Sculpture

The Cycladic or pre-Greek era is represented at the Getty Museum in California by a number of works, such as the Greek island marble figurine "Harpist," from about 2500 B.C. This is a statuette of a musician holding his instrument before him. He is holding it in the configuration necessary for playing it, but he is not playing it and instead has his hands at rest, supporting the harp. The piece was sculpted from a single piece of stone with the simplest tools. Little is known about the culture of the Cycladic islands, and we do not understand the purpose of figures such as the harpist or the more common female figures produced by this culture. However, many of the surviving pieces have been found in graves. Most of the other Cycladic musicians that have been found are playing their instruments, which makes this statuette unusual. Some elements of the or

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was the first sculptor in a long time to occupy a central position in public attention as he opened up new possibilities for his art much as the Impressionists and post-Impressionists were doing for painting. Rodin came from a poor background and was rejected by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts three times. For many years, he worked as an ornamental mason. He went to Italy in 1875, and it was there he was exposed to the works of Michelangelo, who would serve as his inspiration for his first major work, The Age of Bronze, exhibited in 1878. This work caused controversy because of its naturalistic treatment of the naked figure, an approach quite different from the idealizing convention then common. Rodin was in fact accused of having cast the work from a live model. By 1880, Rodin's reputation was established, and he was then commissioned by the state to make a bronze door for a proposed MusTe des Arts DTcoratifs. The Burghers of Calais was commissioned by the city of Calais for a site in front of the town hall, and a second version was cast and placed in Victoria Tower Gardens in London: "In the figures of the six hostages who face the threat of death Rodin created a profound image of a variety of responses to an extreme emotio
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Approximate Word count = 2325
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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