Louise Bourgeois, Spider, 1996, cast 1997, bronze with silver nitrate patina, Gift of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, 1997.136.1

Sculpture

Sculptures come in many forms—from figures chiseled out of stone to interlocking pieces of metal suspended from a ceiling. They can be made of almost any material: marble, clay, silver, wood, bronze, steel, wax, pâpier-maché, and more.

  • A man wearing a cloak tied around his body kneels with his hands together at the foot of a crucifix, set against a rocky outcropping on this stone panel. The scene is shallowly carved in low relief from pale, apricot-peach marble. Both the kneeling man, Saint Jerome, and the man hanging on the cross have raised, disk-like halos. Slightly right of center, the kneeling man looks up at the cross from under heavy brows. He has hollow cheekbones and short hair. His robe is tied over his shoulders and falls across his hips, but his feet and slender arms are bare. The man on the cross is smaller in scale, less than half the size of Saint Jerome. He hangs heavily from his hands, which are nailed into the cross, and his head falls forward. He is nude except for a loincloth across his hips. A rocky, hut-like form fills the space behind Saint Jerome. A few details are lightly carved so are visible only on closer inspection. These include a smaller cross along the left edge of the panel and a skull at the base of the crucifix. Between the crucifix and rocky structure, a male and female lion run toward Saint Jerome, mouths open. In the space between Saint Jerome and the right edge of the panel, another person is lightly carved into the background. He runs to our right while looking back over one shoulder, perhaps at the lions. One hand is flung high, his mouth wide open, and his hair stands on end. His voluminous robe flutters around his body. Beyond him, triangular trees recede into the distance under a cloud-streaked sky.
  • Two men carry a dead body amid a crowd of about thirty people in this rectangular, horizontal panel, which is cast in low and high relief. The dead man’s limp body is carried by one person who supports his knees and legs and the other his torso. The closely knit crowd is made of men and women, who all wear voluminous robes that fall in lively, pleated folds. The group moves to the right, where a woman kneels with one hand held to forehead. Some people swing their arms wide or hold their hands to their heads, crying. A few children are in or near the cave opening to the right. A rocky landscape with spindly trees presses close behind them.
  • This free-standing, white marble sculpture shows the head, shoulders, and upper chest of a balding, bearded man. In this photograph, his body faces us and he looks straight ahead. Bushy eyebrows arch low over deeply set eyes, and his forehead hollows inward at his temples. He has high cheekbones and the skin of his cheeks draws slightly in. His thin lips are set in a straight line within a full beard. His high-necked robe falls slightly open over his chest and is cut also away over the shoulders to show the crinkled fabric of the garment beneath. The bottom edge of the sculpture curves upward in a very shallow U across the bottom, and is supported by a square pedestal foot decorated with scroll designs. The background behind the bust lightens from charcoal gray along the top edge to pale gray across the bottom, and the sculpture casts a shadow behind its base.
  • Carved from white marble, a girl steps and leans forward on a disk-like pedestal with a wide fluted base in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, she steps away from us to our right. She wears a flowing, knee-length dress or toga, which swirls around her, and her feet are bare. She leans forward at the hip, with her bent right leg supporting her weight. Her other leg extends behind her, toe tapping the base with her heel lifted, as if mid-stride. She holds her left hand up to cup her opposite ear, with her elbow lifted as she leans forward. Her right hand clutches a staff, arm bent at the elbow, which she thrusts downward. The end of the staff meets a fragment of a column at her foot, about the height of the girl’s shin. The capital is carved with decorative leaves and shell-shaped designs. The skirt flickers around the stick as if in a strong wind. The right side of the dress has dropped off her shoulder, baring one breast. The exposed body and limbs are round and smooth. Her hair, carved in undulating waves, is loosely swept back, with a cascade of waves falling over her left shoulder. Her face is round and full, and her expression concentrated, with a furrow in her brow and her mouth turned downward, eyes closed. The column fragment at her feet has one smooth face, which is incised with a rectangle carved with the name “Randolph Rogers” and the date, “1860.”
  • Sculpted in painted terracotta, a woman is shown from the waist up, bracing a standing nude, plump baby boy. The woman, baby, and two winged heads floating to either side are sculpted in snow-white relief against a flat, cobalt-blue background, all contained within a round gold frame. The roundel is then framed within a rectangular wooden panel ornamented with gold and blue molding, rosettes, and leafy designs. The boy, woman, and winged heads all have plate-like halos, and their eyes have hazel-brown irises outlined in black. Within the round frame, the boy stands to our left of center, and his halo nearly reaches the top of the roundel. His body faces us as he stands on his right leg, to our left. That foot seems to rest on the ledge of the round frame, and he leans against the woman, to our right. He looks off over our left shoulder, his pursed lips set between chubby cheeks. With both pudgy hands, he holds onto the woman’s thumb or garment as she braces his torso. Her body is angled toward the boy, and she looks down and off in that direction. She has a straight nose, a pointed chin, delicate lips, and her thin eyebrows are black. Her wavy hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under a veil, and her long-sleeved garment falls in folds down her front. Her other hand wraps around the baby’s far hip. The winged baby heads hover at her shoulders, one to each side. The blue background has some bands of lighter and darker blue, suggesting a cloud-streaked sky. Gold rosettes fill the top corners between the round frame and the square panel into which it is set. Shield-like forms fill the lower corners. Fluted columns rise to either side of the central panel, and molding runs across the top and bottom. Some of the molding is painted gold, while other areas have gold, leafy patterns painted against the blue background.
  • This sculpture is of a young girl in a ballet costume standing before us with her hands clasped behind her lower back, her head tipped back, and her chin thrust forward. The skin of her face, arms, chest, and legs are covered in bronze-brown wax, and her body faces us in this photograph. The sleeveless, putty-gray bodice of her costume fits tightly above a layered, fabric, pale, tea-brown tutu, and she wears ballet shoes. Her hair is pulled back but bangs sweep across her forehead, brushing her nearly closed, heavy eyelids. Her lips are slightly parted, and light catches the broad planes of her cheekbones. Her shoulders are drawn back by her pose, holding her hands behind her with arms straight, and her hips jut slightly forward. She stands with her right foot extended in front of her, with both feet turned out, parallel to each other. She stands on a square, wood platform.
  • Carved from creamy white marble, a nude woman stands next to a hip-high support, perhaps a low post. In this photograph, her body faces us, and she looks down to our right in profile. Her wavy hair is tucked behind her ear and drawn back in a bun at the nape of her neck. Her weight rests on her left leg, on our right, and her other knee is bent. Her left arm is angled in front of her body so her hand covers her groin. Her other hand, on our left, rests on the post. Chains hang from shackles encircling her wrists. The post is covered with a cloth that gathers around the top and spirals to the ground beneath her feet, the edge trimmed with tassels. A cross and medallion peek out from under the cloth near her hand. She stands on a circular base.

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This free-standing, white marble sculpture shows the head, shoulders, and upper chest of a balding, bearded man. In this photograph, his body faces us and he looks straight ahead. Bushy eyebrows arch low over deeply set eyes, and his forehead hollows inward at his temples. He has high cheekbones and the skin of his cheeks draws slightly in. His thin lips are set in a straight line within a full beard. His high-necked robe falls slightly open over his chest and is cut also away over the shoulders to show the crinkled fabric of the garment beneath. The bottom edge of the sculpture curves upward in a very shallow U across the bottom, and is supported by a square pedestal foot decorated with scroll designs. The background behind the bust lightens from charcoal gray along the top edge to pale gray across the bottom, and the sculpture casts a shadow behind its base.

Baroque

In the 1600s, following the Renaissance, an expressive style took hold of European art, architecture, and music. Baroque art often features dramatic contrasts in elements such as shapes or lighting. This creates a sense of movement and intense emotion. 

Minimalism

“Minimal art” was initially an insult implying that an artwork offered little to look at. Minimalist artists were also criticized for barely “making” their works: Donald Judd, for example, had his sculptures built in workshops. Nonetheless, many admire Robert Morris’s polyhedrons, Dan Flavin’s fluorescent light sculptures, and Anne Truitt’s austere sculptures of painted wood.