Modern sculpture

The importance of modern sculpture expanded in the 20th century

With the development of new sculptural tools and technologies, modern sculptors are using a huge variety of new materials, techniques and spatial tools. Sculpture is no longer a fixed term from a certain term or category. Rather, it is an expanded art form that is constantly evolving and redefining itself.

A traditional sculpture from the 20th century It had four main defining characteristics. On the one hand, it was the only three-dimensional art form. Secondly, the most representative. Third, it was seen as a solid form of art. Any empty space involved was essentially secondary to its volume or mass. Fourth, traditional sculptors used only two basic techniques: carving or modeling. That is, they were either made of directly selected material (eg stone, wood), or a sculpture was built from the inside, so to speak, of clay, plaster, wax, etc. Traditional sculpture models come from classic ancient Greek and Roman sculptures.

Sculpture art is no longer limited to traditional sculptural concepts, materials, or production methods. It is no longer exclusively representative, but often completely abstract. At the same time, the sculpture is not exclusively solid and static: its part can be an empty space, it can also have kinetic and movement skills. Finally, in addition to cutting and modeling, it can also be assembled, projected (holographic) or assembled in a variety of ways. As a result, the traditional four-digit meaning and definition of sculpture is no longer used.

Earlier in art history only two major sculptural forms were understood: three-dimensional sculpture (also called a round sculpture) and reliefs (including bas-relief, relief, and recessed relief). New forms of light sculpture (e.g. holograms) and moving sculpture today need to redefine possible shapes.