ART APPRECIATION

Feldman Method of Art Criticism and metal that appear to represent nothing at all. We might even
wonder why our tax dollars were spent to buy them. Today, as
Description - describe what is seen in work of art throughout history, sculpture (and other forms of art) often nurtures
What do you see in the piece? public pride and controversy. Because of its permanence, sculpture
What materials were used in the making of this piece?
Can you tell what techniques were used to create this piece?
often represents the only artifact of entire civilizations.
Can you describe the texture of the piece? What colors are in this work?
What is It?
Analysis - what relationships exist among what is seem The sculpture is a three-dimensional art. It may take the form of
What is the mood of the piece? whatever it seeks to represent, from pure, or nonobjective form, to
How does the technique used add to the piece? the lifelike depiction of people or any other entity. Sometimes
Is the piece balanced? Why? sculpture, because of its three-dimensionality, comes very close to
Where is the focus of this piece? reality in its depiction. Duane Hanson and John DeAndrea
Do you feel a sense of movement with this piece? (artcyclopedia.com), for example, use plastics to render the human
Interpretation - what is the content and meaning of work
form so realistically that the viewer must approach the artwork and
What does this piece say? examine it closely to determine its reality.
Why did the artist decide to create this?
Why did they choose this medium to work with?
Why did they choose these colors, shapes, lines? How is It Put Together?

Judgment - what is your evaluation of the work Dimensionality

Do you think this was a successful work? Why? The sculpture comprises a full round, relief, or linear. Full round
What would you change about the work?
How would you go about doing this yourself?
works stand free in full three-dimensionality. A work that projects
What did you like best about this piece? Why? from a background constitutes a relief sculpture. A work utilizing
narrow, elongated materials is called linear. A sculptor’s choice of full
SCULPTURE round, relief, or linearity as a mode of expression dictates to a large
extent what he or she can and cannot do, both aesthetically and
practically.
The most popular sculptures in the Philippines
● Jose Rizal Monument Full Round
● Cape Bojeador. Sculptural works that explore full three-dimensionality and intend
● Sculpture of Man and Water Buffalo (Bacolod City) viewing from any angle are called full rounds. Some subjects and
● The Black Nazarene styles pose certain constraints in this regard, however. Painters,
● The People Power Monument printmakers, and photographers have a virtually unlimited choice of
● Bonifacio National Monument subject matter and compositional arrangements. Full round
● The Oblation sculptures dealing with such subjects as clouds, oceans, and
panoramic landscapes pose problems for sculptors. In addition,
.Sculpture, in contrast to pictures, seems less personal and more because full round sculpture stands free and three-dimensional,
public. We are likely to find works of sculpture mostly in public sculptors must concern themselves with the practicalities of
spaces. Outside city halls and in parks and corporate office buildings engineering and gravity. For example, they cannot create work with
we find statues of local dignitaries and constructions of wood, stone, great mass at the top unless they can find a way (within the bounds
ART APPRECIATION

of acceptable composition) to keep the statue from falling over. In Anything that can yield to the carver’s tools can be formed into a
numerous full-round works, sculptors use small animals, branches, work of sculpture. However, with its promise of immortality, stone has
tree stumps, rocks, and other devices as additional support to give proven to be the most popular material. Three types of rock hold
practical stability to work. potential for the carver. Igneous rock (granite), a hard and potentially
long-lasting stone, proves difficult to carve and therefore is not
Relief popular. Sedimentary rock like limestone, a relatively long-lasting,
Sculptors who create works in relief do not have quite so many easy-to-carve, polishable stone, yields beautifully smooth and
restrictions because their work attaches to a background. Clouds, lustrous surfaces. Metamorphic rock, including marble, provides the
seas, and perspective landscapes lie within relief sculptors’ reach sculptor’s ideal: long lasting, a pleasure to carve, and existing in a
because their work needs only to be viewed from one side. Relief broad range of colors, for example, Venus of the Doves,
sculpture, then, is three-dimensional; however, because it protrudes http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/ pinfo?Object=41443+0+none. Whatever
from a background, it maintains a two-dimensional quality, as the artist’s choice, one requirement must be met: The material to be
compared to a full round sculpture. We call relief sculptures that carved, whether wood, stone, or a bar of soap, must be free of flaws.
project only a small distance from their bases, such as the A sculptor who sets about to carve a work does not begin simply by
Halicarnassus frieze, a low relief, or bas (bah) relief. Sculptures such imagining a David and then attacking the stone. He or she first
as those from Chartres Cathedral that project by at least half their creates a model, usually smaller than the intended sculpture. The
depth go by the name high relief or haut (oh) relief. model, made of clay, plaster, wax, or
some other material, shows precise detail—a miniature of the final
Linear product. Once the likeness of the model has been enlarged and
The third category of sculpture, linear sculpture, emphasizes transferred, the artist begins to rough out the actual image (“knocking
construction with thin, elongated items such as wire or neon tubing. away the waste material,” as Michelangelo purportedly put it;
Mobiles such as Alexander Calder’s illustrate one specific type of perhaps more documentable is his line “The more the marble
linear sculpture. Artworks using linear materials and occupying wastes, the more the statue grows” from a sonnet to Vittoria Colonna
three-dimensional space will occasionally puzzle us as we consider [trans. Maria Fletcher Roscoe, 1868]). In this step of the sculpting
or try to decide whether they constitute linear or full round sculpture. process, the artist carves to within 2 or 3 inches of what is to be the
finished area, using specific tools designed for the purpose. Then,
Methods of Execution using a different set of carving tools, the artist carefully takes the
material down to the precise detail. Finishing work and polishing
In general, sculptors execute their work using subtractive, follow.
construction, substitute, manipulative techniques, or any combination
of these. Construction
In contrast with carving from a large block of material, the sculptor
Subtraction using construction starts with raw material and adds element to
We call carved works subtractive. The sculptor begins with a large element until the point of finishing work. The terms built or additive
block, usually wood or stone, and cuts away (subtracts) the sculpture often describes works executed with a construction
unwanted material. In previous eras, and to method. The materials employed in this process can be plastics,
To some extent today, sculptors have had to work with materials at metals such as aluminum or steel, terra-cottas (clay), epoxy resins,
hand. Wood carvings emanated from forested regions, soapstone or wood. Many times, materials are combined. Sculptors also
carvings came from the Eskimos, and great works of marble came combine construction methods as well. For example, built sections of
from the regions surrounding the quarries of the Mediterranean. metal or plastic may combine with carved sections of stone.
ART APPRECIATION

it turns on a potter’s wheel or tools, into a final shape. Pottery, the

Substitution greatest of the prehistoric arts, continues today almost completely as
Any material transformable from a plastic, molten, or fluid state into a an aesthetic activity. Early pottery vessels designed for everyday use
solid state can be molded or cast into a work of sculpture. The sublimated technique to practical concerns—potters sacrificed time
creation of a piece of cast sculpture always involves the use of a taken for exquisite finishing techniques to get the object into use.
mold. First, the artist creates an identically sized model of the Clay bowls such as those made by American Indians reflect the
intended sculpture (called a positive). He or she then covers the time-honored traditions of southwest Native American art,
positive with a material, such as plaster of Paris, that when hardened but they rise by the quality of finish and design to the status of high
and removed will retain the surface configurations of the positive. art, thus sustaining the culture.
This form, called a negative, becomes the mold for the actual
sculpture. The sculptor pours the molten or fluid material into the Composition
negative and allows it to solidify. When the artist removes the mold,
the work of sculpture emerges. Surface polishing, if desired, brings Composition in sculpture comprises the same elements and
the work to its final form. Rodin’s famous sculpture, The Thinker, principles as composition in the pictorial arts: mass, line, form,
shows the degrees of complexity and variety achievable through balance, repetition, color, proportion, and unity. Sculptors’ uses of
casting. The lost wax technique, sometimes known by the French these elements differ significantly, however, because they work in
term cire-perdue, comprises a method of casting sculpture in which three dimensions.
the basic mold uses a wax model, which is then melted to leave the
desired spaces in the mold. The technique probably began in Egypt, Elements
and by 200 B.C.E. the technique was used in China and ancient
Mesopotamia. The artist covers a heat-resistant “core” of Mass (Space)
clay—approximately the shape of the sculpture—with a layer of wax Unlike a picture, a sculpture has literal mass. It takes up
about the thickness of the final work. The sculptor carves the details three-dimensional space, and its materials have density. Mass in
in the wax, attaches rods and a pouring cup made of wax to the pictures is relative mass: The mass of forms in a picture has
model, and then covers the model, rods, and cup with thick layers of application principally to other forms within the same picture. In
clay. When the clay dries, the artist heats the mold to melt the wax sculpture, however, mass consists of actual volume and density. The
and then pours molten metals into the mold. The sculpture cannot be mass of a sculpture 20 feet high, 8 feet wide, and 6 feet deep and
duplicated when the molten metal dries and the clay mold is broken made of balsa wood would seem less than a sculpture 10 feet high,
and removed. Very often artists cast sculpture so it is hollow. This 4 feet wide, and 3 feet deep and made of lead. Space and density
method, of course, is less expensive because it requires less must both be considered.
material. It also results in work being less prone to crack since it is
less susceptible to expansion and contraction resulting from Line and Form
temperature changes. Finally, the hollow sculpture is, naturally, We can separate line and form (with some difficulty) when we
lighter and thus more easily shipped and handled. discuss pictures because in two dimensions an artist uses line to
define form. In painting, artists use the line as a construction tool.
Manipulation Without using lines, artists cannot reveal their forms; when we
Manipulation, also called modeling, involves artists shaping pliable analyze a painting, line arguably becomes more important to us than
materials such as clay wax or plaster by skilled use of the hands. We the actual form it reveals. Notwithstanding, in sculpture, the case
see the difference between this technique and construction when we nearly reverses. The form draws our interest, and when we discuss
watch an artist take a single lump of clay and skillfully transform it, as the sculpture line, we do so in terms of its revelation in form. When
ART APPRECIATION

we view a sculpture, its elements direct our eye from one point to they desire for their works. Much of a sculptor’s technical mastery
another, just as focal points do, via line and color, in a picture. Some manifests itself in that final ability to impart a surface to the work. We
works direct the eye through the piece and then off into space. Such examine texture more fully in our discussion of sensory responses.
sculptures have an open form that directs the eye outward from the
work in the same fashion as a composition that escapes the frame in Principles
the painting. If, however, the eye is directed continually back into the Proportion
form, we call the form closed. If we allow our eye to follow the linear Proportion is the relative relationship of shapes to one another. Just
detail of Michelangelo’s David, we find we are continually led back as we have a seemingly innate sense of balance, so we have a
into the work in the same fashion as composition kept within the feeling of proportion. That feeling tells us that each form in the
frame in painting and closed forms in music. Often, we encounter sculpture has a proper relationship with the others. However, as any
difficulty fitting a work precisely into one or the other of these student of art history will tell us, proportion—or the ideal of
categories. relationships— has varied from one civilization or culture to another.
Not all sculptures are completely solid; they may have openings. We For example, such a seemingly proportioned entity as the human
call any such holes in a sculpture negative space, and we can body has varied greatly in its proportions as sculptors over the
discuss this characteristic in terms of its role in the overall centuries have depicted it. Study the differences in proportion in the
composition. In some works, negative space is inconsequential; in human body between Michelangelo’s David and the Chartres Saints.
others, it is significant. It is up to us to decide which and to determine Each depicts the human form, but with differing proportions. This
how negative space contributes to the overall piece. In the Bakota difference in proportion helps transmit the message the artist wishes
ancestor figure, negative space provides a strong focal area. In the to communicate about his or her subject
Tree Spirit, in contrast, negative space plays a less pivotal role.
Repetition
Color Rhythm, harmony, and variation constitute repetition in sculpture, as
Perhaps color does not seem particularly important when we relate it they did in the pictorial arts. In sculpture, though, we must look more
to sculpture until we see its vibrancy revealed in something as basic carefully and closely to determine how the artist has employed these
as a ceramic bowl. We tend to see ancient sculpture as white and elements because these characteristics occur more subtly. If we
modern sculpture as natural wood or rusty iron. Nevertheless, color reduce a sculpture to its matter.
acts as important to the sculptor as to the painter. In some cases, the components of line and form, we begin to see how (as in music)
material itself may be chosen to be the cause of its color; in others, rhythmic patterns— regular and irregular—occur. Unity of the curves
the sculpture may be painted. The lifelike sculptures of Duane in the Zorach, in contrast, provides us with a consonant series of
Hanson (Artcyclopedia.com) depend on color for their effect. They relationships. Finally, we can see how line and form are used in
are so lifelike that we easily could confuse them with real people. theme and variation. We noted the
Finally, still, other materials may be chosen or treated so that nature repetition of triangles. In contrast, Zorach varies his motif, the oval,
will provide the final color through oxidation or weathering. as the eye moves from the child’s face to the upper arm, the hand,
and finally the cat’s face.
Texture
Texture, the roughness or smoothness of a surface, constitutes a Other Factors
tangible characteristic of sculpture. We can touch a sculpture to
perceive its texture. Even when we cannot touch a work of sculpture, Articulation
we can perceive and respond to texture, which can be both physical In viewing sculpture, we should also note how we move from one
and suggested. Sculptors go to great lengths to achieve the texture element to the next. That manner of movement, called articulation,
ART APPRECIATION

applies to sculpture, painting, photography, and all the other arts. As become objets d’art not because an artist put them together
an example, let us step outside the arts to consider human speech. (although an artist may combine found objects to create work), but
Sentences, phrases, and individual words comprise nothing more because an artist chose to take them from their original surroundings
than sound syllables (vowels) articulated (joined together) by and hold them up to the rest of us as vehicles for aesthetic
consonants. We understand what someone says because that communication.
individual articulates as he or she speaks.
Ephemeral and Environmental
Ephemeral and Environmental Ephemeral art has many different expressions. Designed to be
Ephemeral art has many different expressions. Designed to be transitory, ephemeral art makes its statement and then, eventually,
transitory, ephemeral art makes its statement and then, eventually, ceases to exist. On February 12, 2005, Christo (b. 1939) and
ceases to exist. On February 12, 2005, Christo (b. 1939) and Jeanne-Claude (1939–2009) revealed their installation, The Gates,
Jeanne-Claude (1939–2009) revealed their installation, The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005. The event brought to fruition
Central Park, New York, 1979–2005. The event brought to fruition the artists’ vision for the temporary work of art. The work consisted f
the artists’ vision for the temporary work of art. The work consisted of 7,503 gates, 16 feet tall and varying in width from 5 feet 6 inches to
go too.” The nature of an artwork depends on how the artist has 18 feet, depending on the width of the twenty-five different walkways
repeated, varied, harmonized, and related its parts and how he or on which the gates appeared. From the horizontal top pieces of the
she has articulated the movement from one part to another—that is, gates, the artists suspended free-hanging saffron-colored fabric
how the sculptor indicates where one part stops and the other panels. Each panel hung approximately 7 feet above the ground, and
begins. the gates were spaced at 12-foot intervals. After sixteen days, the
gates were disassembled and all the materials were recycled. As
Focal Area (Emphasis) with all their previous projects, the artists financed the project entirely
Sculptors, like painters or any other visual artists, must concern themselves through their C.V.J. Corporation with sales of preparatory
themselves withdrawing our eye to those areas of their work that are studies, collages, scale models, earlier works of the 1950s and
central to their communication. They also must provide how our eyes 1960s, and original lithographs on other subjects. The artists do not
can move around the work. Dealing in three dimensions with little accept sponsorships or donations. The dynamic and dramatic
control over the direction from which we will first perceive the piece landscape of Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson (1938rt, in the Great
complicates the sculptor’s task; the entire 360-degree view Salt Lake of Utah, presents several concepts. The spiral shape
contributes to the total message communicated by the work. represents the early Mormon belief that the Great Salt Lake was
Converging lines, encirclement, and color all work for sculptors as connected to the Pacific Ocean by an underground canal, which from
they do for painters. The encircling line of the tree and body parts time to time caused great whirlpools on the lake’s surface. As well as
cause us, however, we proceed to scan the work, to focus ultimately making a linear statement, the jetty attempts to change the quality
on the torso of this fertility figure. Sculptors also have the option of and
placing moving objects in their work. Such an object immediately color of the water around it, thereby creating a color shift. Smithson
becomes a focal point of the sculpture. A mobile, such as Calder’s meant the design to be ephemeral as well as environmental. He
presents many ephemeral patterns of focus as it turns at the whim of knew that eventually, the forces of wind and water would transform, if
the breezes. not obliterate, the project. High water has submerged the jetty in
recent years.
Found
Often natural objects, whether shaped by human hands or otherwise, Interactivity
take on characteristics that stimulate aesthetic responses. They
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A contemporary approach, media art or “new-media” (also referred to and greens, sensations of coolness. In sculpture, color can result
as digital media), essentially encompasses works that involve from the conscious choice of the artist, either in the selection of the
various kinds of electronic media, –1973), an example of material or in the selection of the pigment with which the material is
environmental often collaborative efforts, and typically some kind of painted. Or, as we indicated earlier, color may result from the artist’s
interactivity with the viewer. Problematical to define, exhibit, sell, or— choice to let nature color the work through wind, water, sun, and so
for our purposes—illustrate, this approach can go beyond technology forth. This weathering effect, of course, creates very interesting
to a degree that reshapes conventional concepts of “artwork,” and patterns, but in addition, it gives the sculpture the attribute not only of
could be studied as visual art, music, performance art, film, or a space but also of time, because the work obviously will change as
multitude of forms. New media tends to focus on contemporary nature works her wonders. A copper sculpture early in its existence
society’s increasing involvement with technology. The adherents of will be a different work, a different set of stimuli than it will be in five,
new-media art come from widely divergent backgrounds, from visual ten, or twenty years. This is not accidental; artists choose copper,
art, music, animation, and graphic design to architecture, knowing what weathering will do to it. They obviously cannot predict
engineering, and computer science, and they see themselves the exact nature of the weathering or the exact hues of the sculpture
perhaps not as artists, but as some kind of mixture floating between at any given time in the future, but such predictability remains largely
research and artistry, utilizing nontraditional materials. Some of these irrelevant. Our response to a work of art may be shaped by the
“artists” try to create art that neither looks nor acts like art. Most want effects of age, which can invest artworks with a great deal of charm
viewers to participate bodily in the work. They also see electronic and character.
media as a potential for collaborations among, for example, artists,
architects, engineers, and scientists. We get a feel for new media Dynamics
from descriptions of the works of Julian Bleecker. Bleecker’s WiFi Line, form, and juxtaposition create dynamics in works of sculpture.
Bedouin looks like a high-tech backpack and functions as a mobile The activity of a sculpture tends to be heightened because of its
server and transmitter, allowing the wearer to create an “island three-dimensionality. In addition, we experience a certain sense of
Internet” accessible to those in proximity, allowing them access to the dynamics as we move around the work. Although we move and not
wearer’s self-contained network. Bleecker’s work focuses on the sculpture, we perceive and respond to what seems to be moving
rethinking how people use technology and invites innovative and in the work itself. Nonetheless, sculptures can create their
active responses to things that occasionally feel fixed or dynamism, as the Japanese sculpture shown illustrates. The Peace
overwhelming. statue in the Nagasaki Peace Park commemorates the dropping of
How Does it Stimulate the Senses? an atomic bomb in 1945 on Nagasaki, Japan. Its open composition
achieves action through the tension of a muscular man sitting with
Touch one leg folded under and one arm extended, pointing to the sky.
We can touch the sculpture and feel its roughness or its smoothness,
its coolness, or perhaps its warmth. Even if museum regulations Size
prohibit us from touching a sculpture, we can see the surface texture Because sculpture has mass (takes up space and has density), our
and translate the image into an imaginary tactile sensation. Any work senses respond to the weight and/or scale of work. Easter Island
of sculpture cries out to be touched. sculpture, solid, stable, and oversized has mass and proportion as
well as line and form that make it appear heavier than other works of
Temperature and age basically the same size and material. Moreover, the very same
Color in sculpture stimulates our response by utilizing the same treatment of texture, verisimilitude, and subject would elicit a
universal symbols as it does in paintings, photographs, and prints. completely different sense response if the work were 3 feet tall than if
Reds, oranges, and yellows stimulate sensations of warmth; blues it were 30 feet tall. Marble polished to appear like skin or wood
ART APPRECIATION

polished to look like fabric can change the appearance of the mass space and merges with the landscape of its context. Starting at
of a sculpture and significantly affect our response to it. We also ground level and sinking to its deepest point at the apex of the V, the
must consider the purpose of disguising material. Extremely realistic work seems to suggest the gradual decline of the United States into
sculptures remain sculptures, and the artist disguises the material by the Vietnam War; then, as it ascends back to the surface along its
making it appear to be cloth. It drapes as real cloth would drape, and second side, it suggests the slow healing process that the
as a result, its effect in the composition depends on the subtlety of subsequent years have produced. Provocative in its form, this
line characteristic of draped cloth. In Vietnam Memorial, however, the anti-memorial memorial consists of shiny, polished black granite and
sculptor has depicted cloth in such a way contains nothing but straight lines and sharp angles. The only relief
that its effect in the design depends not on how cloth drapes, but to the hardness of the image comes from the lettering of the 58,000
rather on the decorative function of the line as the sculptor wishes to names of the men and women who died during that conflict.
use it. Real cloth cannot drape as the sculptor has depicted it. Nor, Standing before the black wall looking at the names, the viewers find
probably, did the sculptor care. His main concern here was for their images reflected in them, which stimulates an implicit sense of
decoration, for using line (that looks like cloth) to emphasize the involvement with not only the sculpture but also the acts of dying by
rhythm of the work. When sculpture deemphasizes lifelikeness to those memorialized.
draw attention to the substance of its material, we call it glyptic.
Glyptic sculpture emphasizes the material of the work and usually
retains the fundamental geometric qualities of that material. ARCHITECTURE

Lighting and Environment

One final factor significantly influences our sense response to a > Architecture often is described as the art of sheltering.
sculpture, a factor we very often do not consider and which remains
outside the control of the artist unless he or she supervises every > It comprises the design of a three-dimensional space to create a
exhibition of the work: lighting and environment. As we note in the practical enclosure. Its basic forms include residences, churches,
chapter on theatre, light plays a fundamental role in our perception and commercial buildings.
of, and thereby our response to, three-dimensional objects. The
direction and number of sources of light striking a three-dimensional > Ten fundamental elements: structure, materials, line, repetition,
work can change the entire composition of that work. Whether the balance, scale, proportion, context, space, and climate
work is displayed outdoors or indoors, the method of lighting affects
the overall presentation of the work. Diffuse room lighting allows us
to see all aspects of a sculpture without external influence. However, STRUCTURE
placing the work in a darkened room and illuminating it from
particular directions with spotlights makes it much more dramatic. Post-and-lintel structure consists of horizontal beams (lintels) laid
Where and how work is exhibited also contributes to our response. A across the
sculpture can create a far different response if placed in a carefully open spaces between vertical supports (posts). In this architectural
designed environment that screens system, the traditional material is stone. Post-and-lintel structure is
our vision from distracting or competing for visual stimuli than if similar to post-and-beam structure, in which a series of vertical posts
exhibited among other works amid the bustle of a public park, for join horizontal
instance. For some Americans, Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial in members, traditionally of wood. The wooden members of the
Washington, D.C.) evokes tremendous emotional and sensory post-and-beam
responses. This V-shaped wall of names sits outside in a public structure are held together by nails, pegs, or lap joints.
ART APPRECIATION

Source: Tim Draper © Rough Guides.

Lack of tensile strength in its fundamental material, stone, limits
post-and-lintel structure in its ability to define space. Tensile strength
is the ARCH
ability of a material to withstand bending. If we lay a slab of stone
across an The arch, in contrast, can define large spaces because its stresses transfer
out- ward from its center (the keystone) to its legs. Therefore, it does not
open space and support it only at each end, we can span only a
depend on the tensile strength of its material. The transfer of stress from
narrow space before it cracks in the middle and falls to the ground. the center of an arch outward to its legs dictates the need for strong
However, stone has great compressive strength—the ability to support to keep the legs from caving outward. Such reinforcement is called
withstand compression or crushing. a buttress. The designers of Gothic cathedrals sought to achieve a sense of
lightness. Because stone formed their basic building material, they
A primitive example of a post-and-lintel structure is Stonehenge, that recognized some system had to be developed that would overcome the
ancient and mysterious religious configuration of giant stones in bulk of a stone buttress. There- fore, they developed a system of
Great Britain. The ancient Greeks refined this system to high buttresses that accomplished structural ends but were light in appearance.
elegance; the most familiar of post-and-lintel creations is the These structures are called flying buttresses. Several arches placed side by
Parthenon. The Greek refinement of post-and-lintel structure forms a side form an arcade. Arches placed back-to-back to enclose space form a
tunnel vault. When two tunnel vaults intersect at right angles, as they do
prototype for buildings throughout the world and across centuries.
in the floor plan of the traditional Christian cathedral, they form a groin
Therefore, it makes sense to pause to examine the Greek style in vault. The protruding masonry indicating diagonal juncture of arches in a
more detail. One of the more interesting aspects of the style consists tunnel vault, or the juncture of a groin vault is rib vaulting.When arches
of its treatment of columns capitals showing the three basic Greek join at the top with their legs forming a circle, they result in a dome
orders: Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian. These, of course, represent only
some of the styles of post-and-lintel structure. Column capitals can
vary as much as the imagination of the architect who designed them.
They function primarily as a transition for the eye as it moves from Greek columns
post to lintel. Columns also may express a variety of detail—for and capitals:
example, fluting, which means vertical ridges cut into the column. (left) Doric,
(center) Ionic,
(right)
Corinthian.
Source: Laurence
King Publishing
Ltd, London.

A, B

(A)Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England (c. 1800–1400 b.c.e.).

(B)The Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens (448–432 b.c.e.).

Source: © DEA/G Nimatallah/AGE Fotostock.
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transfer weight and stress through the use of

pendentives

The Arch. A. Round (Roman) arch. B. Horseshoe (Moorish)

arch. C. Lancet (pointed, Gothic) arch. D. Ogee arch. E.
Trefoil arch. F. Tudor arch.

The dome, through its intersecting arches, allows for

more expansive, freer space within the structure.
However, if the structures supporting the dome form a
circle, they result in a circular building. To permit
squared space beneath a dome, the architect can
ART APPRECIATION

The Dome of the Rock CANTILEVER

mosque, known in
Arabic as AI Quds (The A cantilever comprises an overhanging beam or floor supported only
Holy), with its golden at one end. Although not a twentieth-century innovation— many
dome on the noble
Rock, Jerusalem, Israel.
nineteenth-century barns
in the central and eastern
Source: Charles parts of the United States
Bowman/Alamy Images.
employed it—the most
dramatic uses of
cantilevers have emerged
with the introduction of
modern materials such as
steel beams and
pre-stressed concrete

BEARING WALL
In the bearing-wall system, the wall supports itself, the floors, and
the roof. Log cabins exemplify bearing-wall construction; so, do solid
masonry buildings, in which the walls are the structure. In variations
of bearing-wall construction, such as in the Church of the Holy
Family, the wall material is continuous—that is, not jointed or pieced
together. We call this variation monolithic construction.

Dome with pendentives (P).

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SKELETON FRAMES
In a skeleton frame, a framework supports the building; the walls
attach to the frame forming an exterior skin. When skeleton framing
utilizes wood, as in house construction, we call the technique
balloon construction. When metal forms the frame, as in
skyscrapers, we call the technique steel cage construction.

Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe, c. 1350–1450. Stone.

Source: © Peter Groenendijk/Robert Harding

The use of steel comprises nearly endless variation and almost

The use of stone as a material turns us back to post-and-lintel limitless possibilities for construction. Its introduction into the
systems. When stone combines with mortar, for example, in arch nineteenth-century industrial age forever changed the style and
construction, that combination results in masonry construction. The scale in architecture. We noted steel cage construction and
most obvious example of masonry, however, remains the brick wall, cantilever construction earlier. Suspension construction in bridges,
and masonry construction is based on that principle. Stones, bricks, super domes, aerial walkways, and so on, has carried architects to
or blocks are joined together with mortar, one on top of the other, to the limits of space expansion. The geodesic dome is a unique use of
provide basic, structural, weight-bearing walls of a building, a bridge, materials invented by an
and so forth. Masonry has limits because of the pressures that play
on the joints between blocks and mortar and the foundation on which American architect, R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983). Consisting
they rest. Great possibilities exist with this elemental combination of of a network of metal rods and hexagonal plates, the dome is a
stone and mortar. light, inexpensive, yet strong and easily assembled building.
Although it has no apparent size limit (Fuller claimed he could roof
New York City, given the funds), its potential for variation and
aesthetic expressiveness seems somewhat limited.
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Source: Jan Moline/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Christopher Wren (1632–1723) designed one of the facades of

Hampton Court Palace outside of London, England, in the classically
oriented style of the English Baroque. Wren’s use of line,
repetition, and balance results in a sophisticated visual design and
engaging perceptual experience.

Greenhouse domes, Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory,

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Source: Henryk Sadura/Shutterstock.

Line and repetition perform the same compositional functions in

architecture as in painting and sculpture.
• Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), Kaufman
House, “Falling Water,” Bear Run,
Pennsylvania, 1936–1937.
• Source: Jan Moline/Photo Researchers, Inc. Hampton Court Palace, England. Wren façade (1689). Source: © John
Miller/Robert Harding

Curved roof lines in the Byodo-in sweep the eye upward, and the
thin pillars of contrasting straight character seem to lift the
building from its foundations. Juxtaposing simple curved and
straight lines in this fashion varies significantly from the play of
curved against straight in a more ornate way in the Palace of
Versailles, in which repetition occurs in groupings of threes and
fives and contrast occurs by juxtaposition and repetition of curved
lines in the arched windows and Baroque statuary

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), Kaufman House, “Falling

Water,” Bear Run, Pennsylvania, 1936–1937.
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An architectural design must take into ac- count

its context or environment. In many cases,
context is essential to the statement made by
the design or shapes the design itself, as in the
case of the Anasazi cliff dwellings. The
cathedral of Notre Dame, Chartres sits at the
center of, and on the highest point in, the
village of Chartres, France. Its placement at
that particular location had a purpose for the
medieval artisans and clerics responsible for its
design. The centrality of the cathedral to the
community made an essential statement of the
centrality of the Church to the life of the
medieval community.

Exterior, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Chartres,

France (1145–1220). Source: ©Vanni Archive/Art
Resource, NY.

Design of space essentially means the design and flow of contiguous

spaces relative to function. The use of space incorporates formal
elements such as tree-lined malls and classical fountains as well as
informal elements, including naturalism in topographical irregularities
Scale in architecture refers to a building’s size and the relationship of and plantings, natural
the building and its decorative elements to the human form. rock outcroppings, and
Proportion, or the relationship of individual elements to each other, asymmetrical trails and
also plays an impor- tant role in a building’s visual effect. Scale may walking paths.
range from an intimate bungalow, for ex- ample, to the towering Frederick Law Olmsted
power of a skyscraper. and Calvert Vaux, Map
of Central Park, New
York City, 1858–1880 as
Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, shown in an 1875 map
Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United by Oscar Hinrichs.
Source: © Antiquarian
Arab Emirates (2009). Images / Alamy.
Source: © Asia Photopress /
Alamy. Climate always has been a factor in architectural design in zones of
severe temperature, either hot or cold. As the world’s energy
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supplies diminish, this factor will grow in importance. In the

temperate climate of
much of the United
States, solar systems
and designs that make
use of the moderating
influence of the Earth
are common. These are
passive systems—that
is, their design
accommodates natural
phenomena rather than
adding technological
devices such as solar
collectors.

Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, Centre Pompidou, Paris, opened

1977. Source: © Iain Masterton/age fotostock.