Lorenzo Ghiberti1378-1455

Italian Renaissance sculptor, whose doors (Gates of Paradise; 1425–52) for the Baptistery of the cathedral of Florence are considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian art in the Quattrocento.

Gates of Paradise1425-1452East Doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence Italy.

Life of Christ1403-25North doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence Italy.

St. John the Baptist1412-1416Or San Michele, Florence, Italy

Donatello1386-1466

David, after 1428, possibly 1440’s.

the first large-scale, free-standing nude statue of the Renaissance. Well-proportioned and superbly poised, it was conceived independently of any architectural setting. Its harmonious calm makes it the most classical of Donatello’s works.

Mary Magadalen, c. 1455.

St. Mark, 1411-13

Here, for the first time since classical antiquity and in striking contrast to medieval art, the human body is rendered as a self-activating, functional organism, and the human personality is shown with a confidence in its own worth

Michelangelo1475-1564

Pietà, 1499Marble, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

The complex problem for Michelangelo was to extract two figures from one marble block, an unusual undertaking in all periods. Michelangelo treated the group as one dense and compact mass as before so that it has an imposing impact, yet he underlined the many contrasts present—of male and female, vertical and horizontal, clothed and naked, dead and alive—to clarify the two components.

Modern copy situated like the original outside Palazzo Vecchio

The artist’s prominence, established by this work, was reinforced at once by the commission (1501) of the David for the cathedral of Florence, completed 1504.

It has continued to serve as the prime statement of the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity.

Moses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1515

The control of cubic density in stone evokes great reserves of strength; there is richer surface detail and modeling than before, with bulging projections sharply cut. The surface textures also have more variety than the earlier sculptures, the artist by now having found how to enrich detail without sacrificing massiveness. to enrich detail without sacrificing massiveness.

Bernini1598-1680

David, 1623-1624

Bernini shows awareness of the relationship between head and body and display an ability to depict fleeting facial expressions with acute realism. These marble works show an unparalleled virtuosity in carving that obdurate material to achieve the delicate effects usually found only in bronze sculptures. Bernini’s sensual awareness of the surface textures of skin and hair and his novel sense of shading broke with the tradition of Michelangelo and marked the emergence of a new period in the history of Western sculpture.

Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1647–1652

In representing Teresa’s vision, during which an angel pierced her heart with a fiery arrow of divine love, Bernini followed Teresa’s own description of the event. The sculptured group, showing the transported saint swooning in the void, covered by cascading drapery, is revealed in celestial light within a niche over the altar, where the architectural and decorative elements are richly joined and articulated.

Medusa, 1644-48

Rodin1840-1917

Thinker, 1902

At the beginning of the 20th century Rodin was famous throughout the world and long had been revered as a modern-day Michelangelo, a titan of sculpture, an incarnation of the power of inspired genius.

1880 and was meant to be delivered in 1885. Rodin would continue to work on and off on this project for 37 years, until his death in 1917.

This unachieved monument was the framework out of which he created independent sculptural figures and groups, among them his famous The Thinker, originally conceived as a seated portait of Dante for the upper part of the door.

He transformed his plans for The Gates to ones that would reveal a universe of convulsed forms tormented by love, pain, and death.

Burghers of Calais, 1888

In 1884 Rodin was commissioned to create a monument for the town of Calais to commemorate the sacrifice of the burghers who gave themselves as hostages to King Edward III of England in 1347 to raise the yearlong siege of the famine-ravaged city.

Balzac, bronze, 1893-97

"Rodins aim was less �to create a physical likeness of Honoré de Balzac (17991850) than to �communicate an idea or spirit of the man and a sense of his creative vitality: "I think of his intense labor, of the difficulty of his life, of his incessant battles, and of his great courage. I would express all that," he said. Several studies for

the work are nudes, but Rodin finally clothed the figure in a robe inspired by the dressing gown that Balzac often wore when writing.”

Brancusi1876-1957

The Kiss, 1907-1925

Bird in Space, 1928

whose works in bronze and marble are characterized by a restrained, elegant use of pure form and exquisite finishing. A passionate wood-carver, he produced numerous wood sculptures, often with a folk flavour, and he frequently carved prototypes for works later executed in other materials. He is best known for his abstract sculptures of ovoid heads and birds in flight.

Endless Column, 1938

Picasso1881-1973

Painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century and the creator with Georges Braque of Cubism.

Personnage avec mains sur les hanches (Vase with two high handles), 1953

Alexander Calder1898-1976

"Yellow Sail", 1950

American sculptor best known as the originator of the mobile, a type of kinetic sculpture the delicately balanced or suspended components of which move in response to motor power or air currents; by contrast, Calder’s stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced numerous wire figures, notably for a vast miniature circus.

Spunk of the Monk, 1964

Henry Moore1898-1986

English sculptor whose organically shaped, abstract, bronze and stone figures constitute the major 20th-century manifestation of the humanist tradition in sculpture. Much of his work is monumental, and he was particularly well-known for a series of reclining nudes.

Sheep Piece, 1971 - 2

Louise Nevelson1899-1988

American sculptor known for her large, monochromatic abstract sculptures and environments in wood and other materials.

Jean Dubuffet1901-1985

Standing Beast

Jean Dubuffet, (born July 31, 1901, Le Havre, Fr.—died May 12, 1985, Paris), French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, best known for his development of art brut (“raw art”).

Jean Dubuffet room – Centre Georges Pompidou

Giacometti1901-1966

Alberto Giacometti, (born Oct. 10, 1901, Borgonovo, Switz.—died Jan. 11, 1966, Chur), Swiss sculptor and painter, best known for his attenuated sculptures of solitary figures. Notable works include “Head of a Man on a Rod” (1947) and “Composition with Seven Figures and a Head (The Forest)” (1950). His work has been compared to that of the existentialists in literature; in 1963 Giacometti designed the set for Samuel Beckett’s drama Waiting for Godot.

George Segal1924-2000

American sculptor of monochromatic, cast plaster figures often situated in environments of mundane furnishings and objects.

Duane Hanson1925-1996

Duane Hanson, in full Duane Elwood Hanson (born Jan. 17, 1925, Alexandria, Minn., U.S.—died Jan. 6, 1996, Boca Raton, Fla.), American figurative sculptor whose lifelike figures made of cast fibreglass and polyester resin and dressed in everyday clothes often fooled the public into believing that they were viewing real people. Because of its faithfulness to reality, Hanson’s work is often categorized with that of the Photo-realist painters of the same era, who based their paintings on photographic images. Unlike the two-dimensional paintings, however, Hanson’s three-dimensional objects, life-size and realistic down to the hair on their arms, are uncanny in that they are simultaneously familiar in their lifelike appearance and yet strange as static works of art.

Robert IndianaSept. 13, 1928

Indiana’s images combined stenciled text and numbers and hard-edged bright colour fields into compelling signs. His ever-popular Love design—first realized as a painting in 1966 and later created in many other media, including sculpture—became a Pop icon of the 1960s.

Five, Bilbao, Spain

OldenburgJan. 28, 1929

Swedish-born American Pop-art sculptor, best known for his giant soft sculptures of everyday objects.

Red GroomsJune 7, 1937

Red Grooms (born Charles Rogers Grooms on June 7, 1937) is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life.

Henry Moore in a Sheep Meadow” by Red Grooms resides at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, N.J.

“Ruckus Manhattan,” 1975

Dali Salad, 1980

Nancy Graves1939-1995

Sequi (1986)

Camels, VI, VII, VIII, mixed media, 1968-9

Defilade, 1988

Why camels? Because ‘[c]amels shouldn’t exist,’ said artist Nancy Graves (Class of ’61) when she [returned to the Vassar] campus as the President’s Distinguished Visitor in 1986. ‘They have flesh on their hoofs, four stomachs and a dislocated jaw. Yet, with all of the illogical form, the camel still functions. And though they may be amusing, they are still wonderful to watch.’ Graves created her first camel in Florence in 1966. Two years later, she would wow the art world in New York City with her solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art: three Bactrian camels with their extravagant curves, a whimsical, arresting study in balance.” - Vassar Quarterly, Winter, 1986

Jeff KoonsJan. 1955

Jeff Koons, (born Jan. 21, 1955, York, Pa., U.S.), one of a number of American artists to emerge in the 1980s with an aesthetic devoted to the decade’s pervasive consumer culture.Koons was an early pioneer of appropriation, which called for reproducing banal commercial images and objects with only slight modifications in scale or material.Koons was part of the Post-Pop generation who continued to pursue the ’60s Pop movement’s fascination with popular culture and advertising, as well as the social codes reinforced by the dominant media.

Bunny

Puppy, 1992-95

Andy GoldsworthyJuly 1956

Andy Goldsworthy, born 26 July 1956, is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.