Women in Sculpture

                The history of sculpture has been largely dominated by male artists largely because of the presumption that sculpture is messy and requires physical strength. This in a way is a leftover sentiment from when most sculpture was either carved stone or cast metal. Both processes, by nature of their perceived requirements of physical strength from the artists, were considered unladylike. This is of course not true, as women like Claudel clearly proved. Prejudiced views that women, due to lack of strength and resilience, could not work in such a demanding medium as sculpture lead to exclusion even after it has been made clear gender is irrelevant in such matters.

            Another obstacle was the subject matter of sculpture, which has been focused on depiction of the figure for quite a long time. Such figures were largely female, idealized forms that could be argued were the fantasies of the male sculptors that made them. This over use of the female nude in sculpture could be considered a type of objectification, making women the focus or subject of sculpture but never in control of it. To what degree this impacted women’s participation in the sculpture world is, and probably will remain, uncertain, but it most certainly was not a helpful factor.

            Metal sculpture has particularly suffered since the industrial processes such as welding and forging are still considered the work of men simply because of their application outside of the art world. Companies that manufacture equipment for welding are more likely to design their products for men in terms of sizing of gloves, jackets, torches, and other worn and held equipment. In this way the world has not changed and certain means of producing sculpture are still seen as male dominated fields.

            After seeing Sarah Sze’s work when reviewing this week’s presentation and I very much enjoyed her work. At first glance they appear to be very random assortments, but when observed further they reveal an underlying, almost woven, network linking disparate elements. What makes them important is their “strangeness”, bordering on the familiar and unknown. Almost every object in her work is, is singled out, a familiar thing. In Second Means of Egress, we can discern a fire extinguisher, measuring cups, wood rods, yarn, and plenty more objects that we are certain we understand. Her arrangement of them, however, upsets our thought of where or how familiar objects exist. Like much of found object sculpture, it effectively persuades audiences to reconsider the everyday objects before them, which has been and still is an important aspect for experiencing art and life.

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