry from top to bottom, and a sense of proportional flow through the piece proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. I wanted a blend of flat sides and smooth curves for contrast and shadow. I was pleased I had the opportunity to do a twist, and pleased with the end result.

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Ukama” – Togetherness - offers a symbolic reminder that the simple love of a parent for a child, or neighbour to neighbour, can be a powerful adhesive that holds entire cultures together. Whatever the nature of the abstract carving, all are highly emotive and make an immediate visual impact.

“Togetherness”

Its soft folds temper the solidity of the marble, creating a light and flowing texture across its smooth lines. Vivacity suggests the joy of spring and unfurling leaves; seeds bursting into life beneath the soil and reaching their shoots up towards the sun, nourishment and their first taste of life. It stands as a monument to the miracle of all life and reveals the beauty of nature and the power of the spirit.

“SPIRIT OF LIFE”

HELAINE BLUMENFELD

Ellsworth Kelly The double curves

“I will”

Curve XXIV by Ellsworth Kelly

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Ronald

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The “X”

RONALD BLADEN

“Black Tower”

The “V” Click to edit Master text styles Second level ● Third level ● Fourth level ● Fifth level

RONALD BLADEN

“Host of the Ellipse”

“Cathedral Evening”

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RONALD BLADEN

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“Cathedral Evening”

ANTONIN GAUTHIER

An eagle made with only seven parts and seven welds. •

Dimensions 18.000 x 18.000 x 20.000 inches •

“Eagle” ANTONIN GAUTHIER

CHRISTO

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Five identical hooks

Dimensions 12.000 x 20.000 x 3.000 inches •

ANTONIN GAUTHIER

“Composer’s Hand” Dimensions 6.000 x 15.000 x 12.000 inches

ANTONIN GAUTHIER

Dimensions 12.000 x 16.000 x 1.000 inches •

“COUPLES ”

ANTONIN GAUTHIER

ANTONIN GAUTHIER

“Grrr”

An Angry Abstract

“Unfurling Affinity”

…and still the journey of interpretation continues…