Modern sculpture is generally considered to have begun with the work of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, who is seen as the progenitor of modern sculpture. While Rodin did not set out to rebel against the past, he created a new way of building his works. He "dissolved the hard outline of contemporary Neo-Greek academicism, and thereby created a vital synthesis of opacity and transparency, volume and void". Along with a few other artists in the late 19th century who experimented with new artistic visions in sculpture like

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

and Paul Gauguin, Rodin invented a radical new approach in the creation of sculpture. Modern sculpture, along with all modern art, "arose as part of Western society's attempt to come to terms with the urban, industrial and secular society that emerged during the nineteenth century". Modernist sculpture movements include

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, Geometric abstraction, De Stijl, Suprematism, Constructivism, Dadaism,

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...

, Formalism

Abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

, Pop-Art,

Minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

Postminimalism Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...

Land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

, Conceptual art, and Installation art among others.

Modernism

The modern sculpture movement can be said to begin at the

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

exhibit at the

Universal Exhibition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

held in Paris in 1900. At this event Rodin showed his

Burghers of Calais ''The Burghers of Calais'' (french: Les Bourgeois de Calais) is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English ...

, Balzac,

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

statues, and the exhibition included the first public showing of his Gates of Hell which included The Thinker. Cubist sculpture, in the early 20th century, was a style that developed in parallel with cubist painting, and the formal experiments of

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

and Pablo Picasso. Beginning around 1909 and evolving through the early 1920s cubist artists developed new means of constructing works of art using

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

, sculptural assemblage using disparate materials and traditional sculpture making from plaster and clay molds. Some sources name Picasso's 1909 bronze ''Head of a Woman'' as the first cubist sculpture. Artists like Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876-1918), whose career was cut short by his death in military service, and Alexander Archipenko, who'd arrived in Paris in 1908 and whose 1912 ''Walking Woman'' were very quick to follow Braque and Picasso's lead. Joseph Csaky, a sculptor from Hungary, exhibited his first cubist sculptures in Paris in 1911.

Duchamp-Villon Raymond Duchamp-Villon (5 November 1876 – 9 October 1918) was a French sculptor. Life and art Duchamp-Villon was born Pierre-Maurice-Raymond Duchamp in Damville, Eure, in the Normandy region of France, the second son of Eugène and Lucie Duch ...

, Jacques Lipchitz, Henri Laurens and Ossip Zadkine and others joined the earlier cubist sculptors. In the early 20th century, during his period of cubist innovation, Pablo Picasso revolutionized the art of sculpture when he began creating his ''constructions'' fashioned by combining disparate objects and materials into one constructed piece of sculpture; Picasso reinvented the art of sculpture with his innovative use of constructing a work in three dimensions with disparate material, the sculptural equivalent of the

in two-dimensional art. Just as collage was a radical development in two-dimensional art; so was ''construction'' a radical development in three-dimensional sculpture. The advent of

led to things occasionally being described as "sculpture" that would not have been so previously, such as "involuntary sculpture" in several senses, including

coulage Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature uses numerous techniques and games to provide inspiration. Many of these are said to free imagination by producing a creative process free of conscious control. The importance of the unconscious as a sou ...

. In later years Picasso became a prolific potter, leading, with interest in historic pottery from around the world, to a revival of ceramic art, with figures such as

George E. Ohr George Edgar Ohr (July 12, 1857 – April 7, 1918) was an American ceramic artist and the self-proclaimed "Mad Potter of Biloxi" in Mississippi. In recognition of his innovative experimentation with modern clay forms from 1880 to 1910, s ...

and subsequently Peter Voulkos, Kenneth Price, and Robert Arneson. Marcel Duchamp originated the use of the " found object" (French: ''objet trouvé'') or ''readymade'' with pieces such as Fountain (1917). Similarly, the work of

Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...

at the beginning of the century paved the way for later abstract sculpture. In revolt against the naturalism of Rodin and his late 19th-century contemporaries, Brâncuși distilled subjects down to their essences as illustrated by the elegantly refined forms of his '' Bird in Space'' series (1924). These elegantly refined forms became synonymous with 20th-century sculpture.Edward Lucie-Smith, ''Visual arts in the 20th century'', Edition illustrated, Publisher Harry N. Abrams, 1997, Original from the University of Michigan, , In 1927, Brâncuși won a lawsuit against the U.S. customs authorities who attempted to value his sculpture as raw metal. The suit led to legal changes permitting the importation of abstract art free of duty. Brâncuși's impact, with his vocabulary of reduction and abstraction, is seen throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and exemplified by artists such as Gaston Lachaise,

Sir Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produc ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and ...

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

, Ásmundur Sveinsson, Julio González,

Pablo Serrano Pablo Serrano Aguilar, (8 March 1908, Crivillén, Teruel – 26 November 1985, Madrid) was a Spanish abstract sculptor. Personal life 1920–1925. Pablo Serrano studied as a boarder in the Escuelas Profesionales Salesianas in Sarriá (Barcel ...

, Jacques Lipchitz and also by the 1940s abstract sculpture was impacted and expanded by Alexander Calder, Len Lye, Jean Tinguely, and

Frederick Kiesler Frederick John Kiesler (September 22, 1890 – December 27, 1965) was an Austrian- American architect, theoretician, theater designer, artist and sculptor. Biography Kiesler was born Friedrich Jacob Kiesler in Czernowitz, Austro-Hungarian Empi ...

who were pioneers of Kinetic art.

Post-1950s

Since the 1950s Modernist trends in sculpture both abstract and figurative have dominated the public imagination and the popularity of Modernist sculpture had sidelined the traditional approach.

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

was commissioned to make a maquette for a huge, -high public sculpture to be built in Chicago, known usually as the '' Chicago Picasso''. He approached the project with a great deal of enthusiasm, designing a sculpture which was ambiguous and somewhat controversial. What the figure represents is not known; it could be a bird, a horse, a woman, or a totally abstract shape. The sculpture, one of the most recognizable landmarks in downtown Chicago, was unveiled in 1967. Picasso refused to be paid $100,000 for it, donating it to the people of the city. In the late 1950s and the 1960s, abstract sculptors began experimenting with a wide array of new materials and different approaches to creating their work. Surrealist imagery, anthropomorphic abstraction, new materials and combinations of new energy sources and varied surfaces and objects became characteristic of much new modernist sculpture. Collaborative projects with landscape designers, architects, and landscape architects expanded the outdoor site and contextual integration. Artists such as Isamu Noguchi, David Smith, Alexander Calder, Jean Tinguely, Richard Lippold, George Rickey, Louise Bourgeois, and Louise Nevelson came to characterize the look of modern sculpture. By the 1960s

, Geometric abstraction and

, which reduces sculpture to its most essential and fundamental features, predominated. Some works of the period are: the Cubi works of David Smith, and the welded steel works of Sir Anthony Caro, as well as welded sculpture by a large variety of sculptors, the large scale work of John Chamberlain, and environmental installation scale works by Mark di Suvero. Other Minimalists and Postminimalists include Tony Smith, Donald Judd, Robert Morris,

Anne Truitt Anne Truitt (March 16, 1921December 23, 2004), born Anne Dean, was an American sculptor of the mid-20th century. She became well known in the late 1960s for her large-scale minimalist sculptures, especially after influential solo shows at André ...

Ronald Bladen Ronald Bladen (July 13, 1918 – February 3, 1988) was a Canadian-born American painter and sculptor. He is particularly known for his large-scale sculptures. His artistic stance, was influenced by European Constructivism, American Hard-Edge ...

Giacomo Benevelli Giacomo Benevelli (1925 in Reggio Emilia, North of Italy – July 13, 2011 in Pavia, Italy) was an Italian and French sculptor. He was brought up in France. He lived and studied in Nice, Paris, Rome, Aix-en-Provence, Munich. He mainly lived and w ...

, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Richard Serra, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, Christo, Walter De Maria, Robert Smithson, and others like

John Safer John H. Safer (September 6, 1922 – December 7, 2018) was an American sculptor. Safer's varied career spanned work in Stage lighting, theater lighting, television, real estate, politics and banking. Safer was best known for his monumental scu ...

who added motion and monumentality to the theme of purity of line, led contemporary abstract sculpture in new directions. During the 1960s and 1970s figurative sculpture by pop artists and modernist artists in stylized forms by artists such as:

George Segal George Segal Jr. (February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. After first rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed films such as ''Ship o ...

, Claes Oldenburg,

Arman Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (''cachets'', ''allures d'objet'') to ...

, Leonard Baskin, Ernest Trova, Marisol Escobar, Paul Thek, Manuel Neri and others became popular. In the 1980s several artists, among others, exploring figurative sculpture were Robert Graham in a classic articulated style and

Fernando Botero Fernando Botero Angulo (born 19 April 1932) is a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor, born in Medellín. His signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political ...

bringing his painting's "oversized figures" into monumental sculptures. Ceramic sculpture as practiced by Pablo Picasso, Peter Voulkos, Stephen De Staebler, Kenneth Price, and others became an important idiom of modern sculpture in the 20th century.

Gallery of modern sculpture

File:Auguste Rodin, The three shades (Les Trois Ombres), for the top of The Gates of Hell, before 1886, plaster.jpg,

, ''The Three Shades'', before 1886, plaster, 97 x 91.3 x 54.3 cm. In Dante's Divine Comedy, the shades, i.e. the souls of the damned, stand at the entrance to ''The Gates of Hell'', pointing to an unequivocal inscription, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”. Rodin assembled three identical figures that seem to be turning around the same point. File:Paul Gauguin, 1894, Oviri (Sauvage), partially glazed stoneware, 75 x 19 x 27 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.jpg, Paul Gauguin, 1894, '' Oviri (Sauvage)'', partially glazed stoneware, 75 x 19 x 27 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris File:The Thinker, Rodin.jpg,

, '' The Thinker'', 1902, Musée Rodin, Paris File:Constantin Brancusi, 1907-08, The Kiss, Exhibited at the Armory Show and published in the Chicago Tribune, 25 March 1913..jpg,

, 1907–08, The Kiss, Exhibited at the Armory Show and published in the ''Chicago Tribune'', 25 March 1913 File:Constantin Brancusi, Portrait of Mlle Pogany, 1912, Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia.jpg,

, ''Portrait of Mademoiselle Pogany,'' 1912, White marble; limestone block,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show File:Alexander Archipenko, 1910-11, Negress (La Negresse), Armory Show catalogue photo.jpg, Alexander Archipenko, 1910–11, ''Negress (La Negresse)'', Armory Show catalogue photo File:Antoine Bourdelle, 1910-12, La Musique, bas-relief, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris DSC09325.jpg,

Antoine Bourdelle Antoine Bourdelle (30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important fi ...

, 1910–12, ''La Musique'', bas-relief,

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

, Paris File:Joseph Csaky, 1911-1912, Deux Femme (Two Women), plaster lost, photo Galerie René Reichard, Frankfurt, 72dpi.jpg, Joseph Csaky, 1911–1912, ''Groupe de femmes (Groupe de trois femmes, Groupe de trois personnages)'', plaster lost, Exhibited at the 1912 Salon d'Automne, and Salon des Indépendants, 1913, Paris File:Modis2.jpg,

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

, ''Female Head'', 1911/1912, Tate. Paul Guillaume, introduced Modigliani to

. He was Brâncuși's disciple for a year. File:Otto Gutfreund, Violoncelliste, c. 1912-13.jpg,

Otto Gutfreund Otto Gutfreund (3 August 1889 – 2 June 1927) also written Oto Gutfreund, was a Czechoslovak sculptor. After studying art in Prague and Paris, he became known in the 1910s for his sculptures in a cubist style. After his service in the First World ...

, ''Violoncelliste'' (''Cellist''), 1912–13 File:Les amants II by Raymond Duchamp-Villon, 1913, Musée national d'art moderne.JPG, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, 1913, ''Les amants II'', Musée national d'art moderne, Paris File:Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, 1914, Boy with a Coney (Boy with a rabbit), marble.jpg, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, 1914, ''Boy with a Coney (Boy with a rabbit)'', marble File:Marcel Duchamp Fountain at Tate Modern by David Shankbone.jpg, Marcel Duchamp, ''Fountain'' 1917; 1964 artist-authorized replica made by the artist's dealer, Arturo Schwarz, based on a photograph by

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

. Porcelain, Tate Modern, London File:Joseph Csaky, Tête, ca 1920 (front and side view) limestone, 60 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Holland.tiff, Joseph Csaky, ''Tête'', ca.1920 (front and side view), limestone, 60 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands File:Aristide Maillol la nuit 1902-1.jpg, Aristide Maillol, ''The Night,'' 1920,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

File:JacobEpstein DayAndNight.jpg, Jacob Epstein, ''Day and Night'', carved for the London Underground's headquarters, 1928. File:Het treurende ouderpaar - Käthe Kolwitz.JPG, Käthe Kollwitz, ''The Grieving Parents'', 1932, World War I memorial (for her son Peter), Vladslo German war cemetery File:Jacques Lipchitz, Birth of the Muses (1944-1950), MIT Campus.JPG, Jacques Lipchitz, "Birth of the Muses", (1944–1950) File:Barbara Hepworth monolyth empyrean.jpg,

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadi ...

, ''Monolith-Empyrean'', 1953 File:Calder-redmobile.jpg, Alexander Calder, ''Red

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...

,'' 1956, Painted sheet metal and metal rods, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts File:RuthAsawa Untitled DeYoungMuseum.jpg, alt=, Ruth Asawa, ''Untitled'' (1950s-60s; exact date unknown) at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. File:John Chamberlain at the Hirshhorn.jpg, John Chamberlain, ''S'', 1959, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,

Washington, DC. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

File:2004-09-07 1800x2400 chicago picasso.jpg, Pablo Picasso, ''Public Sculpture,'' 1967, Chicago, Illinois File:104 0422.JPG, Isamu Noguchi, ''Heimar'', 1968, at the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden,

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

, Jerusalem, Israel File:George Rickey Ri10.gif, George Rickey, ''Four Squares in Geviert,'' 1969, terrace of the New National Gallery,

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

, Rickey is considered a Kinetic sculptor File:Alexander Calder Crinkly avec disc Rouge 1973-1.jpg, Alexander Calder, Crinkly avec disc rouge, 1973, Schlossplatz,

File:Atmos n Environ XII.JPG, Louise Nevelson, ''Atmosphere and Environment XII'', 1970–1973,

File:Caro 1974.jpg, Sir Anthony Caro, ''Black Cover Flat,'' 1974, steel, Tel Aviv Museum of Art File:Cristaux.Jean Yves Lechevallier.jpg, Jean-Yves Lechevallier,'' Cristaux'', Homage to

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

, Paris, 1980 File:Dona i Ocell.JPG,

, ''Woman and Bird,'' 1982,

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

File:Karlheinz Oswald Hildegard von Bingen, Eibingen.JPG, Karlheinz Oswald, '' Hildegard of Bingen'', 1998, bronze, in front of Eibingen Abbey File:Spider. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.JPG, Louise Bourgeois, ''

Maman Maman may refer to: Places *Maman, East Azerbaijan (ممان - ''Mamān''), Iran *Maman, Kurdistan (مامن - ''Māman''), Iran People * Maman (footballer) (1980-), from Indonesia, in national team in 2001 Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ...

,'' 1999, outside Museo Guggenheim File:Iron Man - Antony Gormley Statue - Victoria Square - Birmingham - 2005-10-14.jpg,

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pla ...

, '' Iron: Man'', 2005, in Victoria Square, Birmingham File:Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 2015 (37171698741).jpg, alt=, Yayoi Kusama, ''Pumpkin'', 2015, in Montreal. File:"Etudes" by Karen LaMonte.jpg, alt=, Karen LaMonte, ''Etudes'', 2017, at the Hunter Museum of Art in Tennessee.

Contemporary movements

Site specific and environmental art works are represented by artists: Andy Goldsworthy, Walter De Maria, Richard Long, Richard Serra, Robert Irwin, George Rickey, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude-led contemporary abstract sculpture in new directions. Artists created environmental sculpture on expansive sites in the " land art in the American West" group of projects. These

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

or "earth art" environmental scale sculpture works exemplified by artists such as Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, James Turrell ( Roden Crater). Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt,

Jackie Winsor Vera Jacqueline Winsor (born October 20, 1941) is a Canadian-born American sculptor. Her style, which developed in the early 1970s as a reaction to the work of minimal artists, has been characterized as post-minimal, anti-form, and process art ...

, Keith Sonnier, and Bruce Nauman, among others were pioneers of Postminimalist sculpture. Also during the 1960s and 1970s artists as diverse as Eduardo Paolozzi, Chryssa, Walter De Maria, Claes Oldenburg,

, Edward Kienholz, Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Duane Hanson, and

John DeAndrea John De Andrea (born November 24, 1941) is an American sculptor known for his realistic sculptures of human figures, dressed or nude and in true-to-life postures. Life De Andrea was born in Denver, Colorado, on November 24, 1941. He received ...

explored abstraction, imagery, and figuration through video art, environment, light sculpture, and installation art in new ways. Conceptual art is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Works include ''

One and Three Chairs ''One and Three Chairs'', 1965, is a work by Joseph Kosuth. An example of conceptual art, the piece consists of a chair, a photograph of the chair, and an enlarged dictionary definition of the word "chair". The photograph depicts the chair as i ...

'', 1965, by Joseph Kosuth, and '' An Oak Tree'', 1973, by Michael Craig-Martin, and those of Joseph Beuys and James Turrell among others. Postmodern sculpture occupies a broader field of activities than Modernist sculpture. Rosalind Krauss identified sculpture in the expanded field, a series of oppositions around the work's relationship to its environment that describe the various sculpture-like activities that are postmodern sculpture, creating a theoretical explanation that could adequately fit the developments of

, Minimalist sculpture, and site-specific art into the category of "sculpture": * Site-Construction: the intersection of landscape and architecture * Axiomatic Structures: the combination of architecture and not-architecture * Marked sites: the combination of landscape and not-landscape * Sculpture: intersection of not-landscape and not-architecture File:Spiral-jetty-from-rozel-point.png, '' Spiral Jetty'' by Robert Smithson from atop Rozel Point, in mid-April 2005 Image:Umbrella Project1991 10 27.jpg, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, ''Umbrellas'' 1991, (Japan) File:South Bank Circle by Richard Long, Tate Liverpool.jpg, Richard Long, ''South Bank Circle,'' 1991 Tate Liverpool, England File:Public contemporary-light-art-sculpture-manfred-kielnhofer-illumination.jpg, ''Time guards / Madonna'', light sculpture by Manfred Kielnhofer at the

Light Art Biennale Austria 2010 The Light Art Biennale Austria 2010 (German: ''Biennale für Lichtkunst Austria 2010'') is the first biennale for light art in Austria. About 60 artists from 21 countries and 4 continents participate. Facts The "Biennale für Lichtkunst A ...

Minimalism

File:Tonysmith freeride sculpture.jpg, Tony Smith, ''Free Ride'', 1962, Museum of Modern Art File:UntitledGoldBox1964.jpg, Larry Bell, ''Untitled'' 1964, bismuth, chromium, gold, and rhodium on gold-plated brass; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden File:Judd Muenster.JPG, Donald Judd, ''Untitled'' 1977, Münster File:RichardSerra Fulcrum2.jpg, Richard Serra, ''Fulcrum'' 1987, 55-ft-high freestanding sculpture of

Cor-ten steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rus ...

near

Liverpool Street station Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

File:DonaldֹJudd IMJ.JPG, Donald Judd, ''Untitled,'' 1991,

Art Garden

Postminimalism

Image:Rachel whitereadwien holocaust mahnmal wien judenplatz.jpg, Rachel Whiteread, ''Holocaust Monument'' 2000

Judenplatz Judenplatz (German, 'Jewish Square') is a town square in Vienna's Innere Stadt that was the center of Jewish life and the Viennese Jewish Community in the Middle Ages. It is located in the immediate proximity of Am Hof square, Schulhof, and Wippl ...

, Vienna File:TWUP Jerusalem 190810 1.JPG, Anish Kapoor, ''Turning the World Upside Down'',

, 2010 File:The Spire-doyler79.jpg, The Spire of Dublin officially titled the ''Monument of Light'', stainless steel, 121.2 metres (398 ft), the world's tallest sculpture

Contemporary genres

Modern sculpture is often created outdoors, as in environmental art and environmental sculpture, often in full view of spectators. Light sculpture and site-specific art also often make use of the environment. Site-specific

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

is intentionally created for a specific place. The term was first used in the mid-1970s by sculptors Patricia Johanson, Dennis Oppenheim, Athena Tacha, and others. Site specific environmental art was described as a movement by architectural critic Catherine Howett and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

Lucy Lippard.

Earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...

, ( Earth art) is an art movement that makes specific use of the real landscape to form works of sculpture that are located in and make use of nature generally in altered form. It is a form of sculpture created in nature, from nature, using materials found in nature like dirt, soil,

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

, logs, branches,

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

, and water, as well as man made materials like Chain-link fencing,

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

, rope, rubber, glass, concrete, metal, asphalt, and mineral pigments. Ice sculpture is a form of ephemeral sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. It is popular in China, Japan, Canada, Sweden, and Russia. Ice sculptures feature decoratively in some cuisines, especially in Asia. Kinetic sculptures are sculptures that are designed to move, which include

mobiles Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

. Snow sculptures are usually carved out of a single block of snow about 6 to on each side and weighing about 20–30 tons. The snow is densely packed into a form after having been produced by artificial means or collected from the ground after a snowfall. Sound sculptures take the form of indoor sound installations, outdoor installations such as

aeolian harp An Aeolian harp (also wind harp) is a musical instrument that is played by the wind. Named for Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of the wind, the traditional Aeolian harp is essentially a wooden box including a sounding board, with strings stretched ...

s, automatons, or be more or less near conventional musical instruments. Sound sculpture is often site-specific. Art toys have become another format for contemporary artists since the late 1990s, such as those produced by Takashi Murakami and

Kid Robot Kidrobot is a producer and retailer of designer toys, vinyl art toys and collectibles founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Paul Budnitz. The company was one of the earliest creators of designer art toys in America. The company was acquired in Novemb ...

, designed by

Michael Lau Michael Lau (born 1970) is an artist from Hong Kong who is known for his painting, sculpture and designer toy figures. Lau is widely credited as the founder of the urban vinyl style within the designer toy movement. His work has had a significan ...

, or hand-made by Michael Leavitt."Art Army by Michael Leavitt", '' hypediss.com'

December 13, 2006.

References

External links

Article on Minimalist Art at the Dia Beacon Museum
Dia Beacon", Tiziano Thomas Dossena, Bridge Apulia USA N.9, 2003

Tate Glossary: Minimalism

MoMA, Art terms ''Minimalism''

''Modern Sculpture and the Question of Status (Ebook)'', edited by C. Rodriguez-Samaniego and I. Gras Valero, University of Barcelona, 2018
{{Authority control Contemporary art movements Abstract art Western art Sculpture Modern sculptors Artistic techniques Types of sculpture