home
Developmental psychology
The meaning of the word relief in the architectural dictionary. Types of sculptural reliefs "Divine play of shadows"

The meaning of the word relief in the architectural dictionary. Types of sculptural reliefs "Divine play of shadows"

09.09.2021

Relief (sculpture)

Relief- a type of fine art, one of the main types of sculpture, in which everything depicted is created using volumes protruding above the background plane. Performed with the use of abbreviations in perspective, usually viewed from the front. Relief is thus the opposite of round sculpture. A figurative or ornamental image is made on a plane of stone, clay, metal, wood using modeling, carving and chasing.

Depending on the purpose, architectural reliefs differ (on pediments, friezes, slabs).

Terrain types:

Notes

Literature

Encyclopedic Dictionary of a Young Artist / Comp. N. I. Platonova, V. D. Sinyukov. - M .: Pedagogy, 1983. - S. 327. - 416 p. - 500,000 copies.
"Architectural Dictionary"

Links

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

See what "Relief (sculpture)" is in other dictionaries:

Relief (sculpture)- RELIEF, a type of sculpture in which the image is convex or recessed in relation to the background plane. Main types: bas-relief, high relief. …

Relief: Relief (French relief, from Latin relevo I raise) a set of uneven land, the bottom of the oceans and seas. Relief (sculpture) is a type of fine art, one of the main types of sculpture, in which everything depicted ... Wikipedia

- (lat. sculptura, from sculpo I carve, cut out), sculpture, plastic (Greek plastika, from plasso I sculpt), a type of fine art, based on the principle of a three-dimensional, physically three-dimensional image. As a rule, the object of the image in ... ... Art Encyclopedia

Renaissance sculpture is one of the most important genres of Renaissance art, which reached its dawn at this time. The main center for the development of the genre was Italy, the main motive being the focus on antique samples and admiring the human personality. ... ... Wikipedia

- (French relief, from Latin relevo I raise), a sculptural image on a plane. The inextricable connection with the plane, which is the physical basis and background of the image, is a specific feature of the relief as a type of sculpture. ... ... Art Encyclopedia

- (Latin sculptura from sculpo I cut out, carve), sculpture, plastic, a type of fine art, the works of which have a three-dimensional, three-dimensional shape and are made of solid or plastic materials. The sculpture depicts mainly ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Sculpture antique- sculpture of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, as well as the Hellenistic states. The formation of s.a. took place in the archaic period (VIII–VI centuries BC). Sculpture of the early archaic is characterized by east. motives and is associated with the name ... ... Antique world. Dictionary reference.

- (Latin sculptura, from sculpo I cut out, carve), sculpture, plastic, a type of fine art, the works of which have a three-dimensional, three-dimensional shape and are performed (carving, cutting, sculpting, forging, casting, etc.) from solid or ... ... Modern Encyclopedia

- (lat. sculptura, from sculpo - cut out, carve) - sculpture, plastic, a type of fine art, the works of which have a three-dimensional, three-dimensional shape and are made of solid or plastic materials. Distinguish between a round statue and a relief, and ... ... Encyclopedia of cultural studies

- (Latin sculptura, from sculpo - I cut out, carve), sculpture, plastic, a type of fine art, the works of which have a three-dimensional, three-dimensional shape and are performed (carving, cutting, sculpting, forging, casting, etc.) from solid or ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

Children of the country of the Soviets,. The publication introduces the works of Soviet painters, graphic artists, sculptors, artists of applied art dedicated to the theme of childhood. Album of illustrations, consisting of thematic…

Posted: September 6, 2010

RELIEF

The word "relief" comes from the Italian "relevio", which means "bulge", "ledge". In relief, the image is created by a volumetric form that only partially protrudes above a flat surface. Like any sculpture, it has three dimensions, but the third one is abbreviated, conditional. In other words, it becomes, as it were, an intermediate link between a round sculpture and an image on a plane. The plane is both the technical basis and, at the same time, the background on which the composition is located.

The relief was especially common in the Ancient East: in India, Mesopotamia, Cambodia (Kampuchea), Iran. The scenes of the palaces of the Assyrian and Persian kings in Nineveh and Persepolis were completely covered with reliefs. The Assyrians depicted scenes of war and hunting, they knew no equal in recreating the actions and feelings of animals, they knew how to show them furious, suffering, struggling. The Persepolis reliefs asserted royal power: they depicted warriors with swords, spears and bows and peoples bearing tribute to the "king of kings" - the Babylonians led him bulls, the Armenians - horses, the Elamites - tamed lions, the Arabs - camels. Due to the fact that all the figures were of the same size and walked in the same direction, it seemed that a lot of people and animals were following them: a peculiar rhythm and a sense of the majesty of what was happening were achieved by the simplest method of repetition.

In scale, the eastern reliefs are far superior to those of Europe. Sometimes they cover the entire wall completely, sometimes they go along it with a frieze - a horizontal strip located in its upper part. They are always great. The total size of the frieze, going from hall to hall in the palace at Dur-Sharrukin in Assyria, reaches six thousand square meters. The frieze of the "elephant terrace" in Angkor, the old capital of Cambodia, depicts elephants in life size.

Temples of Cambodia: Relfef angkor Wat

The images on the reliefs are for the most part very realistic. The reliefs of Angkor are a true encyclopedia of everyday folk life. N. and they depict hunters shooting birds from bows; fishermen throwing nets into the water; masons cutting stones; cooks bustling around the ovens - they cook rice, bake cakes; a tightrope walker walking boldly along a rope stretched out in the air; a boy stealing something from the stall of a dozing merchant in the market; an excited group of "cheerleaders" caught up in a cockfight. Even in such solemn reliefs as the relief of the palace in Persepolis, the realism of details is strictly observed: the border of the clothes of one of the kings depicted on it exactly reproduces the original border found by archaeologists in one of the oldest burials.

The relief is divided into three main varieties: deep relief, bas-relief And high relief. A relief is called a relief not with convex, but contours cut into the depths of a slab or wall - a planar image is preserved here in its entirety. This is a graphic and very clear technique: despite the play of light and shadow caused on its surface by light modeling, it never breaks the connection with the drawing.

Recessed Relief

Recessed relief was used in ancient Egypt. They were decorated with miniature caskets and huge temples. The reliefs on the temples, designed for viewing from long distances, had clear compositions and clear contours. These contours became especially deep when depicting the pharaohs and their entourage, their figures were modeled in volume, while secondary characters were “drawn” superficially and seemed flat. This technique replaced the European perspective for the Egyptians.

bas-relief

The word "bas-relief" comes from the French Bas-relief and means "low relief". The figures depicted in it protrude no more than half of their volume. A classic example of a bas-relief is the frieze of the ancient Greek temple of the Parthenon (442-435 BC), which depicts the solemn procession of the Athenians to the temple of Athena, the patron goddess of the city. Young men holding heated horses, riders galloping to the sacred hill, teenagers carrying bowls of wine, old people with olive branches, a symbol of peace - all this is depicted on the frieze almost without reduction in perspective: the bas-relief does not destroy the plane of the wall, but seems to spread parallel her, becoming an organic part of the temple. One of the most beautiful fragments of the frieze is the procession of girls weaving a veil for Athena; they move slowly, smoothly, their gestures are majestically slow - the rhythm of the composition is based on the alternation of their poses. To show the spiritual community of the procession, the unanimity of all those who make it up, the sculptor depicts all the heads - both pedestrians and riders - on the same level, this technique is called isocephaly. The composition of the bas-relief develops, as if following the procession (it is not for nothing that they inspect it, moving behind the image), the background of the frieze is completely smooth, attention is focused on the silhouettes of walking figures.

Multi-figured reliefs, as a rule, are narrative, and their "stories" can be much more exhaustive than the "stories" of round sculptural groups. The sculptor does not have to express his idea in a "stopped moment", and his narrative often unfolds in the same chronological order in which the recreated events took place. This is clearly expressed in the Roman reliefs that adorned the triumphal arches and columns. Erected in honor of the victory over the Dacians, the thirty-eight-meter column of Trajan (c. 111-114 AD) is covered from the pedestal to the capital with a spiral ribbon of bas-reliefs, which tells about Trajan's campaigns on the Danube with protocol accuracy. Gradually, one after another, the days of the war are depicted: the construction of a bridge over the Danube, sacrifice to the gods, military councils, receptions of ambassadors, battles, the suicide of the leader of the Dacians, burning Dacian villages. Very carefully - in detail - shows the armament of the Romans, siege weapons, ships, bridges. The role of the commander is carefully emphasized: Trajan is always ahead of the fighting troops. To convince the viewer of this, the author of the reliefs (presumably Apollodorus of Damascus) depicts him ninety times - now in front of one, then in front of another legion. The story ends with the triumphant return of the Romans to their homeland - the final turn of the reliefs, like the last page of a book, sums up the story.

In Russia in the XVIII-XX centuries. reliefs decorated palaces and public buildings, they completed and complete the pedestals of monuments. On the pedestal of the Leningrad monument to I. A. Krylov, completed in 1848-1855. Peter Klodt, recreated a whole fable menagerie: a pug barking at an elephant; a swan, a pike and a crayfish trying to budge a cart with luggage; fox reaching for grapes. This cheerful round dance surrounding the figure of the fabulist completes the monument.

Multi-figured reliefs, as a rule, are narrative, and their "stories" can be much more exhaustive than the "stories" of round sculptural groups. The sculptor does not have to express his idea in a "stopped moment", and his narrative often unfolds in the same chronological order in which the recreated events took place. This is clearly expressed in the Roman reliefs that adorned the triumphal arches and columns. Erected in honor of the victory over the Dacians, the thirty-eight-meter column of Trajan (c. 111-114 AD) is covered from the pedestal to the capital with a spiral ribbon of bas-reliefs, which tells about Trajan's campaigns on the Danube with protocol accuracy. Gradually, one after another, the days of the war are depicted: the construction of a bridge over the Danube, sacrifice to the gods, military councils, receptions of ambassadors, battles, the suicide of the leader of the Dacians, burning Dacian villages. Very carefully - in detail - shows the armament of the Romans, siege weapons, ships, bridges. The role of the commander is carefully emphasized: Trajan is always ahead of the fighting troops. To convince the viewer of this, the author of the reliefs (presumably Apollodorus of Damascus) depicts him ninety times - now in front of one, then in front of another legion. The story ends with the triumphant return of the Romans to their homeland - the final round of reliefs, like the last page of a book, sums up the story.

A unique contribution to sculpture was medieval Russian relief or, as it is more commonly called, Russian stone carving of the 12th-13th centuries, its center was Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. Covered with a carpet of ornamental-fairy-tale patterns, the massive walls of Russian churches seemed both monumental and decorative. Like all ancient Russian art, carving was closely associated with the church, but this did not make it either ascetic or dogmatic. There are relatively few actually Christian images on the walls of the Dmitrovsky Cathedral in Vladimir - only forty-six out of five hundred and sixty-six, they literally drown in the mass of bestial, fabulous, fantastic stories. Carvers borrow them everywhere: from folk ornaments, fairy tales, the surrounding nature, ancient miniatures, the Bible, and even from medieval novels. The story of Alexander the Great's journey to heaven is entirely taken from the popular adventure story "Alexandria". Sitting in a wicker basket harnessed by fantastic griffin monsters, Alexander holds small, newborn lion cubs over his head; seeing a tasty prey, the griffins rush to it, and the basket rises into the air.

decoration of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky

Even thicker and more elegant is the sculptural attire of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky. It rises directly from the ground, becomes part of the architectural details: the capitals of the portals are completely covered with a bizarre pattern of flowers and leaves; pilasters are decorated with the faces of women and warriors. Images of Christ, angels, saints, enclosed in relief medallions, figures of dragons and vultures are buried in floral ornaments. We also see good-natured-smiling, philosophically minded lions that doze in the shade of their tree-like tails. And Sirins, half-maidens, half-birds, ready at any moment to turn into legendary birds of sadness and joy. And centaurs dressed in caftans and hats of princely hunters. Centaurs and lions were considered emblematic animals in medieval Rus': they could only be depicted next to princes, personifying their wisdom and strength. But in Russian stone carving, they live on their own and, moreover, lose their abstract majestic appearance, becoming fabulous. The national spirit triumphs in it both over princely symbols and over church institutions.

From: Biryukova Irina, 11043 views

There are two main types of plastics: round sculpture and relief. Their capabilities and features are very different. The round sculpture "lives" in free space, it can be walked around and viewed from all sides. The relief (from the Italian rilievo - "protrusion, bulge, rise") is similar to a three-dimensional drawing made in clay or stone. On a flat surface of stone, wood or other material, the sculptor sculpts, cuts or carves the image of figures, objects, often creating complex plot compositions. At the same time, the image remains connected with the background, protrudes from it convexly or quite a bit, remaining flat.
I. Dvorkina

RELIEF(fr. relief, from lat. relevare - to raise) - one of the types of sculpture. Unlike a round sculpture, which can be walked around from all sides, the relief is located on a plane and is designed mainly for frontal perception. The relief can have an independent easel significance and be part of an architectural or sculptural work. The relief can protrude above the background plane and deepen into it.

Landforms

Depending on how voluminous the figures are depicted, how connected they are with the background, three types of relief are distinguished: bas-relief, high relief and counter-relief.

Giacomo Manzu. "Death of Abel" Gate of Death

bas-relief called a low, fairly flat relief, in which the figures recede from the plane of the background by less than half. As a rule, the bas-relief acts as a component of an architectural structure and plays a decorative and narrative role in it.
The appearance of the bas-relief preceded the round sculpture. Conditional images of bears and bison, carved on a rocky surface, can be found in the caves of prehistoric people who lived during the Ice Age. Ornamental relief motifs adorn all religious buildings of ancient times that have come down to us. The majestic temples of the era of the pharaohs are completely covered with relief images, which, like the pages of a book designed for eternity, tell about the origin and deeds of the Egyptian gods.

The bas-relief is used on coins and medals.

Fragment of the Parthenon frieze. Marble. 5th century BC

IN high relief unlike the bas-relief, the sculptural image deviates significantly from the background or is given almost in full. In high relief, the figures appear to be very convex, almost rounded. Sometimes they look like statues set against a smooth background. High relief is especially sensitive to lighting. In bright, especially lateral, light, volumetric figures cast strong shadows that seem to “fight” with light, indicating all the curves of the plastic form, emphasizing small details.

Recessed Relief ( counter-relief) less common than convex relief. An image of this type does not protrude above the background, but, on the contrary, goes deeper. Most of all, such a relief resembles a strict drawing: the contours of the image are as if carved by a sculptor on the surface of a stone. Figures and objects remain flat. This type of terrain is often

found in the art of the ancient Egyptians. The mighty columns of ancient Egyptian temples are covered from top to bottom with such a sculptural "pattern".

Terrain Features.

A sculptor working in relief has more room for imagination than a master creating a round sculpture. After all, almost everything that is accessible to painting and graphics can be depicted in relief: mountains, rivers, trees, clouds in the sky, houses ... It was in relief that multi-figure plot compositions were created at all times. Relief as a kind of sculpture was often associated with an architectural structure. Magnificent reliefs adorned the temples of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, the triumphal arches of Rome, medieval cathedrals and palace buildings of modern times...

picturesque relief.

Cameo Gonzaga

The relief, in its features resembling a picturesque picture, was called picturesque. In pictorial relief, distant objects are depicted as small and flatter, while those that are closer, on the contrary, are molded almost to their full extent. It turns out that the sculptor applies the same laws of linear perspective as the painter. In picturesque relief, the background ceases to be smooth (as in bas-relief and high relief) and turns into a kind of landscape with trees, clouds, mountains, or reproduces the interior of the room where the action takes place. The creator of this type of relief is considered to be a brilliant Italian sculptor of the 15th century. Donatello.

A remarkable example of a picturesque relief is the “Paradise Gates” of the baptistery (baptistery) built in Florence. The sculptor placed compositions on biblical themes on the doors. In this relief, one admires the subtlety of the transition of spatial plans - from an almost round sculpture to a fine engraving of the background.

"Divine Shadow Play"

Any sculpture is sensitive to lighting. We can say that it comes to life only under the influence of light. It will look different with top and side light, in cloudy weather or, conversely, in bright sunshine. Sculptors must take this into account in their work. In the museum halls where the sculpture is exhibited, there must be carefully thought-out lighting, otherwise the audience will not understand, will not appreciate all the plastic merits of a work of art. “Shadows, the divine play of shadows on antique marbles! We can say that shadows are partial to masterpieces. Shadows cling to them, endow them with decoration, ”wrote the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin. One can be convinced of the validity of Rodin's words by looking at a fragment of the Parthenon frieze? - one of the few fragments of the magnificent sculptural decoration of the main temple of ancient Athens that have come down to us. Marble reliefs seemed to come to life under the rays of the Greek sun. The shadows cast by the figures of men and lying in the folds of the girls' clothes created a sense of movement, giving the illusion of full volume to the relief images protruding from the background.

Birth of Aphrodite. relief. Marble. Sicily.460 BC

gems.

From ancient times, carvers-jewelers carved reliefs on precious and semi-precious stones, making jewelry and seals. Such images are called gems (from Latin gemma - “precious stone”). A recessed image, cut into the depths of a solid mineral, is called an intaglio, and a convex image protruding above the surface of a stone is called a cameo ... Often, gems were made from multi-layered stones, and the master had the opportunity, when processing the stone, to make the background of one color, and the main image - another.

Natalya Sokolnikova.

Posted on http:// www. website. en/

Tambov State Technical University

Abstract on the topic

Types of sculptural reliefs

Tambov 2009

1. The concept of "sculpture"

2. Varieties of sculpture

3. Division of sculpture by content and function

4. Sculptural materials

5. Schematic process of creating a sculptural form

6. Primitive sculpture

7. Sculpture of Ancient Egypt

8.Antique sculpture

9. Western European sculpture

10. Russian sculpture

Bibliography

1. The concept of "sculpture"

Sculpture - (lat. sculptura, from sculpo - carve, cut out), sculpture, plastic (Greek plastike, from plasso - sculpt), an art form based on the principle of a three-dimensional, physically three-dimensional image of an object.

As a rule, the object of the image in sculpture is a person, less often - animals (animalistic genre), even more rarely - nature (landscape) and things (still life). The positioning of the figure in space, the transfer of its movement, posture, gesture, light and shade modeling that enhances the relief of the form, the architectonic organization of volume, the visual effect of its mass, weight ratios, the choice of proportions, the character of the silhouette, specific in each case, are the main expressive means of sculpture.

A three-dimensional sculptural form is built in real space according to the laws of harmony, rhythm, balance, interaction with the surrounding architectural or natural environment and on the basis of the anatomical (structural) features of a particular model observed in nature.

2. Varieties of sculpture

There are two main types of sculpture:

1) a round sculpture, which is freely placed in space. Works of circular sculpture, usually requiring a circular view, include:

Statue (figure in growth),

Group (two or more figures that make up a single whole),

Statuette (figure, much less than natural size),

Torso (image of a human torso),

Bust (bust image of a person), etc.

2) Relief - a type of sculpture; a sculptural image on a plane, which is the physical basis and background of the image. The relief reproduces complex multi-figure scenes, as well as architectural and landscape motifs.

Distinguish: - a convex relief protruding above the background plane, which is subdivided into a counter-relief and a coilanaglyph; - deep relief cut into the depth of the background plane, which is subdivided into bas-relief and burnt

Bas-relief - a type of relief sculpture in which all parts of which protrude above the plane by less than half of their volume.

The bas-relief is used to decorate architectural structures and works of decorative art.

Victoria - reliefs used in wall decoration in the form of a flying goddess of victory.

Incised relief - a technique in which the recesses of images carved into the wall were filled with paint flush with the plane of the wall so that the entire relief took on the character of colored silhouettes.

Geniuses - relief depicted flying human figures used in wall decoration.

Geniuses - in ancient Rome - patron spirits that accompany a person all his life and guide his actions.

Blind carving - a non-through carving made in solid wood, designed to perceive the relief in sunlight or special lighting.

High relief - a type of relief sculpture in which the image protrudes above the background plane by more than half of its volume. High relief is used in architecture.

Koilanaglyph is a relief with a deep contour and convex modeling, found in the architecture of Ancient Egypt and on ancient Eastern and ancient intaglios.

Counter-relief - an in-depth relief in the form of a strict negative of a convex relief, which serves (on intaglio seals) to obtain prints in the form of a miniature bas-relief.

Stucco relief - plaster moldings on the surface of the walls.

End of form

Estampage - an impression from a relief obtained by applying paper or fabric to the surface of a sculpture coated with a dye.

3. Division of sculpture by content and function

Monumental-decorative: the sculpture is designed for a specific architectural-spatial or natural environment. It has a pronounced public character, is addressed to the masses of spectators, and is placed primarily in public places - on the streets and squares of the city, in parks, on the facades and in the interiors of public buildings. Monumental and decorative sculpture is designed to concretize the architectural image, to complement the expressiveness of architectural forms with new shades. The ability of monumental and decorative sculpture to solve large ideological and figurative tasks is revealed with particular completeness in works that are called monumental and which usually include urban monuments, monuments, and memorial structures. The majesty of the forms and the durability of the material are combined in them with the elation of the figurative system, the breadth of generalization.

Easel sculpture, not directly related to architecture, is more intimate. Halls of exhibitions, museums, residential interiors, where it can be viewed closely and in all details, are its usual environment. Thus, the features of the plastic language of sculpture, its dimensions, favorite genres (portrait, everyday genre, animalistic genre) are determined. Easel sculpture, to a greater extent than monumental and decorative, is characterized by an interest in the inner world of a person, subtle psychologism, and narrative.

Sculptures of small forms include a wide range of works intended mainly for residential interiors, and in many respects merges with decorative and applied art. The height and length of the work can be brought up to 80 centimeters and a meter. It can be replicated industrially, which is not typical for easel sculpture. Decorative and applied arts and sculpture of small forms form a symbiosis with each other, like the architecture of a building with a round sculpture decorating it, forming a single ensemble. Sculpture of small forms develops in two directions - as the art of mass things and as the art of unique, single works. Genres and directions of small sculpture - portrait, genre compositions, still life, scenery. Small, spatial - volumetric forms, landscape design, and kinetic sculpture.

Bronze Sculpture One of the ways to produce bronze sculptures is the hollow bronze casting method. Its secret lies in the fact that the initial form for the figurine is made in wax, then a clay layer is applied and the wax is melted. And only then the metal is poured. Bronze casting is the collective name for this entire process.

Kinetic Sculpture. A kind of kinetic art in which the effects of real movement are played up.

4. Sculptural materials

The purpose and content of the sculptural work. determine the nature of its plastic structure, and it, in turn, affects the choice of sculptural material. The technique of sculpture largely depends on the natural features and methods of processing the latter.

Soft substances (clay, wax, plasticine, etc.) are used for modeling; while the most common tools are wire rings and stacks.

Solid substances (various types of stone, wood, etc.) are processed by cutting (carving) or carving, removing unnecessary parts of the material and gradually releasing, as it were, a three-dimensional form hidden in it; for processing a stone block, a hammer (mallet) and a set of metal tools, a tongue and groove, (scarple, troyanka, etc.) are used, for processing wood - mainly shaped chisels and drills.

Substances capable of changing from a liquid to a solid state (various metals, gypsum, concrete, plastic, etc.) are used to cast sculptures using specially made moulds. Electroplating is also used to reproduce sculpture in metal. In its unmelted form, metal for sculpture is processed through forging and embossing.

To create ceramic sculptures, special types of clay are used, which is usually covered with painting or colored glaze and fired in special kilns. Color has been found in sculpture for a long time: the painted sculpture of antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque is well known. Sculptors of the 19th - 20th centuries Usually they are content with the natural color of the material, resorting, if necessary, only to its monochromatic tinting, toning. However, the experience of the 1950s and 60s testifies to the newly awakened interest in polychrome sculpture.

5. Schematic process of creating a sculptural form

Schematically, the process of creating a sculptural work can be divided into a number of stages:

modeling (from plasticine or clay) sketches and sketches from nature; making a frame for a cool sculpture or a relief shield (iron rods, wire, nails, wood);

work on a rotating machine or a vertically reinforced shield over a model in a given size;

turning a clay model into a plaster one using a "black" or "lump" mold;

its translation into a solid material (stone or wood) using a puncturing machine and the corresponding processing technique or casting from metal with subsequent embossing;

patination or tinting of the statue.

Also known are works of sculpture created from hard materials (marble, wood) without preliminary modeling of the clay original (the taille directe technique, that is, direct cutting, which requires exceptional skill).

6. Primitive sculpture

The emergence of sculpture, dating back to the primitive era, is directly related to human labor activity and magical beliefs. In Paleolithic sites discovered in many countries (Montespan in France, Willendorf in Austria, Malta and Buret in the Soviet Union, etc.), various sculptural images of animals and women - the progenitors of the genus, to which the so-called. Paleolithic Venus. The range of Neolithic sculptural monuments is even wider.

Round sculpture, usually small in size, was cut from soft rocks, bone and wood; reliefs were executed on stone plates and cave walls. Sculpture often served as a means of decorating utensils, tools of labor and hunting, and was used as amulets.

Examples of late Neolithic and Eneolithic sculpture on the territory of the USSR are Trypillia ceramic sculpture, large stone images of people ("stone women"), sculptural decorations made of bronze, gold, silver, etc.

Although simplistic forms are typical for primitive sculpture, it is often distinguished by the sharpness of life observations and vivid plastic expressiveness. Sculpture received further development during the period of decomposition of the primitive communal system, in connection with the growth of the division of labor and technological progress; The brightest monuments of this stage are the Scythian gold reliefs, the terracotta heads of the Nok culture, and the typologically diverse wooden carved sculpture of the Oceanians.

7. Sculpture of Ancient Egypt

In the art of the slave-owning society, sculpture stood out as a special kind of activity, having specific tasks and its own masters. The sculpture of the ancient Eastern states, which served to express the all-encompassing idea of despotism, perpetuate a strict social hierarchy, and glorify the power of gods and kings, contained an attraction to the significant and perfect that had an objective universal value. Such is the sculpture of Ancient Egypt: huge motionless sphinxes, full of grandeur; statues of pharaohs and their wives, portraits of nobles, with canonical poses and frontal construction according to the principle of symmetry and balance; colossal reliefs on the walls of tombs and temples and small sculptures associated with the funeral cult. The sculpture of other ancient Eastern despotisms - Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, Assyria - developed in similar ways.

About 5 millennia ago, the first small slave-owning states appeared in the valley along the lower reaches of the Nile. At the end of the 1st millennium BC, the rulers of one of them subjugated the whole country, creating a single kingdom with the center in the city of Memphis, located on the left bank of the Nile, south of the place where the city of Cairo is now located. Around 2800 B.C. e. Pharaoh Khufu became the ruler of this state. Subsequently, historians changed his name to Cheops. That is what they call it today.

An important role in the formation of Egyptian culture and the state was played by the early period of Egyptian history - the time from 4000 to 3000 BC and the period of the early Kingdom 3000-2000 BC. e.

Man becomes the main object of art. Grandiose architectural structures - the pyramids amaze with their generality and completeness of forms. The greatest of them - the pyramid of Cheops - has a height of 146.6 m and is composed of 2300 multi-ton stone blocks.

Around the pyramid of the pharaoh were the tombs of nobles and officials. The "City of the Dead" was a kind of road to the afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife and tried to provide those leaving for the other world with everything they needed in life. The Egyptian religion taught that a happy life in the afterlife is given only to noble people.

The Egyptians believed that a person has several souls, and eternal life after earthly death is bestowed by the gods on those people whose souls are well cared for by priest-priests. The tomb was considered as a haven for one of these souls, which the Egyptians called “Ka” (double of a deceased person).

At the same time, the Egyptian religion was a collection of various cults, which, over the course of many centuries, underwent numerous changes. In Egypt, many gods were revered. Some of them were very ancient and looked more like animals than people. Their images have dog heads, horns, or other signs of animals.

But there were also common Egyptian deities, whose temples were built throughout the country: Horus, Ra, Osiris, Isis and others.

According to tradition, Osiris, before becoming a god, reigned in Egypt, and the memory of his beneficence led him to identify with the principle of good, while his murderer identifies with evil. The same legend had another religious, moral explanation: Osiris is the setting sun, killed or absorbed by darkness - darkness.

Isis - the moon absorbs and stores, as much as it can, the rays of the sun,

and Horus - the rising sun - avenges his father by dispelling the darkness.

Osiris was often depicted as a mummy, his usual attributes are a hook or whip, a symbol of power, and the emblem of the Nile in the form of a cross with an eyelet at the top. Sometimes Osiris is depicted with the head of a bull.

The image of the goddess Isis is a head with cow ears, on which a building rises - a symbol of the universe: it seems to be standing on a richly decorated bowl, a symbol of moisture, without which nothing could exist on earth. The hallmarks of Isis are a disk, a double crown, meaning dominion over the Upper and Lower Nile, and horns on her head.

God Thoth is depicted with the head of an ibis bird, he personifies the divine mind that created the universe. He is also the god of letters, and the organizer of the world, who dispersed the darkness and dispelled the darkness of the soul. In addition, when this bird eats, its beak forms an equilateral triangle together with its paws, therefore the ibis personifies geometry and all sciences based on it, which is why the ibis is dedicated to the god Thoth - the god of the divine mind. The duties of this god included monitoring the level of the rise of water during the flood of the Nile. Sometimes the god Thoth is depicted holding a jagged ruler - a symbol of the flood of the Nile.

The Egyptian pharaohs were often identified with the rising sun and then received the title of the sons of Amon-Ra. Following tradition, during holidays and solemn processions, a statue of a god covered with jewels and ornaments was carried in a sacred boat, accompanied by crowds of girls and women. The Egyptians claimed that the sun and moon only sailed around the earth in a boat.

Almost every Egyptian god was thus given forms, and to each of them some animal was thus consecrated.

Only a few stone tablets (they are called palettes) with images of the first pharaohs have come down to us. The Egyptians themselves had the deepest respect for the first, early centuries of their history. Their imaginations populated these times with great sages and mighty kings.

As mentioned earlier, next to the pyramids in the “city of the dead” were the tombs of the nobility. The exposition of the Hermitage exhibits stone reliefs from tombs, in the past they were brightly painted.

The nature of the images and their compositional solution give an idea of the developed canon. So in the relief from the tomb of Nimaatr, the figure of a nobleman seated in a solemn pose at the table is several times larger than the figures of the servants who serve him various food. They are placed in rows, friezes, in several “floors” and move in the image plane. The three-dimensional body is reduced to a silhouette clearly defined by a contour.

The sculptor skillfully combines parts of the figure seen from different points of view: the head and legs are in profile; eyes, shoulders and chest - in front. This depiction of people is typical of Egyptian art.

The second monument, a stone relief from the tomb of Miriraankh, was made using a different technique: the image is not convex, but embedded in stone.

The statues of the dead were placed in the tombs. A family group from the tomb of Ujaankhdzhes reproduces the appearance of a nobleman and his wife.

The composition is made in the strict framework of the accepted canon: the frontality of the larger figure of Ujaankhjes, the legs are tightly shifted, the hands lying on the knees, the solemnly frozen pose and the gaze turned straight. Laconically and generally interpreted figures are associated with a block of stone. This is limestone, covered with gypsum on top and painted in accordance with the canon: the male figure is brown, the female figure is yellow.

A remarkable sculptural monument of the Egyptian collection of the Hermitage is the statue of Pharaoh Amenemhet III, who ruled in Egypt in the period of the 21st-18th centuries. BC. This is the time of the unification of the country, the growth of cities, the flourishing of culture. In official sculpture, in the statues of pharaohs, along with idealization and canonical features, one can feel the desire of the masters to convey the individuality of the features of the model, the interest in identifying portrait features. These tendencies can be traced in the granite statue of the pharaoh Amenemhet Sh. The figure of the pharaoh is given in a traditional pose.

A characteristic headdress - nemes - with the image of a uraeus - a sacred snake guarding the king - as well as his three names inscribed in a cartouche (decoration in the form of a half-opened scroll) on the throne, remind us that we have before us the ruler of all Egypt. In the face of the pharaoh, the features inherent in this particular person are noted: narrow, deep-set eyes, large cheekbones. Tightly compressed thin lips, protruding chin give the face an imperious and stern expression. Made of granite, the statue, however, clearly conveys the smallest details of clothing and headdress, which indicates the high skill of the sculptor.

The Hermitage houses a number of significant everyday and religious sculptures, in particular the statue of the goddess Mut - Sokhmet. Daughter of the supreme god Ra, goddess of war and scorching heat. Sokhmet was portrayed as a lion-headed woman. This image reflects the desire to emphasize the power of man, comparing it with the power of the beast. According to the myth, angry at people who ceased to obey her decrepit father and did evil, the goddess decided to incinerate them with the heat of drought. And only the intercession of the compassionate gods saved people from complete extermination.

On their advice, a beer tinted red was poured at night, which, mistaking for blood, the goddess drank. The myth was born of reality: the red waters of the Nile save the Egyptians from the drought, during the flood period.

The terrible goddess holds in her hands "ankh" - a sign symbolizing life.

The monumental statue of Sokhmet, executed during the reign of Amenhotep III (his name is indicated on the throne) was among similar sculptures in the largest temple of that time - Karnak.

I would like to dwell on one more sculptural group - the Statue of Amenemheb with his wife and mother. The royal scribe and mayor of Thebes was at that time a great man. The sculptor, thanks to the virtuoso processing of granite, conveyed the softness and elasticity of the forms of the human body, while retaining many traditional features (frontality, static, solemn poses, connection with a block of stone, etc.). What is especially striking is the female figures: both mother and wife are depicted at the same age. This suggests that the ancient Egyptians believed that eternal youth and peace await people in the afterlife.

The image of the ancient Egyptian architect, author and first builder of the pyramids - Imhotep, who lived around the 20th century is also characteristic. BC e.

Imhotep is famous for the step pyramid and the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Josser in Saqqara. A small-sized sculpture made of black basalt, fascinates with grace and significance. The same static, solemn posture of a seated person, a scroll of papyrus on his knees, represents a person who plays a very important role in the state.

Like the pyramid he built, so the sculpture of the architect brought to us the unique beauty, fabulousness and grandeur of Ancient Egypt.

8.Antique sculpture

The sculpture of Ancient Greece and partly of Ancient Rome, addressed to the mass of free citizens and in many respects retaining a connection with ancient mythology, has a different, humanistic character. In the images of gods and heroes, athletes and warriors, the sculptors of Ancient Greece embody the ideal of a harmoniously developed personality, assert their ethical and aesthetic ideas. The naive-holistic, plastically generalized, but somewhat constrained sculpture of the archaic period is being replaced by flexible, dissected, based on an accurate knowledge of the anatomy of sculptural classics, which put forward such major masters as Myron, Phidias, Poliklet, Skopas, Spinner, Lysippus.

The realistic nature of ancient Greek statues and reliefs (often associated with cult architecture), tombstones, bronze and terracotta figurines is clearly manifested in the high skill of depicting a naked or draped human body. Polykleitos tried to formulate the laws of its proportionality on the basis of mathematical calculations in the theoretical work "Canon". In ancient Greek sculpture, fidelity to reality, vital expressiveness of forms are combined with the ideal generalization of the image. During the Hellenistic period, the civic pathos and architectonic clarity of classical sculpture are replaced by dramatic pathos, stormy contrasts of light and shadow; the image acquires a noticeably greater degree of individualization. The realism of ancient Roman sculpture was especially fully revealed in the art of the portrait, striking with the sharpness of the individual and social delineation of characters. The relief with historical and narrative plots, decorating the triumphal columns and arches, has been developed; there was a type of equestrian monument (the statue of Marcus Aurelius, later installed by Michelangelo on Capitol Square in Rome).

The art of the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia has existed for thousands of years, when Greek art was just beginning to get on its feet, so that, having reached extraordinary heights in its quick, victorious march, conquer Europe, Africa and Asia. Greek art for the first time achieved freedom in its creations not only in a naturalistic direction, accurately conveying the anatomy of the body and the movement of the soul, but also in the independence of this image from all other spiritual forces and from the neighboring worlds of art. The beauty of Greek art lies in its truth and freedom, moreover, like any artistic beauty, it lies in the complete harmony of form with content. Idealism and realism, style and nature merge in Greek art into one inseparable whole. Greek art reproduced reality and grew directly out of the competitions that had united the Hellenic tribes since the establishment of the Olympic Games.

Sculpture is that branch of art in which the Greeks learned to merge form with content in the most perfect way and depict the heavenly in the earthly shell, and, moreover, better than any other people could do it.

Greek sculpture before the Persian Wars

The beginnings of Greek sculpture were very insignificant. The most ancient Boeotian style of vases corresponds to the remarkable clay female figurines found in the Boeotian tombs; their shape, resembling a bell, is due to their clothes lagging behind the body. The excessively long neck, small head, lack of a mouth, sharp profile and ornamental pattern are reminiscent of the primitive style of Europe. Several statuettes of naked women, kept in the Athens Museum, made of ivory, in the proportions of the body of which, for all their geometric angularity, a significant step forward is already noticeable, were found in the Attic Dipylon tombs.

The beginnings of sculpture of large figures among the Greeks, just like the beginnings of their architecture, must be sought in the production of wood. Numerous wooden idols (xoans), which were considered to have fallen from the sky, reminded the later Hellenes of the initial time of their plastics. None of these wooden figures have come down to us, but many sculptures from loose limestone (poros) or from coarse-grained insular marble have been preserved. More or less well-preserved works of this kind were obtained mainly from the remains of buildings destroyed by the Persians in the Athenian Acropolis, as well as on Delos and its neighboring islands. Male statues depict young, beardless, naked people; female statues in clothes.

In contrast to all these stone sculptures, reminiscent of a wooden style, seated statues from Didymaeon, the famous temple of Apollo at Didyma, near Miletus, which are life-sized, bear the imprint of a primitive Asiatic stone style. By their size, position and inscriptions, these portrait statues of the first quarter of the 7th century. They appear to be the most ancient works of Ionic monumental sculpture.

We have seen how Greek art in all its branches, under Eastern, predominantly Western Asian, as well as Egyptian influence, emerged from its original crude state and developed a national, independent style in which an attentive, albeit timid, observation of nature was combined with the strictest regularity.

Among the sculptors of this era, we meet Royk and Theodore of Samos. Royk owned a bronze female figure, probably called "Night" and standing in Ephesus, near the temple of Artemis. From the works of Theodore, mainly gold items are known, for example, a ring made for Polycrates the tyrant of Samos, and a silver mixing vessel.

A contemporary of these artists was Smilides, who owned a wooden image of Hera in her temple in Samos.

The most significant of the oldest Greek marble sculptors, according to legend, were the natives of the Ionian island of Chios: Melas, Mykkiades, Archermus, Bupal and Afenis.

But the first famous marble sculptors are Deepoin and Skilid. Founders of chryselephantine technique.

The name of the Attic artist is preserved in one of the inscriptions that have come down to us - Aristocles. He put his signature on the beautiful tomb stele of Aristion.

The pediment groups of the Aegina Temple of Athena are believed to be the work of Onates. The battles near Troy were presented on the pediments.

We now turn to round plastic figures. The gradual progress in the development of forms is most noticeable in female statues, namely, in the freer arrangement of folds in clothes and in a more natural look of hair.

The male statues of the last days of archaism are already marked by signs of the same progress. One can single out the figures of Apollo from Piombino, Apollo found in Pompeii.

Thus, we see that Greek art at the time of the Persian wars reached almost the same stage of development everywhere. The time of external influences had already passed art and the artists of various parts of Greece strove for a mutual exchange of personal gains and friendly equality.

Greek Sculpture from the Beginning of the Persian Wars to the Age of the Diadochi

The Persian wars did not stop the further development of the forms of Greek sculpture: it continued to improve during them.

At this time, the names of such sculptors as Pythagoras ("Wounded Philoctetes", "Europe on a bull"), Kalamis ("Omphal-Apollo"), Myron ("Copper Cow", "Discobolus") are known. Miron's works were very realistic, and Miron's art is the last step before complete freedom of possession of forms. In addition to figures of athletes, Myron produced statues of heroes and gods. One of his more famous groups depicted Athena and Marsyas.

The most important works of monumental sculpture in the era under consideration should be recognized as the sculptures that adorned the temple of Zeus at Olympia - pediment groups and metopes carved from Parian marble. On the eastern pediment, the moment before the start of the disastrous contest between Pelops and Oinomai was depicted. The western pediment depicts the battle of the centaurs and the Lapiths at the wedding of Perithous. The performer of the sculptures of the eastern pediment is considered to be a certain Paeonius, the western - Alkamen.

Art reached its full flowering only in the creations of Phidias. The works of this artist are the expression of perfection in Greek art. The most complete development of noble forms is combined in them with the most strict regularity of location, the purest feeling of nature merges inseparably with the greatest sublimity of spiritual feeling. The colossal statue of the standing virgin goddess Pallas Athena in the Athenian Parthion (12 meters high) and the colossal statue of Zeus sitting on a throne in the Olympic Temple (13 m high) are the two main luminaries in the artistic sky of Phidias. The great representative of Argive art was Poliket. He should be placed at the head of artists who have ever attempted to reproduce the normal human body. Three statues of him have come down to us in marble reproductions: "Spearman", "Amazon", "Diadumen".

IV V. (400-275 gg. before AD)

Temple sculpture in the first half of this century still attracted the best artistic forces. But images of the gods now appear more often as free offerings to temples than as actual objects of worship. Groups and statues of gods and demigods, already appointed to decorate civil buildings, public squares, royal palaces, are found more and more often, as a result of which these sculptures take on an increasingly secular, genre character. Religious art turns into mythological. The names of such artists as Kefisodot (“Eirena with the baby Plutos”), Silanion (“Plato”, “Sappho”), Skopas (pediment groups of the temple of Athena Alea in Tegea), Pythius (“Mausolus”) can be associated with this time.

Praxiteles in literary sources is recorded as a depiction of mainly gods, and, moreover, young and beautiful, in spiritual and sensual excitement. (Apollo, Aremis, Latona, Dionysus, Aphrodite and Eros are the favorites of Praxiteles). He only occasionally took on the image of mortals: the famous two statues of the famous hetaera Phryne and one statue of the winner at the Olympic Games. From the personification of individual gods, sculpted by Praxiteles, the statue of naked Aphrodite was the most famous in antiquity. Another of his genuine works is the head of Aphrodite, full of expression and combining human beauty with divine beauty. You can name a number of his famous works: "Venus of Aral", "Juno Ludovisi", "Hermes Antnoy", "Arodita", etc.

The closest followers of Praxiteles can only be considered his sons Kefisodot the younger and Timakhr: "Menander".

As a portrait sculptor, next to the sons of Praxiteles, you can put Polyeuctus, whose famous creation, the statue of Demosthenes, was exhibited in 280 BC. The sculptor Lysippus worked only with bronze and depicted only male figures. "Apoxiomen", "Hercules of Farnese", "Hermes" and others. Among the works of the followers of Lysippus, one original work can be reckoned, namely the large marble Nike of Samothrace, which, despite the fact that her head is lost, is one of the main decorations of the Louvre museum.

Sculpture in Ancient Greece and Greek Minor (275-27 BC)

The Pergamon sculptors drew the plots of their historical images from the victorious wars of Attalus with the Gauls. Epigon, Pyromachus, Stratinik, Antigonus. It should be noted such sculptures as "Wounded Gaul", "Dying Warrior", "Gall and his wife". Works of this kind introduce us to a truly new world of art. According to the truth of life, the images of foreigners and their folk-historical themes would have been unthinkable in the time of Phidias and even Praxiteles. By this time, we attribute such a sculpture as the "Borghesian fighter" - Agassios of Ephesus. As well as the famous marble statue - "Venus de Milo". She became a common favorite in the 19th century due to the beauty of her figure, which, unfortunately, has come down to us without arms; the warmth of soul that breathes the noble features of her face; extraordinary softness of cutting marble. The statue was found on the island of Milos in 1820. It was executed, apparently, by Alexander (or Agesander).

The Neo-Attic masters were essentially only copyists. So, for example, Antiochus of Athens in his statue of Athena reproduced Athena Parthinos Phidias. The Neo-Attic school was very willing to decorate large marble vases with reliefs. Of the masters of this industry are known: Salpion, Sosibius, Pontius.

Sculpture of Italy until the end of the Roman Republic

Before start Hellenistic era (near 900-275 before AD)

Etrurian sculpture has long been under the influence of Greco-Ionic archaism. Around 500 BC Clay was the main sculpting material. Large terracotta groups of enthroned statues in the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter in Rome have been attributed to a certain Volcanius (or Vulca). The figures are mostly preserved on the lids of sarcophagi.

About the Etrurian bronze works, we are given the concept not so much by the samples that have come down to us, but by the indications necessary in written sources. The bronze she-wolf in the Palazzo dei Conservatori of the Roman Capitol remains the only work of its kind to this day. The she-wolf feeding Romulus and Remus with her milk is a symbol of Rome. Some recognize the she-wolf as a purely Greek work, others see it as a work even of the Christian Middle Ages.

Of the Etrurian stone sculptures of this ancient era, limestone tomb steles, rounded on top, decorated with reliefs, deserve mention first of all.

About the works of the Etrurian art industry, we note that thanks to the custom of the Etruscans to place various household items in the tombs, a huge amount of artistically executed utensils (clay vessels, vases) has come down to us. The Etruscans tried to imitate painted Greek clay vases, which were brought in many.

The production of bronze products has been in Etruria since the 6th century. strong development in the national spirit. Tyrrhenian candelabra were known in the 5th century. even the Greeks.

From the beginning of the Hellenistic era to the end of the Roman Republic (about 275-25 BC)

The transition to the Italian sculpture of the period under consideration can be found in the bronze cists of Central Italy, decorated with plastic work, for example, the cist from Vulci in the Gregorian Museum in Rome, with an embossed relief image of the Amazons. Along with this kind of works, Etrurian funerary urns illuminated with colors can be placed. On the lids of these urns are placed portrait figures of the dead, smaller than life, modeled roughly and dryly, with a short torso and a large head.

As a major work of Etrurian sculpture, one can point to the bronze statue of Aulus Metellus. Metellus is depicted life-size according to the ancient sculpting technique.

We are most impressed by portrait busts, although there is a great deal of disagreement about the personalities depicted on them. For example, regarding the so-called bust of Julius Caesar, the bust of Cicero, reputed to be a portrait of Pompey.

Sculpture of the Roman Empire

Hellenistic idealistic sculpture in Italy, in essence, said its last word in the works of the neo-Attic school of Pasitol. The only slogan of this branch of art has become imitation of the great masters of bygone times.

The best works of Hadrian's time were still full of the same life as the two centaurs of dark gray marble by Aristaeus and Papias. The main task of sculpture under Hadrian was the production of countless statues and busts of Antinous, with which she endowed all the artistic and religious institutions of the empire. Antinous was a handsome young man, Adrian's favorite, in order to save his life, Antinous, driven by medical superstition, sacrificed himself for her and drowned himself in the Nile.

The Romans had long been accustomed to regard the Greek deities as their own; therefore, alterations in the images of Greek deities in accordance with the ideas of local Italian mythology were usually limited in Roman sculpture to attributes. Lanuvian Juno Sospita, colossal and strict.

The last efforts of Hellenistic-Roman idealistic art showed up in relief images on the marble sarcophagi of the empire. The walls of the sarcophagi are decorated with multi-figured reliefs, and a half-seated figure of the deceased was placed on the lids.

Roman portrait and triumphal reliefs introduce us to a completely different world. In this area, the Roman spirit and Roman feeling dominated. It was necessary to accurately portray the personalities of the new rulers of the world. This truly Roman imperial art was realistic in the fullest sense of the word.

The task of Roman portrait sculpture was at the beginning to depict private individuals. Her best works were busts, full-length statues and seated figures of Roman citizens and their wives and daughters. Surprising naturalness, combined with Greek severity and grandeur, breathe the facial features of the "Vestal".

Roman portrait sculpture then turned into imperial. For example, the head of a young Augustus, then on a sculpture of an already aged Augustus. In both sculptures, the whole inner life is expressed in them, mainly in the head - in the look, facial expression.

Portrait sculpture smoothly turns into relief sculpture. A number of triumphal reliefs begin with those that adorned the Altar of Peace, further development of the relief can be traced in the sculptures of the arch of Titus. On it, two main images related to the triumph of Titus adorn the walls under the arch of the span. On one side, the emperor himself is depicted riding, accompanied by his retinue, on a victorious chariot, on the other, a triumphal procession. Arches of Trajan (more precisely, the remaining column of Trajan).

9. Western European sculpture

The Christian religion, as the main form of worldview, largely determined the nature of European sculpture in the Middle Ages. As a necessary link in sculpture, it enters the architectural fabric of Romanesque cathedrals, obeying the harsh solemnity of their tectonic structure. In Gothic art, where reliefs and statues of apostles, prophets, saints, fantastic creatures, and sometimes real people literally fill the portals of cathedrals, galleries of the upper tiers, niches of turrets and ledges of cornices, sculpture plays a particularly prominent role. It kind of "humanizes" the architecture, enhances its spiritual richness. In ancient Rus', the art of relief reached a high level (Kyiv slate reliefs, decoration of Vladimir-Suzdal churches). In the Middle Ages, sculpture was widely developed in the countries of the Middle and Far East; The sculptures of India, Indonesia, Indochina, monumental in nature, combining the power of constructing volumes with the sensual sophistication of modeling, are especially great in the world artistic significance.

In the 13th-16th centuries. Western European sculpture, gradually freeing itself from religious and mystical content, moves on to a more direct depiction of life. Earlier than in the sculptures of other countries, in the 2nd half of the 13th - early 14th centuries. new, realistic tendencies appeared in the sculptures of Italy (Niccolò Pisano and other sculptors. In the 15th-16th centuries, Italian sculpture, based on the ancient tradition, increasingly gravitates towards the expression of the ideals of Renaissance humanism. The embodiment of vivid human characters, imbued with the spirit of life-affirmation, becomes its main task (the work of Donagello, L. Ghiberti, Verrocchio, Luca della Robbia, Jacopo della Quercia, etc.) An important step forward was made in the creation of free-standing (i.e., relatively independent of architecture) statues, in solving the problems of a monument in the city ensemble, multifaceted relief. The technique of bronze casting and embossing is being improved, and the technique of majolica is used in sculpture. One of the pinnacles of Renaissance art was the sculptural works of Michelangelo, full of titanic power and intense drama. Primary interest in decorative tasks distinguishes the sculptors of Mannerism (B. Cellini and others. Of the sculptors of the Renaissance in other countries, Klaus Sluter (Burgundy), J. Goujon and J. Pilon (France), M. Pacher (Austria), P. Fischer and T. Riemenschneider (Germany) gained fame.

In Baroque sculpture, Renaissance harmony and clarity give way to the elements of changeable forms, emphatically dynamic, often full of solemn splendor. Decorative trends are rapidly growing: sculptures are literally intertwined with the architecture of churches, palaces, fountains, parks. Numerous ceremonial portraits and monuments were also created in the Baroque era. The largest representatives of Baroque sculpture are L. Bernini in Italy, A. Schluter in Germany, P. Puget in France, where classicism develops in close connection with the Baroque (features of both styles intertwined in the work of F. Girardon, A. Coisevox and others). The principles of classicism, rethought in the Age of Enlightenment, played an important role in the development of Western European sculpture in the second half of the 18th and first third of the 19th centuries, in which, along with historical, mythological and allegorical themes, portrait tasks acquired great importance (J. B. Pigalle, E. M. Falcone, J. A. Houdon in France, A. Canova in Italy, B. Thorvaldsen in Denmark).

10. Russian sculpture

In Russian sculpture from the beginning of the 18th century. a transition is being made from medieval religious forms to secular ones; Developing in line with common European styles - baroque and classicism, it combines the pathos of establishing a new statehood, and then enlightening civil ideals, with an awareness of the new-found plastic beauty of the real world.

The monument to Peter I in St. Petersburg by E. M. Falcone became a majestic symbol of the new historical aspirations of Russia, which were determined in the era of Peter the Great. Excellent examples of monumental and decorative park sculpture, wooden carvings, and formal portraits appear as early as the first half of the 18th century. (B.K. Rastrelli and others). In the 2nd half of the 18th - 1st half of the 19th centuries. an academic school of Russian sculpture is being formed, which is represented by a galaxy of outstanding masters. Patriotic pathos, grandeur and classical clarity of images characterize the work of F. I. Shubin, M. I. Kozlovsky, F. F. Shchedrin, I. P. Martos, V. I. Demut-Malinovsky, S. S. Pimenov. A close relationship with architecture, an equal position in the synthesis with it, the generalization of the figurative structure are typical for the sculpture of classicism. In the 1830s and 40s in Russian sculpture, the desire for historical concreteness of the image (B. I. Orlovsky) and for genre specificity (P. K. Klodt, N. S. Pimenov) is increasingly emerging.

In the 2nd half of the 19th century. Russian and Western European sculpture reflects the general process of the democratization of art. Classicism, which is now being reborn into salon art, is opposed by the realistic movement with its openly expressed social orientation, recognition of everyday life worthy of the artist’s attention, appeal to the theme of labor, to the problems of public morality (J. Dalou in France, C. Meunier in Belgium, etc. .). Realistic Russian sculpture of the 2nd half of the 19th century. developed under the strong influence of the painting of the Wanderers. The depth of reflection on the historical fate of the motherland, characteristic of the latter, also distinguishes the sculptural work of M. M. Antokolsky. Plots taken from modern life, the peasant theme are affirmed in sculpture (F. F. Kamensky, M. A. Chizhov, V. A. Beklemishev, E. A. Lansere).

In realistic art of the 2nd half of the 19th century. the departure of many masters from progressive social ideas became one of the reasons for the decline of monumental and decorative sculpture. Other reasons for it were the historically inevitable loss of sculpture in the conditions of developed capitalism of the ability to express universally significant ideals, the violation of the stylistic ties between sculpture and architecture, and the spread of naturalistic trends. Attempts to overcome the crisis are typical of sculpture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In search of sustainable spiritual and aesthetic values of life, it developed in a variety of ways (Impressionism, Neoclassicism, Expressionism, etc.). The works of O. Rodin, A. Maillol, E. A. Bourdelle in France, E. Barlach in Germany, and I. Meštrovic in Croatia have a powerful influence on all national schools. The art of S. M. Volnukhin, I. Ya. Gintsburg, P. P. Trubetskoy, A. S. Golubkina, S. T. Konenkov, A. T. Matveev, N. A. Andreev becomes an expression of the progressive tendencies of Russian sculpture of this period. . Along with the renewal of the content, the artistic language of sculpture also changes, and the importance of the plastic-expressive form increases.

In the conditions of the crisis of bourgeois culture in the 20th century. the development of sculpture takes on a contradictory character and is often associated with various modernist trends and formalistic experiments of cubism (A. P. Archipenko, A. Laurent), Constructivism (N. Gabo, A. Pevzner), Surrealism (H. Arp, A. Giacometti), abstract art (A. Calder);

Modernist trends are consistently opposed by Soviet sculpture, which is developing along the path of socialist realism. Its formation is inseparable from the Leninist plan of monumental propaganda, on the basis of which the first revolutionary monuments and commemorative plaques were created, and later many significant works of monumental sculpture. In the monuments built in the 20-30s. (To V. I. Lenin, sculptor S. A. Evseev, and S. M. Kirov, sculptor N. V. Tomsky, - in Leningrad; K. A. Timiryazev, sculptor S. D. Merkurov, and N. E. Bauman, sculptor B. D. Korolev, in Moscow; T. G. Shevchenko in Kharkov, sculptor M. G. Manizer), in monumental and decorative sculpture that adorned large public buildings, metro stations, all-Union and international exhibitions ("Worker and Collective Farm Woman" V. I. Mukhina), the socialist worldview was clearly manifested, the principles of the nationality and party spirit of Soviet art were realized. Central in the S. 20-30s. become the theme of the revolution ("October" by A. T. Matveev), the image of a participant in revolutionary events, the builder of socialism. A large place in easel sculpture is occupied by a portrait ("Leniniana" by N. A. Andreev; works by A. S. Golubkina, S. D. Lebedeva, V. N. Domogatsky and others), as well as the image of a man-fighter ("Cobblestone - weapon of the proletariat" by I. D. Shadr), a warrior ("Sentry" by L. V. Sherwood), a worker ("Metallurg" by G. I. Motovilov). Animalistic sculpture is developing (I. S. Efimov, V. A. Vatagin), and sculpture of small forms is noticeably updated (V. V. Kuznetsov, N. Ya. Danko, and others). During the years of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, the theme of the Motherland, Soviet patriotism, embodied in the portraits of heroes (V. I. Mukhina, S. D. Lebedeva, N. V. Tomsky), in intensely dramatic genre figures and groups, came to the fore (V. V. Lishev, E. F. Belashova and others).

The tragic events and heroic deeds of the war years were particularly vividly reflected in the sculpture of memorial structures of the 1940s-1970s. (E. V. Vuchetich, Y. Mikenas, L. V. Bukovsky, G. Jokubonis and others). In the 40-70s. Sculpture plays an active role as a decorative or spatial organizing component in the architecture of public buildings and complexes; it is used in the creation of urban compositions, in which, along with numerous new monuments (M. K. Anikushin, V. Z. Borodai, L. E. Kerbel, A. P. Kibalnikov, N. Nikoghosyan, V. E. Tsigal, etc.), an important place belongs to garden and park sculpture, statues on highways and access roads to the city, sculptural decoration of residential areas, etc. For small-scale sculpture penetrating into way of life, the desire to aesthetically individualize the modern interior is noteworthy. A keen sense of modernity, the search for ways to update the plastic language are typical for easel sculpture of the 2nd half of the 50-70s. Common to many of the national schools of Soviet socialism is the desire to embody the character of modern man—the builder of communism—and to turn to the themes of friendship among peoples and the struggle for peace. The same tendencies are also inherent in the sculpture of other socialist countries, which brought forward a number of major masters (K. Dunikovsky in Poland, F. Kremer in the GDR, A. Avgustinchich in Yugoslavia, J. Kisfaludy-Strobl in Hungary, and others). In Western European S., the reaction against fascism and war caused the activation of the most progressive forces and contributed to the creation of works imbued with lofty humanistic pathos (sculptors M. Mazakurati and J. Manzu in Italy, V. V. Aaltonen in Finland, and others). Sculptures by leading artists promote the progressive ideas of modernity, recreating historical and contemporary events with particular breadth, epic and expressiveness, while representatives of various modernist movements break their living connection with reality, moving away from actual life problems into the world of subjective fantasy and formalistic experiments.

sculpture art antique russian

Bibliography

1) Kepinov G. I., Technology of sculpture, M., 1936.

2) Arkin D. E., Images of sculpture, M., 1961.