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The History of Sculpture
team who created very large-scale sculpture installations of fabric, which
spanned whole buildings or even counties. They wrapped buildings in
fabric, surrounded islands with fabric, and covered Japanese hillsides
with blue umbrellas.
On the other hand, Andy Goldsworthy creates smaller sculptures that
were meant to disappear after a few hours or days. He makes spirals
out of brightly colored leaves and ice, balances rocks, and arranges
sticks into caves. The only materials he uses are ones found in nature,
and many blow away or melt after a little while; only the photographs
of the sculpture endure.
As you see, sculpture has a long, varied, and fascinating history.
People have been using sculpture to express themselves for thousands of
years. But they have also used sculpting as a way to support themselves.
Sculpture has been and continues to be a career choice for many artists.
Text-Dependent Questions
1. What were prehistoric sculptures used for? Why were they
so small?
2. Why did Egyptian pharaohs hire sculptors to decorate their
tombs?
3. To which period of European sculpture did Michelangelo belong?
4. What were early Mesopotamian sculptures used for?
5. How do modern sculptors challenge the artistic traditions of the last
centuries?