Portrait Sculpture Bust Bust bust n 1 A

Portrait Sculpture

Bust Bust (b[u^]st), n. • 1. A piece of sculpture representing the upper part of the human figure, including the head, shoulders, and breast. • 2. The portion of the human figure included between the head and waist, whether in statuary or in the person; the chest or thorax; the upper part of the trunk of the body.

• The Ancient Greeks began a rich history of representing individual features in marble sculptures. Ancient Greek bust of Sappho the Eresian c 530 BC

• The conquering Romans later took this art form to a higher level as wealthy and influential people began to commission portraits of themselves and Portrait bust of a man, 1 st century B. C. ; Republican their families. Roman Marble; H. 14. 37 in. (36. 5 cm)

• During this time sculptors became adept at representing human features and individual characteristics Agrippina bust C 100 AD (Agrippina was Nero’s mother. )

Marble was pushed to it’s limits by skilled craftsmen throughout the next 1000 years… Bust of Commodus as Hercules Marble 133 cm 180 -193 AD

During the 15 th Century Italian artists again aspired to the great heights that the Greeks and Romans had achieved – this period is known as the Renaissance. Bust of a Lady Renaissance(? ) Marble

From about the 19 th Century onward, ideas of representation were being questioned by artists. Clemenceau By Rodin C 1900

Like many artists, Picasso often worked in clay and then made bronze casts of his busts Picasso, Pablo, Head of a woman 1909

Materials and techniques became as important as subject matter as abstraction evolved. Rosso, Medardo, Madame X 1896 Marble

Faces became more abstract with the coming of the 20 th Centuary. . . Medardo Rosso Ecce Puer, 1906 Marble

As other artistic representation became simplified in to it’s component parts, so did portrait sculpture. Brancusi, Constantin, Mademaiselle Pognay, 1912