Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brancusi was an artist who was born in February 1876 in Romania (Miller, 2010). When it comes to his early experience with carving, as a child he exhibited a special talent for carving wooden farm tools. Later, his talent led him to study art in Paris, Bucharest, and Munich. Soon after, the artist developed his own techniques of sculpting and became one of the famous sculptors of his time.
As for Brancusi’s way of working, the artist mainly used abstract shapes and sculpted them using his special technique, direct carving, a process distinguished by working with the material. This approach was quite different from the conventional method of creating a model or a draft first, which was frequently used by his peers (Miller, 2010). The sculptor’s desire to produce non-representational artworks was an audacious style choice.
Moreover, unlike other artists of his time and of the past, Brancusi did not rely on casts. The sculptor worked with each piece with the help of his own hands and instruments (Miller, 2010). Brancusi is well-known for pushing his art to the limit of abstraction, creating a novel, simpler language that invokes real people, realities, and objects, which is the reason he was called the father of modern sculpture.
Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth was an artist of British descent who was born in England in January 1903 and died in Cornwall in May 1975 (McKiernan, 2015). Hepworth is known as one of the first sculptors to introduce abstract sculpture to England. As for the motifs of her works, the most notable is the mother-child bond that appears quite frequently amongst her artpieces. What is more, these pieces relate directly to her experiences and feelings at the time.
The art piece of Hepworth’s Mother and Child can serve as a perfect example. The sculpture was created in 1927, just a few months before giving birth to her firstborn (McKiernan, 2015). This piece from Hepworth’s collection represents the feeling of unity and love between a mother and her child in a realistic fashion. The two hugging people represent a feeling of serenity and an unbreakable union.
Hepworth initially started to put holes in her sculptures in the 1930s, when the artist created a rose-colored alabaster Pierced Form (McKiernan, 2015). Such a technique later became an important part of most of the creator’s further works. It symbolized both release from realism as well as the freedom of opinion afforded by imagination. Hepworth used a technique usually referred to as “direct carving,” wherein the original form develops the final shape, instead of producing preliminary models to develop complex designs.
Henry Moore
Henry Moore was born in Castleford, England on July 30, 1898, and died in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire on August 31, 1986 (Moore, 2002). Moore was an artist who possessed a talent for naturally structured, abstract metal and stone sculpturing. His works represent the greatest embodiment of the humanist school. As for the main inspiration of the artist, various cultures influenced his works. In the 1920s, the sculptor visited the British Museum, where art works from Mexico, Ancient Egypt, and Africa impressed the man (Moore, 2002). For example, his sculpture, King and Queen, shows a striking resemblance to the limestone statue of a husband and wife from Egypt.
The reclining pose is a recurring theme in Henry Moore’s work. The first sculpture of such a theme was the reclining figure from 1924, and it later became the recurring subject (Moore, 2002). The sculptures mostly depict reclining women who rest on their elbows and have their legs bent. As for the influence that led to such works, the Yorkshire countryside served as an inspiration.
As Moore put it, giving a clear title to any piece of art “takes away part of […] mystery”. It is quite understandable since every art work must require an individual to ponder about its true meaning and each person might find the perfect answers. If the author gives an explicit title, they reveal the whole idea. Thus, the title must captivate the viewer and attract their attention. In this situation, while in representational art the title serves merely as a fact of what is in the picture, the titles of abstract works might serve as food for thought for viewers.
Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett was an American artist who was born in April 1915 in Washington, D.C., and died in April 2012 in Mexico (Ball et al., 2020). Catlett was a Mexican-American sculptor known for her work that illuminated sociopolitical issues in the community. The story of the artist is rife with unjust experiences, such as rejection from the university. The admissions committee from Carnegie Mellon rejected Catlett when they learned of the woman’s race (Ball et al., 2020).
Due to the artist’s devotion to the devastating experiences and challenges of the African American community, Catlett’s art can be defined as pertinent to social realism. The sculptor claims that the primary goal of her work is to transmit moral lessons instead of sheer brilliance. Catlett’s themes varied from sensitive parental depictions to belligerent Black Power icons. Among her works can be found sculptures of Martin Luther King Jr. (Ball et al., 2020).
Catlett’s works can be defined as similar to those sculptors examined before. Like previous artists, Catlett combines abstract and representational elements, inspired by the Modernist school. However, there are specific distinctions when it comes to the artwork of this sculptor. The woman pays a lot of attention to social and political problems, whereas the rest of the sculptors try to represent different feelings.
References
Ball, E. L., Seijas, T., & Snyder, T. L. (Eds.). (2020). As if she were free: A collective biography of women and emancipation in the Americas. Cambridge University Press.
McKiernan, M. (2015). Dame Barbara Hepworth, Prelude II 1948. Occupational Medicine, 65(3), 180-181.
Miller, S. (2010). Constantin Brancusi. Reaktion Books.
Moore, H. (2002). Henry Moore: Writings and conversations. University of California Press.