The Necessity of Sculpture

by Eric Gibson

Overview

The Necessity of Sculpture brings together a selection of articles on sculpture and sculptors from Eric Gibson’s nearly four-decade career as an art critic. It covers subjects as diverse as Mesopotamian cylinder seals, war memorials, and the art of the American West; stylistic periods such as the Hellenistic in Ancient Greece and Kamakura in medieval Japan; Michelangelo, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and other historical figures; modernists like Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, and Alberto Giacometti; and contemporary artists including Richard Serra, Rachel Whiteread, and Jeff Koons. Organized chronologically by artist and period, this collection is as much a synoptic history of sculpture as it is an art chronicle. At the same time, it is an illuminating introduction to the subject for anyone coming to it for the first time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641771092
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Eric Gibson is the Arts in Review editor of The Wall Street Journal and one of the paper’s art critics. He grew up in England and graduated with a B.A. in Art History from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He is the author of The Sculpture of Clement Meadmore (Hudson Hills Press, 1993) and lives with his wife on Long Island.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals: Epics in miniature 1

Hellenistic Bronzes: A revolution in sculpture 8

Netherlandish Boxwood Rosary Beads: Medieval marvels 12

The Kamakura Period: A renaissance in Asia 17

Bertoldo di Giovanni: The missing link 21

Michelangelo: Is it or isn't it? 28

Gian Lorenzo Bernini: Fingers moving at the speed of thought 31

Jean-Antoine Houdon: The prehensile eye 38

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt: About face 44

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux: Pressuring the old order 47

Auguste Rodin: The indispensable man 54

Edgar Degas: The "Little Dancer"-An impression indelible in wax 65

Medardo Rosso: Fugitive figures 69

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Reinventing the American monument 72

Frederic Remington et al.: A cast of the American character 80

Constantin Brancusi I: Rethinking the figure 84

Constantin Brancusi II: Material matters 93

Jacob Epstein et al.: Bright-eyed Banish moderns 102

Charles Sargeant Jagger: An unblinking view of war 110

Naum Gabo: Utopian visions 114

Pablo Picasso I: "Bull's Head" (1942)-A magical metamorphosis of the ordinary 127

Pablo Picasso II: Shuttling between dimensions 131

Julio González: Modern art's bright flame 143

Alberto Giacometti: An artist renewed 147

Henry Moore I: The artist as critic 157

Henry Moore II: Shelter scenes and other drawings 171

Anne Truitt: Minimal form, maximum feeling 176

Richard Serra I: Paperweight 179

Richard Serra II: Sculpture in the active voice 188

H. C. Westermann: The absurdity of the absurd 192

Mark di Suvero: Playground populist 195

William Tucker: Speaking "the language of sculpture" 204

Martin Puryear: The meticulous and the magical 213

Jack Whitten: Ritual objects 217

Rachel Whiteread: Where memories dwell 224

Jeff Koons: Avatar of anew order 227

Editorial Reviews

"Eric Gibson's The Necessity of Sculpture reads like a sharp answer to Baudelaire's claim that "sculpture is boring." His genuine and informed response to the medium and clear, critical writing make it an indispensable book on the subject."

—Philippe De Montebello, Director Emeritus, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Eric Gibson is one of our best art editors at work today. In his (nearly nonexistent) spare time he is also a probing critic and astute essayist. One of his great interests in art history is the relatively neglected area of sculpture. Gibson has written all across the field. Be prepared: he will not only inform you, but make you think; not only make you look, but make you see."

—John Wilmerding, Sarofim Professor Emeritus in American Art, Princeton University

From the Publisher