Sculpture

Some sculptures are instantly recognizable to people around the globe. They've become symbols of the artists who created them and the cities where they were created. There are only a few examples listed here, because even though we may all have our own favorite artists, not all of their work can be said to make it to the status of an internationally recognized symbol. Some that do include:

• David by Michelangelo, marble carving created between 1501 and 1504, the original is in the Galleria dell'Accademia, in Florence, Italy
• The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, bronze casting created in 1904, the original is in the Musee Rodin in Paris, France
• Venus de Milo is an ancient Greek statue of polished carved marble, likely created in 150 BC by Alexandros of Antioch, it is displayed in the Louvre in Paris, France.

There are two basic techniques for creating sculptures: reductive and additive. The time-honored practice of chiseling away at a block of marble is the reductive technique, so is carving a block of wood with a knife. Forming a sculpture from a hunk of clay can be referred to additive, but more often would be called modeling. Another way to make a sculpture is to create a mold and then pour in molten metal (most often bronze, but you could use other materials, even wax).

In contemporary art, techniques such as welding are common and materials could include scrap iron, or even industrial waste. Any material that can be manipulated to form a statue or any other kind of sculpture is fair game!

Three forms of sculpture are most common:

• statue - a carved or cast figure of a person or animal
• bust - a sculpture of a person's head and shoulders (such as the iconic Egyptian bust of Nefertiti, ca. 1350 BC)
• relief - n three-dimensional image of a scene against a background material, such as a frieze carved into a wall

A memorial (or monument) is a structure built in honor of a person or event. Though not necessarily a sculpture itself, memorials typically include statues (sometimes several) and often relief sculptures depicting famous events. Up until the 20th century, it was common for war heroes to be depicted on horses, a style sometimes referred to as equestrian sculptures.

A monument might be erected a long time after the commemorated event. Many monuments are shaped by the values of the patron and artist, at times erected as propaganda tools for a government's religion or ideology. Some monuments become controversial to posterity, in a few cases to the extent that they get relocated or dismantled.

Some of the world's most interesting sculptures are those that puzzle and mystify us because the people who created them have long ago perished into the realm of archaeology. The sculptures though, endure as a tangible record of their existence on this world. Iconic examples include:

• Great Sphynx of Giza - head of a man on the body of a lion, carved of bedrock by ancient Egyptians around 2500 BC
• Olmec Heads of Southern Mexico - enormous heads up to 3½ meters high, carved of basalt by ancient Olmecs around 1200 BC
• Moai Heads of Easter Island - elongated heads carved of volcanic tuff by Rapa Nui people around the 13th century

The term classical sculpture can refer to sculptures created in either ancient Greece, or in ancient Rome. Prolific artists using similar techniques could be found in both areas around the same time, generally defined as 500 BC to around 200 AD. (Works older than 500 BC are often referred to as being from the archaic period.) White marble, very fine attention to detail, and polished finishes generally characterize these sculptures, which tend to feature Gods and characters from Greek or Roman mythology. The Venus de Milo, a sculpture of the Goddess Aphrodite, is representative of classic sculpture.

Sculpture pretty much died out as an art form for several centuries during the Dark Ages and the medieval era, but it became more prevalent in Italy during the Renaissance era, starting around the late 15th or early 16th century. Religious themes became common, as did sculptures that included children and animals, and busts became important as a sculptural form, often commissioned by vain merchants or politicians who probably also commissioned a few painters to do portraits. Florence was a hotbed of artistic activity, and Michaelangelo is one of the best-known Renaissance artists from that city.

During this era, the Catholic church was extremely rich and powerful and it held quite a bit of influence over the art world. The church frequently commissioned sculptors to create iconic statues for its churches and cathedrals. As colonialism expanded the reach of the church, so to did it expand the need for artists to produce work for the new colonies.

Modernism brought with it new ideas about what sculptures should represent and how they should be made. Sculptures started to represent concepts rather than people (or events) and materials could be anything, from common household items to garbage. Dutch artist Willem de Kooning once complained that art dealer Leo Castelli was such a shmoozer, he could even sell beer cans as art. Jasper Johns supposedly tested that theory by producing a sculpture titled Painted Bronze, which consisted of two cans of Ballantine Ale. Not only did Castelli sell it, the work is now displayed in the Whitney Museum in New York City.

Contemporary artists push the envelope of meaning even further with sub-genres like light sculpture and sound sculpture, which create an experience, but not a three-dimensional object with roundness. In many cases, the works may seem ephemeral, here for an instant, gone the second the power switch gets turned off. Are these really "sculptures" at all?

• 🌍 Hakone Open Air Museum, Hakone, Japan. Japan's first outdoor art museum opened in 1969. It occupies 17 acres of land with 120 outdoor sculptures and an indoor gallery. The indoor gallery includes 300 works by Pablo Picasso. The park includes works by a number of internationally known contemporary artists. The most popular sculpture is Gabriel Loire's Symphonic Sculpture, a steel and glass tower with stained glass interior. 

• 🌍 Changchun World Sculpture Park (43.8233), Changchun, China. Over 450 sculptures from artists around the world, divided into areas for each continent. Also includes works of Maya and Maoi. The star attraction is a towering concrete sculpture titled Friendship, Peace and Spring that was built by five Chinese artists. 

• 🌍 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England. England's first sculpture park, the 500-acre facility has a permanent collection of 80 contemporary sculptures, mostly by English artists, but there are a few well-known international artists like James Turrell and Joan Miró. The park also hosts temporary exhibits. 

• 🌍 Ekeberg Park, Oslo, Norway. Eclectic sculpture collection with bronze castings from early 20th century masters like Auguste Rodin and Salvador Dali to more contemporary works from Norwegian artists, including Knut Steen and Hilde Maehlum. Several works are presented from female artists including Jenny Holzer, Sarah Lucas, and Sarah Sze. 

• 🌍 Kröller-Müller Museum Sculpture Garden, Otterlo, Netherlands. The museum is best known for its large collection of paintings and drawings by Vincent van Gogh, but it also has an excellent 60-acre sculpture garden with more than 160 pieces set in the Hoge Veluwe National Park. 

• 🌍 Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 158 acres of botanical gardens with three temporary sculpture exhibits and more than 100 permanent sculptures, many by famous artists including Auguste Rodin and Ai Weiwei. 

• 🌍 Storm King Sculpture Park, Windsor, New York. 500 acres of rolling fields with well over 100 sculptures including some monumental works such as Maya Lim's Storm King Wavefield and Andy Goldsworthy's Storm King Wall, which is a half-mile long stone wall. 

• 🌍 Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil. Set in a lush tropical botanical garden, the sculpture garden features over 700 sculptures by a wide range of contemporary artists including Danish artist Olafur Eliasson's Viewing Machine, a kaleidoscope of mirrors that provides unexpected insight into the surrounding landscapes.