Nineteenth Century Sculpture

Nineteenth Century Sculpture

Sculpture is not nearly as revolutionary as painting - there is only so much manipulation you can do with marble, whereas with painting lots of manipulation is possible. Painting is a much more versatile medium as you can fragment the surface and represent different elements of contemporary life.

Most commonly: Marble, Bronze, Wood.

- White Marble, more malleable than materials such as granite.

- Bronze, very versatile.

--> Both of these materials are very solid and thus have limited possibilities. 

- Wood, often used in Germany, but became less popular due to its perishability.

Nineteenth century sculpture is much more conservative than the painting. Painterly artists (such as Gericault, Delacroix, etc.) attempted to create a new visible language which was much less pronounced in sculpture. 

Antonio Canova was an international artist and represented the epitome of Neoclassicism, very much to Winkelmann's taste. 

Antonio Canova, Perseus with the Head of Medusa, c. 1800, Vatican Museums

Leochares, Apollo Belvedere, c. 120-140, copy of bronze original c.350-325 BC, Vatican Museums

Contrapposto, perfect proportions. idealised body, youthful face, heroic nude, ancient drapery, Apollo Belvedere pose. Canova was presenting himself as the new antique. At the time this was the only style, the eternal style, which had eternal value. 

Canova established himself as the greatest neoclassical sculptor attempting to create something unchangeable.

Antonio Canova, Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, 1787-93, Louvre, Paris

With his Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, Canova is trying to compete with Bernini. It is clear that Canova's style has a more traditional approach compared to Bernini. 

Antonio Canova, Monument to Clement XIII. 1792, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican

Similarly, with his Monument to Clement XIII he is presenting himself as the great new sculptor in the tradition of the antique. 

Antonio Canova, Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker, 1802-09, Aspley House, London

Antonio Canova's Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker is an idealisation of Napoleon, presented as a Greek god. Napoleon begged Canova to sculpt him for propaganda purposes, but when it was finished it was not put on public display because he would have been ridiculed as it obviously looked nothing like him. Later acquired by Lord Wellington. 

The 19th century is really the century of nationalism, of imperial expansion. Being the age of nationalism, is the age of great monuments.

E.H Baily & Sir Edwin Landseer, Nelson’s Column, 1840-43, London

Christian Rauch, Frederick the Great, 1839-52, Berlin

Johannes Schilling, Niederwalddenkmal, 1871-83, Rüdesheim am Rhein

Thousands of columns like Nelson's Column appeared all over Europe in the 19th century. Sculptors lent themselves to the celebration of public figures. However, there was a lack of imagination of the propagandistic sculptures. Germany was the centre of academic thought in the 19th century. Sculptors tried to emulate the enormous classical sculptures to present colossal grandeur. Sculpture became big and rhetorical, and the main function being celebratory. Sculptures were still very conservative, obviously they couldn't be avant-garde for propaganda purposes.

Frédéric Bartholdi, Statue of Liberty, 1870-86, New York

The Statue of Liberty celebrates the new world. Made of bronze, but composed of more copper than usual, this is clear because of it has oxidised and so it is green. Instead of being one solid sculpture, it is made up of sheets of copper joined together.

Chares of Lindos, Colossos of Rhodes. 292 BC, Rhodes, *Destroyed*

A gigantic statue was erected at the entrance of the harbour in the city of Rhodes, celebrating Apollo as Helios. The Statue of Liberty is a new version of this lost colossal sculpture (destroyed in an earthquake). Helios = Apollo as the sun.

Cesare Ripa, Iconologia, 1611, 'Wisdom' 

Great Seal of France, 1848

Iconologia - a book in which catalogs the emblems and symbols of ancient literature. Widely used as reference in 19th century.

François Rude, La Marseillaise, 1833-36, Arc de Triomphe, Paris

Sculpture tried to keep up with Romanticism, this is clear in Rude's La Marseillaise. It shows victory leading the French population to victory. It has some movement and pathos, it tries to imitate some of the solutions of romantic paintings. However, it is less successful in many ways as it becomes very rhetorical. 

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, La Danse, 1865-69, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Carpeaux's La Danse is an academic sculpture, there are elements of realism and it is not as idealised as some academic sculptures. Although this sculpture generated a scandal, it was less powerful than the paintings. 

Auguste Rodin, La Porte de l'Enfer (The Gates of Hell), 1880-1917, bronze, Musée Rodin, Paris

Rodin incorporates all sorts of avant-garde elements into his sculptures. The Gates of Hell tries to evoke a sense of movement. Rodin manipulated the bronze in a new way. 

Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, 1902, bronze, Musée Rodin, Paris

The surface of The Thinker is not as polished or perfect as a classical sculpture, but the pose is of melancholy.

Medardo Rosso, Ecce Puer, 1906, wax, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Rosso is the sculptor who really tried to incorporate Impressionism in his work, especially in terms of the destruction of the surface, evoking an atmosphere of the moment, reality and light. The opposite of the carefully polished time consuming subjects of the academy. Most of his sculptures are made of wax, allowing for immediacy. Incredibly modern for the time. Although he was trying to catch up with the innovations in painting, sculpture is confined by matter.