Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-07
SCULPTURE IN ALL LANDS
The Rude Carving of savages and the
Finished Art.
An Interesting Talk Before the An
thropologicaI SOciety-The Develop
nient of Tools and skill

/ d
Financial Policy and paper on The
basket Drdm," prepared by Or. Washington
Matthews. L. :. ~. was read by Mr.. F.
Webb Hodge. The principal address of the
evening, however. was made by Mr.. j. D.
Mcclure, whose subject was The Devel-
opment of Sculpture"
Mr.. Mcguire referred briefly to the art in
the days of ancient EGYPT, Yucatan and
China. and said that marble has been ex-
tensively used for statuary for probably
900 years. And there are evidences, he
said that 1T period 800 years yet earlier
the Assyrians and Egyptians made statues
of stone of great artistic ability and me-
chanical skill. Notwithstanding the num-
berless centuries that have passed since
man first made sculptures of large size the
alterations of their surfaces have been so
slight that We may by comparing them one
with another trace the development of the
art. The methods now employed in prOduc-
ing sculptures and carvings are quite sim
liar. although much improved over those
employed in the production of ancient fig
ures. Carving and sculpture have in their
method of growth. however. approached
each other. from widely divergent begin
ninSs. Sculptures of large figures accompa-
ny settled stage of society. On the other
hand. carving is an art commonly found
among the most savage races Small cary
ings OF bone, ivory and wood appear COM
mon to every race of which we have knowI-
form o. Of admiration for the attractive
ness of the beauties of color is abundantly
evidenced among the earliest traces of mans
residence on earth. and is found 10 exist
among all tribes and races. As sentiments
became mere permanently established, and
the houses better constructed the figure OF
wood gave place to the more pretentious
as well as more durable, stone statue. and
nowhere Is this more marked than among
the ruins of Central and South America
Ihere are many things which Influence
carving, the principal, of course. being
tools and material.
Oriental Carving
Nowhere has carving been carried to
greater perfection than in the eastern
world, and among eastern people none
have excelled the Chinese and japanese in
skill and artistic ability. Notwithstanding
their great skill in carvings OF small stat
ues, these people apparently knew little
OF tne art or sculpture, for. although some
OF thelr gods are colossal in size they are
put enlarged carvings. There are but few
statuettes preserved which are due to
baoylonian, Assyrian, Chaldean or Esyp-
tlah Workmanship, but they are sufficient
TO prove that the most ancient carver of
those races was master of his art The
IeW ancient wooden statues of EGYPTIAN
orlsin are evidences of a skill in the carv-
eis art not surpassed, il they are euus; led
IN this era. In most countries where sculp-
lures are found it is apparently demonstra-
pie that the method of their production
mas gone through regular stages of Dro-
gresSion from extremely rude beginnings
1t Is impossible to prove that sculpture
began always with the stage Of messing
outlines into the surfaces of large rocks,
as Is generally supposed to De the case.
Conglomerates, erosion due 20 the effects
Of alternate freezing and thawing, the cary
ing done by sand blown py the wind, or,
most common of all, the grinl of the silt
in water. are all known causes of the cary
ing of shapes or outlines. which would ap-
pear to afford a more plausible theory con-
corning the birth of sculpture. That such
is the case appears to be shown by the
finding of water-washed pebbles resembling
animals and things which are often found
associated with the remains of the earliest
periods of human existence.
Among Savage People.
The North American Indians appear to
have been as ignorant of the sculptor's art
as any race which had learned the first
rudiments. Their sculpture appears never
to have progressed beyond the ability to
incise a rude outline upon some bowlder.
Among some of the rudest sculptures met
with are to be reckoned the colossal figures
found in the Easter Islands, cut from a
coarse basalt rock, representing human fig
ures from the waist up. Mexico has dis
played a remarkable scuIptural develop
ment, evidenced by monoliths, in slabs
carved in low relief, in figures carved in the
round, and in mural carvings that are u.s.
senble the finish of the most elaborate
Chinese work. The statuary of the most
ancient Assyrian period appears to develop
the fact that diorites were carved as far
back as 5000 B. G. The development of
Egyptian sculpture may be followed with
considerable accuracy through successive
stages, beginning with the rudest and end
ing with the perfect round. The sculptures
may be traced through the incised to the |
low relief, the intaslio, the high relief, the |
reserved. the colossal and, finally, the
round The early Egyptian figures appear |
to have been commonly produced by the
saving, scraping and grinding processes OBJ |
served throughout the world in almost all |
archaic carvings. The archaic sculptures of |
the world appear commonly to be of hard |
stones, such as baSalt, diorite or granite |
whose surfaces could be dressed to any de- |
sired form by battering process with a !
stone held in the hand. About the time of !
Rameses the Second the Egyptians aban- |
doned the sculpture of siennites and do !
rites and other hard stones and commenced |
to work the Theban sandstones to a very !
great extent. The early Cypriotic statuary !
is of this sandstone, and marks an advance |
in sculpture. Here We see the old conven- |
tional headdresS and beard of the Egyptian !
and the solid and massive figure give way |
to free neck, one leg becomes slightly ad- |
yanced in front of the other. The legs are /
no longer attached solidly together; they |
are slightly cut apart from each other; the |
arms are bent with some freedom of ac- |
ton at the elbow: the hand and wrist stand |
freedom of action is due to the tool rather |
than to the art stage in which it was pro- !
6uced is evidenced strongly in the clinched |
fist. In sculptures OF the harder stones an !
giles are seldom seen: the fingers and toes |
are of equal length; the surface where cut |
in for eyes, nose, mouth in fact, all lines !
are semi-circular depressions due 10 the !
round surface of the shaping tool used. The |
Theban sandStOneS show, in a remarkable !
way. the change of tool from the hammer |
TO the chisel and mallet enabling angles to |
be more readily cut and burrows of any de- |
sirable depth to be made.
Greeks and Marble.
About the sixth century, b. c., are first !
found evidences of skill in marble cutting, |
exhibited by the Greeks. The hardness of !
metal about this period reached a point !
where the chisel, and. above all, the prin- /
ciple OF the file and rasp, enabled marble to |
be worked at WILL and, consequently there |
was no longer any limit to the expression of !
free action in statuary. There was no COM |
partSon between marble and any other |
stone heretofore used for sculpture as |
marble surpassed them all as a medium of |
the expression of feeling in art Marble |
made perfection possible in sculpture: the
tools of steel made the treatment of marble |
as simple as carving, and thenceforth these |
two arts, mechanically considered became
one. Carvings or sculptures, if any number
be examined carefully and compared one /
with another, appear to have been produced !
In a similar manner, no matter what their |
origin or their age, whether from Fiji or !
the French caves. If the material be hard