There is so much excellence in figurative sculpture of XX century in
Europe I am at great pain having to limit all that splendid art-work to a sampling due to constrains of a little blog. From the rocks of Gibraltar to the Ural Mountains figurative sculptors were still chipping away marbles and making plaster molds for bronzes as if fourth century B.C. in Attica was just yesterday.
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| Enric Casanovas |
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| Gerhard Henning |
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| Kurt Schmid-Ehmen |
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| Anton Hanak |
Charles Despiau
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| Marnix D'Haveloose |
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| Aristide Maillol. |
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| Arno Brecker |
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| Paul Lewandowski |
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| Alfred Auguste Janniot |
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Paul-Francois Niclausse |
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| Francis Derwent Wood |
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| Alfred Gilbert |
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| Thomas Brock |
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| Pier Pander |
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| Adolph von Hildebrand |
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| Imre Csikasz |
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| Vanja Radaus |
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| William Reid Dick |
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| Stephan Sinding |
The selection above shows sculptors who were adhering very closely to the observation of the models with strong conviction that strict realism makes truth beautiful.
Now let us look at art of those sculptors with visions propelling them away from strict realism and imbuing their sculptures with expressiveness uniquely their own.
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| Antoine Bourdelle |
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| Ernst Barlach |
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| George Minne |
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| Francesco Messina |
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| Venanzio Crocetti |
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| Jan van Luyn |
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| Libero Andreotti |
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| Leon Ernest Drivier |
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| Stanisław Szukalski |
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| Quirino Ruggieri |
Katte Kollwitz
Gustav Vigeland
Renee Letourneur
Giacomo Manzu
Quite different culture is represented here than the one that proclaims Alexander Calder’s play-pen doo-dads to be great art, would you agree?
