Analysing Sculpture Techniques page 1



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Analysing Sculpture Techniques > 2
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1. Subtractive sculpture

The processes involved in making sculpture are unfamiliar and complex, but consist basically of two approaches - additive and subtractive.

Subtractive sculpture involves cutting away hard materials to make an image. The most common materials are wood and different kinds of stone, from relatively soft sandstones through to very hard granites. Marble is a type of limestone that has been particularly favoured as a medium by western sculptors because of its very fine crystalline form.
Above, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, bust of Costanza Bonarelli. Italian 17th century marble sculpture	Above, mask from the Etoumbi region. An African (wooden) personal adornment
In modern times artists use very strong steel tools to carve stone, but early carvers did not know steel and used softer metals, such as bronze and, later, iron, or even stone implements like flints. Click here to see a diagram of some traditional sculpting tools.

Back to top © Elizabeth Rankin and Amanda Skeet, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland, 2004.