The Sculpture , as we have already mentioned in a previous post, is one of the oldest plastic arts. There are different materials to make sculptures and, artists, throughout the centuries, have used them as they wished to mold figures that express their ideas. Today we are going to tell what types of sculpture They exist so that the next time you visit a museum, you'll notice all the details we're going to tell you about below. Stay with us!
Types of sculpture and classes that we can find
Sculptures in the round
Sculptures in the round are those that are not attached to or leaning against the wall. What does this mean? They are sculpted on all sides, no matter where you look from. Although, generally, there is one of those sides, the front, which corresponds to the most attractive side of all. A curious thing about sculptures in the round is that if they represent a human figure, they are called statues, while if they represent deities, they are called images. Curious, don't you think?
Relief sculptures
Relief sculptures, on the other hand, are those that, unlike the previous ones, are carved on a flat surface. These, therefore, are not carved on all sides, but rather one side is always completely flat. This type of sculpture is very common in the exterior decoration of some large buildings such as temples. Throughout history, they have been used to depict scenes, biblical or otherwise, or to immortalize one or more parts of a narrative sequence.
Busts
Busts are a well-known type of sculpture. They depict only the upper part of the human body, usually of a public figure or important person. Busts include not only the head but also the shoulders, chest, and arms. Their popularity began during the Roman Empire, when they were molded to preserve the memory of the figures they sculpted.
This is one of the oldest ways to represent both gods and heroes, and in fact, during Roman times, Romans placed them in the entrance halls of their homes to remember their dead. Did you know that?
Chryselephantine
During Ancient Greece, chryselephantine sculptures, a type of sculpture made from gold and ivory, enjoyed great prestige. These statues were built on a wooden frame to which blocks of ivory, representing skin, were attached, along with gold leaf to allude to details, such as clothing, armor, or hair.
This technique was typically used to create cult statues inside temples, which were usually on a large scale. Interestingly, in Classical Greece, these sculptures were built in modular form, allowing the gold to be removed, melted down, and converted into coins for use in times of scarcity. Interesting, isn't it?
Architectural sculpture
This is the term used to define the sculptures created by architects or sculptors when designing a building, bridge, mausoleum, or a project in general. Thus, in addition to referring to the design of the building itself, this term is also used to refer to sculptures that have been specifically designed and created to embellish an architectural structure.
In ancient Egypt, for example, this type of sculpture was already used to decorate the entrances of temples and pyramids (in this case, with obelisks).
Kinetic sculpture
Kinetic sculptures are those that either have movement or appear to have it. Wow! The origin of kinetic sculptures occurred just over a century ago, and through the impression of movement, the artists sought a previously unexplored aesthetic. It wasn't until the 1960s and 1970s that this type of art reached its true peak.
The first examples of this type of sculpture came from Marcel Duchamp and, especially, Alexander Calder. The latter was the inventor of the mobile, a sculpture made of wire and small pieces suspended in the air. Yes, basically, it's a structure similar to the mobiles that hang above babies' cribs.
So how many types of sculpture are there?
As you can imagine, there are not only many types of sculptures, but also many ways to classify them (by size, shape, material used, etc.). In this post, we've summarized the most popular types of sculptures. What did you think?
We'd love to know your favorite type of sculpture, or the one you've seen the most. Surely you know something about one of them that we haven't missed. If you'd like, please leave it in the comments so we can continue to build this community thanks to everyone's shared knowledge. You can also leave suggestions for topics you'd like us to cover—we're all ears!
