Sunday, May 8, 2011

European Figurative Sculpture XX century

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.






Enric Casanovas








Gerhard Henning


Kurt Schmid-Ehmen

Anton Hanak                                   






                                                                 Charles Despiau



Marnix D'Haveloose

Aristide Maillol.

Arno Brecker

Paul Lewandowski


Alfred Auguste Janniot



Paul-Francois Niclausse


Francis Derwent Wood

Alfred Gilbert


Thomas Brock



Pier Pander



Adolph von Hildebrand

Imre Csikasz


Vanja Radaus


William Reid Dick





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.





Antoine Bourdelle


Ernst Barlach




George Minne





Francesco Messina






Venanzio Crocetti







Jan van Luyn
                                                                        
Libero Andreotti

Leon Ernest Drivier








                             
                                                



Stanisław Szukalski


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?