I will describe and evaluate the work, Relief No. 1, by Henry Moore, in this paper. This abstract
sculpture, created in 1959, can be located in the Kansas City Sculpture Park at The Nelson-
Atkins Museum of Art. The bronze figure, with green and brown undertones, stands 223.52 cm
(7 feet 4 inches) (Henry Moore Works in Public). Tate.org.uk lists the size of Relief No. 1 as 7
feet 3 inches x 4 feet 1 inch x 1 foot inches (The Tate Gallery, 1981). Henry Moore was an
English artist born in 1898 and died in 1986.
This distinct symbol stands upright and is flush against a stone wall at the top of the sculpture
garden. The sculpture, which resembles the image of a woman, appears to be composed of
three layers. The first layer, the
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The second and third layers are almost cohesive. It takes on the form of a
distorted woman’s silhouette. The top quarter is shaped like a head and shoulders. The head is
only a touch larger than the elongated next. The shoulder area has no true definition, but
merely a horizontal stretch of stone that leads to an enlarged bump at the left shoulder. The
bottom looks 3-D (hence a possible 3rd layer) and is comprised of the breast, hips and legs. The
breasts are distorted and look more like a nose sitting in between a pair of cat ears. There’s a
curvature that extends from the right, mid-torso. It could be viewed an arm resting on the right
hip. The torso area is asymmetric. The right side appears to have a hip but no knee, with the
left being it’s opposite, a knee but no hip. It bottoms out on stumps, no feet.
I had a hard time connecting with this piece. For me, there was no clean understanding of the
message the artist was attempting to convey. I did feel a sense of pride as the woman
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This also differed from standard pieces as his general products took on forms
such as reclined or seated women, male and female pairs, mother and child motifs, as well as
family units. (Artist Biography, 2015). It is noted that this piece was the result of 2 smaller
pieces from a study for the Bouwcentrum Wall Relief 1955. For me that fact is far-fetched as
The Bouwcentrum wall is in red brick and is longer than 11 meters. The Bouwcentrum is
surrounded in a wall, whereas the Relief No. 1 is free standing piece of art. I don’t see the
connection.
Also stated on the placard, ‘non logical, instinctive, subconscious part of the viewer’s mind
must play a part’, when it comes to interpreting this piece (Relief No. 1). To me that means an
irrational mind is needed to interpret an irrational piece of art. Not fully grasping the artist
intent makes it hard to judge the artwork. Moore is credited for his organic shapes and being
inspired by the human body. If I’m critiquing his piece around these basic ideas, I believe he hit
his mark.
In conclusion, I wonder if the conditions on my visit day were the cause of me not connecting
with the piece and being in tune with Moore’s intentions. It was very hot, which was
His last and final piece, which is very interesting, is called the "Stoneware Vase*" It has two curled spiral handles, suggestive of ancient or pre-historic civilizat...
By the late 1950s, Voulkos had established an international reputation for his muscular fired-clay sculptures, which melded Zen attitudes toward chance with the emotional fervor of Abstract Expressionist painting. Some 20 works -- including five "Stacks" (4-foot-tall sculptures) as well as giant slashed-and-gouged plates and works on paper -- recently went on view at the Frank Lloyd Gallery. This non single show is his first at a Los Angeles gallery in 13 years, although a survey of his work was seen at the Newport Harbor Art Museum (presently carries a different...
... shapes but could not understand the point it was trying to convey. Now that I have read and learned about Meadmore, I can distinguish the three goals that Meadmore intended for. I see the flexibility of simple geometry and how it can express dynamic movement through this sculpture. Overall, it is interesting how Meadmore’s life and ideas relate to his artistic design, “Always.”
On the other hand, his well-defined upper body with broad shoulders, muscular chest, and burly biceps are exemplified with smooth and elegant carved lines symbolizing his youthfulness. However, these smooth and elegant lines do not weaken at all his powerfulness which is best illustrated with his straight hanging down arms while his fists are wrapped around some kind of circular solid rod. The viewer captures his youthfulness but still gets the notion of his strength through the indicated tension in his smooth naturalistic carved muscles in his underarms. It is the contrast of these two different usages of lines that gives the sculpture the balance between the strength of confidence and relaxed peace.
...itioned to the side of her face rather than the front. The right arm is being held up which can symbolize authority. Although there is no color the body and hair look like they are cover in jewelry.
This sculpture is quite spectacular. According to the display plaque, the sculpture shows four events happening all at once. On the far left is St. Peter who has just cut off the ear of Malchus (the servant of the high priest and seated in front of St. Peter) is "sheathing" his sword. He seems to be very content with what he has just done, but then if you look closely at the right side of Malchus' head, you can see a hand holding his ear. That seems to be Ch...
The right side is almost purely white, with blue and gray shadows; the rest of the body is black, dark brown, and navy. The profile of a white woman obscures the left half of the black face, facing to the right of the piece; her hair is in a large braid and she wears a simple pearl earring. The black woman has long, flowing, bright blue hair, as well as full red lips. The black woman’s body has a rose over it, and the white woman is wearing what looks like a straw bikini; the figure is wrapped in a thick rope from the waist down. The stark contrast between the white and black meet with a definitive line; there is no blending between the two colors, which amplifies the feelings of separation and difference between the two halves of the woman’s
The Art Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Jun., 1975), pp. 176-185. (College Art Association), accessed November 17, 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049368.
Both of these pieces of art have much in common. Their functions are almost identical. Both were used to mark burial sites and to honor the deceased buried there. The body language of both the pieces’ figures are similar, with one seated and several others standing around them. Neither has color, but unlike the grave stele, the funerary banquet does show some degree of emotion. The figures in the banquet scene have slight smiles. These pieces played an important role in their times, honoring those who had passed on to the afterlife. For both of these people, it was important to memorialize them very similar to our practices today.
Joan Brown’s piece titled Girl Sitting 1962 depicts a nude figure of a female body sitting. This colorful piece was made in 1962 and it is located in the Oakland Museum of California. It is oil on canvas, and can be seen on a white wall within a thin black frame around five by four feet. It has a composition of a female nude sitting to the left, leaving a big empty space on the right. The colors are made from a thick application of oil paint known as Impasto, where the paint are like globs, and does not look smooth at all. Instead, it is textured and shows off the brush and palette knife marks. Overall, the composition, application elements, colors, and size contributes together to give this piece an effect to make an individual feel small
Eck, Susan. "The Sculpture Plan by Karl Bitter, Director of Sculpture." Pan American Exposition: Buffalo 1901. (http://panam1901.bfn.org/documents/sculptureplan.html).
Three dimensional art is defined as media which “occupies space, defined through the dimensions of height, width and depth” (SAYLOR). These art works can be geometric or organic in nature (NORTON). Three dimensional art forms include sculptures, crafts and architecture. Three dimensional art form is fascinating to me because of the amount of realism and beauty it embodies, as well as for its functional and aesthetic value. For this assignment, I chose two beautiful pieces that illustrated the characteristic of three dimensional art and the processes it took to produce them. The first art work I want to analyze is a sculpture done by an Iraqi artist from Kalhu (modern day Nimrud) entitled, “Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions” (Sayre, 420).
He used the triangles for a wall and bricks and he combined a special technique combined between rectangles and effect linear perspective. Section III Interpretation It is really hard to tell all my opinions of this artwork by words, but by the way, this artwork is really powerful to me. The name that the artist chose to really confirm for this artwork, the
Conlin, Diane Atnally. The artists of the Ara Pacis: the process of Hellenization in Roman relief sculpture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. (P. 4)
Artist of the geometric time period created decative funerary art to be placed at the tombs of there dead. These pieces were made of ceramic and created in the form of geometric shapes, hence the time period. One such piece is a vase from the Dipylon Cemetery, (750 BCE) its over-all shape is like that of a hemisphere supported by a cylinder. We also notice that the vase is divided into registers and here the humans are depicted as part of a narrative. The body of the deceased is placed on its side and set on what would appear to be a pedestal in the center of the top register. The form used to represent the human figures are somewhat abstract.