Sun, 27 December 2015
Happy Holidays! - Enjoy this repeat episode which details the rise of academic institutions in the training of artists.
Direct download: Episode_47.5_-_From_Apprentice_to_Academy_redux.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 20 December 2015
The greatest sculptor in Florence between the time of Donatello and the rise of Michelangelo, Andrea del Verrocchio explored figurative composition like no sculptor before him - but his greatest contribution to art might be in the painters he taught - from Ghirlandaio and Signorelli, to Leonadro da Vinci himself.
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Sun, 13 December 2015
In a career cut short by an early death, Desiderio Da Settignano nevertheless managed to rival Donatello in relief work, and re-invent the genre of child portraiture in sculpture, bringing the Age of Ugly Renaissance Babies to a thankful end.
Direct download: Episode_46_-_Desiderio_Da_Settignano.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 6 December 2015
"I tried to fire my sculpture once, and it blew up in the kiln." -And thus endeth the exploration of terracotta sculpture for many a clay modeller. But it doesn't have to be that way! In this Shop Talk episode, Jason discusses tips and tricks, principles and practices of modelling figurative work for firing into terracotta.
Direct download: Episode_45_-_from_terra_cruda_to_terracotta.mp3
Category:Shop talk -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 29 November 2015
New kid on the Florentine block Luca Della Robbia didn't have to reinvent the wheel in sculpture, like the sculptors of the generation before him had to; instead, he started with those new wheels and invented the bicycle. Learning lessons from not just sculptors, but from painters and even potters, Luca developed a style, and a genre, all his own. And he did it with Dolcezza.
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Sun, 22 November 2015
Cosimo de' Medici - Cosimo Pater Patriae, Father of the Country -was one of the wealthiest, most powerful and most intelligent men in Europe, and had a cantankerous, stick-in-the-mud sculptor as a best friend. This episode explores what made the Medici the Medici, and how a collaboration between secular power and the Renaissance Avant-Garde led to Donatello's striking and controversial David.
Direct download: Episode_43_-_Donatello_among_the_Medici.mp3
Category:renaissance -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 15 November 2015
The Representational Art Conference was the largest event of the year for the world of figurative art. Host Jason Arkles speaks with Michael Pearce, Alicia Ponzio, and Poppy Field, all participants in this year's TRAC in different ways.
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Sun, 8 November 2015
Orsanmichele is the unique name of a unique church in Florence, a site many consider to be the most significant in Florence for early Renaissance sculpture. In this episode, we explore the changes in sculpture that took place when sculptors began working not for the glory of God, but for the glory of Guild...
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Sun, 1 November 2015
The Sculptor's Funeral interviews medallic artist Heidi Wastweet, a sculptor who has devoted her career to the art of relief sculpture, coins, and medals. Wastweet offers us all a fascinating glimpse into a branch of the sculpture arts that few of us explore.
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Sun, 25 October 2015
Donatello - the greatest sculptor of the the really Florentine Renaissance. But why? And how is it that so few of us today know anything about him? The Sculptor's Funeral explores the nature of his genius to show how Donatello practically invented the aesthetic of early renaissance sculpture.
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Sun, 18 October 2015
"They are so beautiful that they would do well for the gates of Paradise." That's a pretty high compliment, just for a set of decorative bronze doors - but when we find that the doors took 27 years to make, and the compliment is from the mouth of Michelangelo, perhaps there's something to it...
Direct download: Episode_39_-_Lorenzo_Ghiberti_and_the_Gates_of_Paradise.mp3
Category:renaissance -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 11 October 2015
Contests and competitions between artists have been around for as long as art has. But the most famous competition of all time was between sculptors - two giants of the early 15th Century - and heralded the start of the Florentine Reniassance. But who won? Ghiberti or Brunelleschi? Decide for yourself who is the better sculptor...
Direct download: Episode_38_-_The_Baptistery_Competition.mp3
Category:renaissance -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 4 October 2015
The Sculptor's Funeral Podcast Returns for the Second Season! Episode 37 - Renaissance Sculpture's False Start: Ask an art historian for the date of sculpture's official kick-off in the Florentine Renaissance, they might tell you 1401. Or, they might tell you 1260. Both answers are correct. How can this be? It turns out that early advances in sculptural traditions away from the Gothic idiom had a good early start - which was then abruptly killed off, by a destructive force you'd want to avoid like the Plague...
Direct download: Episode_37_-_Renaissance_Sculptures_False_Start.mp3
Category:renaissance -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 14 June 2015
Malvina Hoffman straddles the line between old and new sculptural traditions - She studied under Rodin and became a champion of Modernism, but is most remembered for her naturalistic portraiture which documented native peoples from all over the planet. In this Season Finale of the Sculptor's Funeral, Jason explores Hoffman's magnificent and problematic Magnum Opus, the Hall of the Races of Mankind.
Direct download: Episode_36_-Malvina_Hoffman_-_yesterday_is_tomorrow.mp3
Category:20th Century -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 7 June 2015
In this episode, we trace the short career of Sargeant Jagger - British figurative sculptor and decorated World War One Veteran - the artist who brought Realism to the genre of war memorials, and thereby changed the way nations remember their fallen.
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Sun, 31 May 2015
Edouard Lanteri and Albert Toft wrote sculpture manuals in the early years of the 20th century, preserving a great deal of what we know know about 19th Century clay modeling techniques. At first glance these two books appear fairly similar, but dig a little deeper and we find two very different approaches, which may well illuminate the differences in methodology between older Academic and younger 'Beaux-Arts' styles.
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Sun, 24 May 2015
What do NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden, The stock market, and Satan's minion Baphomet have in common? Well, besides the obvious, they have all been subjects of a new form of public monument that has arisen in recent decades- one whose creators know that sometimes, it's easier to be forgiven than to get permission.
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Sun, 17 May 2015
Don't call him a military sculptor - Mark Jackson's career is more than that. But the British Army Major-turned-sculptor brings to his monumental military commissions an insight into his subject few artists can claim to possess. In fact, several of Jackson's public works are a direct reflection of his personal experience, and the various paths his life has followed so far. Jason discusses with Jackson his life and work in this interview, recorded in London in April 2015.
Direct download: Episode_32_-_Mark_Jackson_Interview.mp3
Category:interview -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 10 May 2015
The Burghers of Calais, and the monument to Balzac - two highly controversial monuments commissioned from August Rodin at the height of his powers. Why were they controversial? What did they mean? And how did they forever change how we create and value public art? The exploration of Rodin's work and powerful legacy continues in the second of a two part podcast.
Direct download: Episode_31_-_Rodin_Part_Two_-_Off_the_Pedestal.mp3
Category:19th Century -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 3 May 2015
The Last of the Old Masters, or the first Modern Sculptor? Yes, indeed. Auguste Rodin retains more influence over figurative sculpture today than any other sculptor in history. This first of a two-part discussion on the life and Work of Rodin wonders if figurative sculpture today is under the spell of Rodin, the way the Mannerist Era sculptors were held captive by the mighty Michelangelo.
Direct download: Episode_20_-_Rodin_Part_One_-_The_Force_of_Nature.mp3
Category:19th Century -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 26 April 2015
An interview with one of the UK's leading equestrian sculptors. Langton is known for energetic portraits of thoroughbred champions, in works ranging from small trophies to monumental scale figures. We also have a conversation with sculptor Mark Jackson, who collaborated with Langton on the stunning Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces National Memorial in England.
Direct download: Episode_29_-_Charlie_Langton_Equestrian_Sculptor.mp3
Category:interview -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 19 April 2015
One of the greatest English sculptors in history, Alfred Gilbert isn't a household name, but he should be. A champion of the Arts and Crafts Movement whose personal style strongly inflenced the look of Art Nouveau, Gilbert's work stands out for its originality in an Age of Originals that was the late 19th century sculptural scene.
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Sun, 12 April 2015
Jason's on vacation this week! Enjoy this rebroadcast of the Benvenuto Cellini episode of The Sculptor's Funeral.
Direct download: Episode_27.5_-_Cellini_Redux.mp3
Category:previously aired -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 5 April 2015
The Free Style. The New Sculpture. The French Manner. Call it what you want - one thing is certain, the marriage of Victorian English sensibilities and French modelling technique conspired to produce sculpture of a variety and style that England had never seen.
Direct download: Episode_27_-The_New_Sculpture_Movement.mp3
Category:19th Century -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 29 March 2015
A new Renaissance, a Golden Age - Whatever you call it, Paris in the second half of the 19th century saw a greater number of master sculptors doing work in more unprecedented ways than the world had seen since the early Florentine Renaissance. This episode takes a look as several sculptors and highlights their individual originalities as well as their relation to each other.
Direct download: Episode_26_-_the_19th_century_sculptural_renaissance.mp3
Category:19th Century -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 22 March 2015
"Those who have seen it have not forgotten the magnificent tipsy laugh of the figures in the dancing group on the front of the Opera; you seem to hear it, as you pass, above the uproar of the street." Is this remark from Henry James praising Carpeaux's masterpiece The Dance, or damning it? Yes. But whether a person loved or hated the sensual rhythms of The Dance, it and its creator could not be ignored.
Direct download: Episode_25_-_Carpeaux_and_the_Second_Empire.mp3
Category:19th Century -- posted at: 3:06am EDT
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Sun, 15 March 2015
The crude and arrogant son of a mason, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux became the exuberant sculptural voice of the Second Empire and is the greatest sculptor of the period between Canova and Rodin. Funny how 20 years of art school can change a person... This episode charts the education of Carpeaux in all its twists and turns, revealing that the greatest influence on Carpeaux's work was his own stubborn ambition.
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Sun, 8 March 2015
What was life like for a sculpture student of the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in the 19th century? What did it take to win the coveted Prix de Rome? Jason examines some firsthand accounts of students and critics of the Ecole, highlighting the similarities with - and differences from - contemporary art training in academies and ateliers.
Direct download: Episode_23_-_Inside_the_Ecole_Des_Beaux-Arts.mp3
Category:19th Century -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 1 March 2015
Francois Rude is likely the most important sculptor you've never heard of... Known today as 'the father of naturalism is sculpture', during his own lifetime he was exiled, denied official recognition, and relegated to a corner of the Parisian sculptural scene - and despite everyone's best efforts, changed the course of art history anyway. Find out what debt we all owe to Francois Rude in this episode of The Sculptor's Funeral.
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Sun, 22 February 2015
Frankenstein's Monster, scenes of disaster and shipwreck, Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven'... what could be more Romantic? in this episode, Jason explores the Romantic movement in art, a direct competitor to Neoclassicism, and answers your burning questions as to what flowers and chocolates on St. Valentine's Day have to do with 1st century Greek literature.
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Sun, 15 February 2015
The Three Graces. Cupid and Psyche. Napoleon. Everyone knows Antonio Canova, and you either love him or hate him. But - love him or hate him - do you understand him? The Sculptor's Funeral explores Canova's work in the context of the Enlightenment and French Revolution, and finds there is more to Canova than just a sculptor of ideal nudes.
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Sun, 8 February 2015
News Flash! Art historians claim to have identified two bronze statuettes as by the hand of Michelangelo! in this current events episode, Jason attempts to examine the hard evidence for this claim, but discovers there isn't any...
Direct download: Episdoe_19_-_Michelangelo_Bronzes.mp3
Category:News and Notes -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Sun, 1 February 2015
Jean Antoine Houdon was the greatest portrait sculptor in European history. The fidelity to nature he maintained in his work was an inspiration for the Realists of the 19th century and each generation which came after - all the more amazing when we consider that Houdon was a product of the Rococo and the Old Regime!
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Sun, 25 January 2015
The idea of looking towards Greek art for inspiration wasn't exactly new in the late 18th Century with artists such as Canova and David. Artists had been doing it constantly, and for centuries. And yet, the name we give the dominant style of that period - Neoclassicism - seems to imply there was. What was so 'Neo' about Neoclassicism? Listen to the podcast and join the Enlightened.
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Sun, 18 January 2015
Exactly how and when did the focus of European art move from Florence and Rome, to Paris? This episode explores the rise of the French academic system and the forerunners of the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts and the Paris Salon under the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV.
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Sun, 11 January 2015
Bernini Part Two! We discuss how Bernini sought to combine color, sculpture light and architecture into a single, unified, and total work of art. But Bernini went beyond even that, by creating what can be described as 'layered realities' within several of his works resulting in some of the richest and most complex sculptures ever created.
Direct download: Episode_15_-_Bernini_and_the_total_work_of_art.mp3
Category:Baroque -- posted at: 12:00am EDT
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Mon, 5 January 2015
Apollo and Daphne, Pluto and Persephone, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa... Never has a single sculptor produced as many absolute masterpieces as Gianlorenzo Bernini. In this first of a two-part episode, Jason discusses Bernini's biography and his important early works which initiated the Baroque Era of sculpture.
Direct download: Episode_14_-_Bernini_Part_One_-_the_formation_of_the_Baroque.mp3
Category:Baroque -- posted at: 3:36am EDT
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