Better Book, Better Sculpture
2008-08-06

Better Book, Better Sculpture

Maybe sometimes a good book can guide you into a new world. Sculpture is a form of art that requires lots of knowledge and skills. So a book that fits you will give you much help, whether you're a sculptor or just interested in sculptures. Now I'd like to recommend some books about sculpture. Hope you'll like them.

Sculpture Today 

About the Book
Over the past three decades, sculpture has retaken its position at the forefront of contemporary art, with artists redefining the medium in remarkable and revolutionary ways. SCULPTURE TODAY is the only book to provide such a wide-ranging and richly-illustrated overview of contemporary sculpture. Thematic chapters examine the diverse subjects that have inspired sculptors in recent years, including the body, gravity, color, light, architecture, and clothing. A wide range of works is discussed, offering an insight into the incredible range of ideas, styles, materials, techniques, and locations explored in this versatile genre. This authoritative yet accessible text ensures the book's appeal to a wide range of readers.

About the Author
Dr. Judith Collins is an international authority on sculpture. She studied at Edinburgh University and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and worked with the Arts Council and the Hayward Gallery before becoming Senior Curator at Tate, London. She is the author of a wide range of books, which include THE OMEGA WORKSHOPS (1983), THE ORIGINS OF THE ROMANESQUE (1983), ERIC GILL: THE SCULPTURE (1993), and ANDY GOLDSWORTHY: MIDSUMMER SNOWBALLS (2001). Collins has written exhibition catalogues on numerous artists including Eduardo Paolozzi, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Lynn Chadwick, Elisabeth Frink, Magdalena Abakanowicz, David Nash, and Carl Plackman. She has also worked in radio and lectures throughout Europe and the United States.


The Materials of Sculpture 

About the Book
The book begins with the hardest stones that are worked with abrasives, goes on to discuss marble and softer stones and organic materials, such as wood and ivory, considers plastic materials (clay, stucco, gesso, and wax), both as molded materials and modeled ones, and then describes the casting and tooling of metal. Each chapter defines the limitations and challenges special to the material, examining, for example, its availability, value, durability, versatility, size, and color. Considering the ways in which artists have transferred techniques from one medium to another and striven to imitate in one material effects associated with another—how, for example, ivory carving has influenced porcelain models and pieced wooden sculpture has influenced marble carving—Nicholas Penny questions and qualifies the most powerful idea in the education of the sculptor in this century—the relation of truth to material.

About the Author
Penny (National Gallery, London) has produced an unusual and very interesting book. He considers sculpture in relation to its medium: the benefits and limitations of various materials as they influence the final product. Focusing chiefly on the arts of the West, he includes chapters on different types of stone, wood, ivory, and plastic. Penny is an observant and careful writer who has closely examined his subject. He writes clearly and well for all audiences, and the plates are generally very good or better. Highly recommended.


Encyclopedia of Sculpture Techniques 

About the Book
From accelerators (chemicals that speed up the hardening process) to workmate (a portable workbench popular in many studios), this key reference contains all a working sculptor needs to know! Not only does it include details on techniques, but if offers guidance on a wide selections of materials, from bronze and concrete to polystyrene and glass. Hints on adapting tools and producing unusual finishes all give sculptors greater versatility in their craft. And the recipes-including one for mixing aggregates-plus facts about setting, hardening, and curing times will prove invaluable. Numerous photos show sculptors at work, and showcase famous sculptures, and there are diagrams of tools. It's the definitive guide to studio practice.

About the Author
John Mills was born in London England, 1933. He is married to Josephine Demarne in 1953, with two children Dylan and Andrea. He studied at Hammersmith School of Art 1947-1954 and Royal College of Art 1956 -1960. John Mills works mainly from his studio in Hertfordshire creating his ideas for his next major work of art for clients worldwide. He prefers working initially from drawings, later producing a small studio bronze maquette and finally to Life size Bronze.

Sculpture in the Age of Doubt

About the Book
In a series of dense, thoughtful essays on sculpture and sculptors from Duchamp to today, McEvilley (art history, Rice Univ.) argues that the dissolution of belief and trust in this century--the rise of skepticism and doubt about universal truth and common assumptions--is reflected in the interdependent development of sculpture and postmodern theory. He is at his best in showing this interdependence in the works of individual artists such as Jannis Kounellis, Lucas Samaras, and Louise Bourgeois, but the reading will be hard going at times for those not deeply immersed in postmodern critical theory. Still, McEvilley does look at the works of art, which ground his discussion, and the essays do reinforce one another in the end. Recommended for academic collections supporting graduate art studies.

About the Author
Thomas McEvilley is Distinguished Lecturer in Art History at Rice University, where he has been on the faculty since 1969. He holds a Ph.D. in classical philology. In addition to Greek and Latin, he has studied Sanskrit and has taught numerous courses in Greek and Indian culture, history of religion and philosophy, and art. He has published countless scholarly monographs and articles in various journals on early Greek poetry, philosophy, and religion as well as on contemporary art and culture. He has been a visiting professor at Yale University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. He was the recipient of a Fulbright Grant in 1993 and has been awarded an NEA critic’s grant and the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism by the College Art Association. He lives in New York City. McEvilley has been a contributing editor of Artforum and has published hundreds of articles, catalogue essays, and reviews in the field of contemporary art, as well as monographs on Yves Klein, Jannis Kounellis, and Pat Steir. His recent books include Art and Discontent, Art and Otherness, and The Exile's Return: Toward a Redefinition of Painting for the Post-Modern Era.