Sculpture is more divine, and more like Nature,
That fashions all her works in high relief,
And that is Sculpture. This vast ball, the Earth,
Was moulded out of clay, and baked in fire;
Men, women, and all animals that breathe
Are statues, and not paintings. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Michael Angelo III:5
Sculpture is more than painting. It is greater
To raise the dead to life than to create
Phantoms that seem to live. ibid.
With her stitched grannies and cloth objects, [Jann] Haworth had discovered a new direction for sculpture. Alastair Sooke, Pop Go the Women: The Other Story of Pop Art, BBC 2014
In 2001 the British sculpture Rachel Whiteread, then aged 38, made her name across the world with the body of work that portrayed the influence of American minimalism and British post-war sculpture. Rachel Whiteread, South Bank Show *****
In 1990 Rachel Whiteread made a huge new sculpture – Ghost – which was the caste in plaster of the inside of a whole north London bedsit. ibid.
House: ‘I think it had something to do with the political climate of the time.’ ibid.
‘It was demolished on the orders of a London council.’ ibid. BBC News January 1994
Holocaust Memorial Sculpture: ‘This is a warning to future generations … This monument isn’t beautiful, nor should it be – It has to hurt.’ ibid. Simon Wiesenthal, opening ceremony
The true passion of artist Michelangelo was stone. Above all he was a sculptor. And throughout his long life he was obsessed with carving one particular image – a mother holding her dying son in her arms, la Pieta. Michelangelo’s Pietas, Sky Arts 2016
‘Find the life that sleeps within the marble.’ ibid.
His three great statues of the Pietas. ibid.
‘It consists of one hundred and twenty bricks stacked in two layers.’ Bricks! BBC 2017
‘It was talked about all over the nation and it went on for months.’ ibid.
February 1976: ‘They’re probably the most expensive bricks in the world.’ ibid. news
‘My art poses questions.’ ibid. Carl Andre
The bricks arrived on 22nd May 1972. ibid.
The police from the Artistic Heritage Unit recovered two precious 16th century sculptures attributed to Benvenuto Cellini. I’m Not Scared 2003 starring Giuseppe Cristiano & Mattia di Pierro & Giulia Matturo & Aitana Sanchez-Gijon & Dino Abbrescia & Diego Abatantuono & Fabio Tetta & Stefano Biase & Fabio Antonacci et al, director Gabriele Salvatores, television news
We investigate a sculpture: could this curious piece of plaster be a rare abstract work by the man considered to be the greatest sculptor of the 20th century, Alberto Giocometti? Fake or Fortune? s7e5: Giocometti, BBC 2018
At least five known plasters of Gazing Head, possibly six. ibid.
The Giocometti committee continues its work. ibid.
Could a work discovered in the brambles of a back garden be by celebrated sculptor Henry Moore? Fake or Fortune? s9e1: A Sculpture in the Brambles, BBC 2021
There’s a forgotten artist in the frame … Betty Jewson. ibid.
Modigliani was Jewish: he was even known occasionally to punch an anti-Semite … For a long time Modigliani struggled through his bouts of illness, seeking to achieve his dream – the one and only thing that truly mattered to him – to be a sculptor but stone was too expensive … The dust from striking the stone was making its way its his way painfully into his lungs. Modigliani carved and he coughed … His health prevented him from being the sculptor he dreamed of being. So he turned to painting. The Adventures of Modern Art III: Paris: Capital of the World 1916-1920 III, Sky Arts 2020
Final Portrait has been a labour of love which I have researched for more than two decades. It tells the story of an artist and personal hero of mine, Alberto Giacometti. I have been searching for the truth of this enigmatic and obsessive man. Alberto Giacometti by Stanley Tucci, Sky Arts 2020
Born in Switzerland in 1901, Giacometti is best known for his stick-thin human figures, which are now the most highly prized sculptures in the world. ibid.
Although rich and famous in his lifetime, he lived in squalor in the same tiny Paris studio keeping wads of cash under his bed, frequenting prostitutes, and getting into scrapes with the underworld. He lived in this unorthodox way until his death in 1966. ibid.
Almost all of Giocametti’s work, whether sculpture or painting, was focused on portraiture and the human form. ibid.
I’ve been making bronze sculptures for a long time. My sculptures are wholly unsuccessful and uncommercial. No-one is even the remotest bit interested in them. So it’s almost like my hobby. Tracey Emin
I believe the right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this; was it done with enjoyment, was the carver happy while he was about it? John Ruskin