visual art
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...
and
works of art
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 an art form in which
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
is made using
welding
Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Welding is distinct from lower ...
techniques.
History
The Catalan artist Julio González is credited as one of the earliest developers of welded sculpture. González came from a line of
metalsmith
A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest list of metalworking occupations, metalworking o ...
workers; his grandfather was a
goldsmith
A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), pl ...
in Galicia, who established in the Catalan capital in the early 19th century. González's father, Concordio González, owned a workshop and as a young boy, González learned from him the techniques of gold, silver, and iron metalwork. He is associated with the Spanish circle of artists of
Montmartre
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
, including
Pablo Gargallo
Pablo EmilioorPau Emili Gargallo (5 January 1881 – 28 December 1934), known simply as Pau or Pablo Gargallo, was a Spanish sculptor and painter.
Life and career
Born in Maella, Aragon, he moved to Barcelona, with his family in 1888, where ...
,
Juan Gris
José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...
and
Max Jacob
Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.
Life and career
After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...
. In 1918, he developed an interest in the artistic possibilities of welding, after learning the technique whilst working in the
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
Factory at
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the Parisian area, located from its Kilometre zero, centre. It is a Subprefectures in ...
. This technique would subsequently become his principal contribution to sculpture, though during this period he also painted and —especially— created jewellery pieces. In 1920 he renewed his acquaintance with
Pablo 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 ...
, for whom he later provided technical assistance in executing sculptures in iron, participating to Picasso's researches on
analytic 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 ...
. He also forged the infrastructures 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 ...
's plasters. In the winter of 1927-28, he showed Picasso how to use
oxy-fuel welding and cutting
Principle of burn cutting
Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...
. When their friendship re-established itself, Picasso and González collaborated on a piece called ''Woman in the Garden'' between 1928-1930. From October 1928 till 1932, both men worked together. Influenced by Picasso, the fifty-year-old González changed his style, exchanging bronze for iron, and volumes for lines. González began to formalize a new visual language in sculpture that would change the course of his career.''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' Julio Gonzalez, la révolution du fer 4 July 2007
Welding was increasingly used in sculpture from the 1930s as new industrial processes such as
arc welding
Arc welding is a welding process that is used to join metal to metal by using electricity to create enough heat to melt metal, and the melted metals, when cool, result in a binding of the metals. It is a type of welding that uses a welding powe ...
were adapted to aesthetic purposes. Welding techniques, including digital cutting, can be used to cut and join metal. Welded sculptures are sometimes site-specific. Artist Richard Hunt said "The idea of exploiting welding methods and the tensile strength of metals opened up many possibilities to me. This idea was actually linked to the increasing recognition among artists that an art which was representative of our own time ought to use materials and techniques that were at hand, whether it was new experiments using plastics, new kinds of paints, new kinds of surfaces in painting, or using materials developed during the war effort.""
Associated artists
*
Aleš Veselý
Aleš Veselý (3 February 1935, Čáslav - 14 December 2015, Prague) was a Czech sculptor, graphic artist, painter and academy teacher. Life
Aleš Veselý came from a mixed Jewish family of an insurance clerk and during World War II he lived wit ...
*
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his ...
Anthony Caro
Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' industrial objects. His style was of the modernist school, having worked with Henry Moor ...
*
Antoine Pevsner
Antoine Pevsner (12 April 1962) was a Russian-born sculptor and the older brother of Alexii Pevsner and Naum Gabo. Both Antoine and Naum are considered pioneers of twentieth-century sculpture.
Biography
Pevsner was born as Natan Borisovich P ...
*
Beverly Pepper
Beverly Pepper (née Stoll; December 20, 1922 – February 5, 2020) was an American sculptor known for her monumental works, site specific and land art. She remained independent from any particular art movement. She lived in Italy, primarily in ...
*
Bruce Gray
Bruce Gray (September 7, 1936 – December 13, 2017) was a Canadian actor, known for multiple roles in films and television shows for over 5 decades.
Early Years
Gray was born in Puerto Rico and lived in Toronto after 1949. He graduated from ...
*
Charles Ginnever
Charles Albert Ginnever (August 28, 1931 – June 16, 2019), was an American sculptor known primarily for large-scale abstract steel sculptures that defy simple understanding, as the works seem to constantly change form as one moves around them in ...
James Rosati
James Rosati (1911 in Washington, Pennsylvania 1911 – 1988 in New York City) was an American abstract sculptor. He is best known for creating an outdoor sculpture in New York: a stainless steel ''Ideogram.''
Life
Born near Pittsburgh, R ...
Lyman Kipp
Lyman Emmet Kipp, Jr. (December 24, 1929 - March 30, 2014) was a sculptor and painter who created pieces that are composed of strong vertical and horizontal objects and were often painted in bold primary colors recalling arrangements by De Sti ...
*
Nancy Graves
Nancy Graves (December 23, 1939 – October 21, 1995, in Massachusetts) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and sometime-filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the Moon. Her works are included in ...
*
Pablo Gargallo
Pablo EmilioorPau Emili Gargallo (5 January 1881 – 28 December 1934), known simply as Pau or Pablo Gargallo, was a Spanish sculptor and painter.
Life and career
Born in Maella, Aragon, he moved to Barcelona, with his family in 1888, where ...
*
Pablo 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 ...
Richard Serra
Richard Serra (born November 2, 1938) is an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures made for site-specific landscape, urban, and architectural settings. Serra's sculptures are notable for their material quality and exploration o ...
Robert H. Hudson
Robert H. Hudson (born 1938) is an American visual artist. He is known for his funk art assemblage metal sculptures, but he has also worked in painting and printmaking.
Hudson lives and works in Cotati, Sonoma County, California.
Early life a ...
Royden Mills Royden may refer to:
People Surname
* Halsey Royden (1928–1993), American mathematician
* Marmaduke Roydon or Royden (1583–1646), English merchant-adventurer and colonial planter, also a Royalist army officer
* Maude Royden (1876–1956), Eng ...
*
Ryan McCourt
Ryan McCourt (born February 23, 1975) is a Canadian artist best known for his sculptures.Terry Fenton, "Edmonton Sculpture: The Next Generation," Harcourt Expressed, Volume 12, Summer/Fall 2002
He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Early life and edu ...
*
Tim Scott
Timothy Eugene Scott (born September 19, 1965) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from South Carolina since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Scott was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Go ...
*
TEJN
Tejn is a harbour town on the north-eastern coast of the Danish island of Bornholm, south of Allinge-Sandvig. As of 1 January 2022, it has a population of 858. Initially a fishing village, it grew considerably during the 20th century as the har ...
*
Todor Todorov Todor Todorov may refer to:
* Todor Todorov (bobsleigh) (born 1961), Bulgarian bobsledder
* Todor Todorov (gymnast) (born 1928), Bulgarian Olympic gymnast
* Todor Todorov (sculptor)
Todor Todorov was born in Sofia in a family of visual artis ...
*
Vera Mukhina
Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina (russian: Ве́ра Игна́тьевна Му́хина; lv, Vera Muhina; french: Vera Moukhina; – 6 October 1953) was a prominent Soviet sculptor and painter. She was nicknamed "the queen of Soviet sculpture".
B ...