An inspiration

I just wanted to make a quick post and share some photos I took of an awesome sculpture I saw in California.Last semester I went on the LA Art trip Glen Blakely hosts here at Dixie State University, and I saw some great art. "Fantasy Bust" by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, was at very least in my top five favorite sculptures I saw that trip.

This is a terracotta sculpture, which immediately interests me since that is what I have experience sculpting in. My favorite sculptures from the art trip were terracotta because I actually have the hope of one day being as good as the artists who's work I saw. It's actually attainable. 

Anyway, the first thing that really surprised me was the amount of detail he put into this piece. A few years back I made a curly haired sculpture, which was quite a bit smaller than "Fantasy Bust," and I know how long I obsessed over each curl. 

(She was sculpted in a clay that fires white)

But the hair isn't the only impressive detail, it's incredible how delicate these flowers in her hair are.

This sculpture was made between 1865 and 1870. How in the world have all of those flowers stayed intact?! That doesn't actually have anything to do with the artist, but I know from my own experience that if it were me, I would have made the flowers then as I was working every other detail, they would have dried faster than everything else and gotten all cracked up. I inspected this sculpture from as close as I was allowed to get to it and I didn't see a single crack in the whole thing. That means that not only was this guy a great artist, he knew exactly how to manipulate the clay, it's drying time, and it's firing so he could come out with a pristine product. He had his craft down to a science.

Also, the hair looks like roots where it connects into her shoulders and chest and has that organic feel throughout. I thought of this sculpture because I'm working on a sculpture that should be really organic looking when I'm finished. 

Anyway, I thought it was super cool.

Until next time.