CONDICIONANTES NATURALES DE LA CIUDAD DE LOJA • CLIMATOLOGÍA

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In fresco secco, the dry plaster is rubbed with pumice stone to remove the crust, and then washed with a thin mixture of water and lime. The colors are applied on this surface. The effect of fresco secco is inferior to true fresco; the colors are not as clear, and the painting is less durable.

Self Assessment Exercise 2

Briefly discuss the similarities and differences of any two types of painting.

The sculptor uses different techniques such as carving, assembled, welded, fired, molded or cast. Surface decoration such as paint or varnish may also be applied.

Sculptors often build small preliminary works called maquettes of ephemeral materials such as plaster of Paris, wax, clay, or plasticine. Sculptors sometimes use found objects.

3.4.1 Techniques Involved in Sculpture Carving

Carving is an age-old process dating from prehistoric times, in which the artist subtracts (or cuts away) surplus material until the desired form is reached. The material is usually hard and often heavy (wood, stones, and the like). Generally, the design for carving is compact and is determined by the nature of the material used (Fig. 25).

Fig. 25: A Yoruba Wooden Mask.

Source: Made in West Africa.

Chisels, gouge, file, hacksaw, blade, grater, to mention a few, are some of the various tools by the carver. The tool he uses at a particular time depends on the material to be carved and the state to which the work has progressed. In the case of stone, for instance, the first rough cutting done to achieve the general shape may

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Fig.26: A Benin Bronze plaque.

be done with the aid of sharp tools. Then the sculptor continues the work of cutting and chiseling. As work progresses, less penetrating tools are used, such as a bow drill and a rasp. Finishing touches are applied with fine rasps, rubbing with pumice or sand, and for extreme smoothness a transparent patina, made with an oil or wax base is rubbed on the work.

Modeling

Modeling is an additive process consisting of the gradual building up of the form.

The materials used are soft and yielding and can be easily shaped. This allows a rapid production of the work. Thus, a sculptor can capture and record transitory impressions much the way a painter does in a quick sketch. Clay or claylike substances later baked to achieve increased durability, have been used for modeling since ancient times.

Casting

Casting is used to obtain durability for a modeled work. Casting may be in bronze or some other durable substance. Two methods of casting are used by the sculptor:

the cire perdue, or lost-wax process and sand-casting. Both methods have been used since antiquity, although the lost-wax process is more widely employed (Fig.26).

Source: Microsoft Encarta, 2009.

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Casting is accomplished in two stages: First, an impression or negative mold is formed from a clay model of the original. Secondly, a positive cast or reproduction is made of the original work from the negative impression. The term negative refers to the hollow form or mold into which the molten casting material is poured. The term positive means the copy or replica resulting from filling the negative mold with the substances selected for the specific cast, which are then allowed to harden. Plaster is commonly used for the negative mold and bronze for the positive or final work.

In Benin (Nigeria), bronze casting is done by members of the royal guild called igun-eronmwon. In the past, the guild used to work for the Oba only, but, today, they produce also for patrons outside the royal circles, especially tourists. The casters use the lost wax method of casting. First, the brass image is made in clay.

Next, a sheet of wax is wrapped round the form and details are sculpted in wax.

Additional details are added also in wax. The model is then covered in clay and when dry it is heated upside down over a small fire to melt out the wax. The brass for the casting is heated in a crucible and is then poured into the empty mould after which the mould is broken open to reveal the cast brass form.

Construction and Assemblage

Sculpture is also created by construction and assemblage (Fig.27). This is the process employed in much of the 20th-century sculptural works. These methods are said to have their origin in collage, a painting technique in which paper and foreign materials are pasted to a picture surface.

Fig.27: Welded Aluminum

Source: Larousse Encyclopedia of Modern Art

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It is reported that collage was devised by Pablo Picasso and the French artist Georges Braque in 1912. Picasso himself used the method to create beautiful three-dimensional objects such as musical instruments. Shapes cut out of paper and scraps diverse materials, which were termed constructions. The term assemblage, which is now sometimes used interchangeably with construction, was coined by the French painter Jean Dubuffet to refer to his own work, which derived from collage. Materials used in modern constructivist sculpture range from junk metal scraps, machine-parts, wires, nails, fabric, and the like.

Self Assessment Exercise 3

Briefly discuss any two techniques of sculpture and some materials used in these.