Copper Bull

We just learned about the ancient sculpture Ram in a Thicket.

Another ancient sculpture is the Copper Bull.

This sculpture was discovered in 1923 in the country of Iraq, and it was made over 4,000 years ago.

The sculpture was made of wood covered in sticky black bitumen (also known as asphalt), and then copper plates were nailed to the outside of it.


(from: wikipedia - copper bull)


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Ram in a Thicket

We just learned about the ancient sculpture the Trundholm Sun Chariot.

Another ancient sculpture is called Ram in a Thicket.

This is a sculpture of a ram that is caught in some sort of a bush. There were two of these sculptures found, and they seem to be a pair that stood across from each other.

The person that found them named them ram in a thicket after the story of Abraham where God provided a ram for him to sacrifice.

Since it was very old and had been buried under a lot of dirt, some parts of the statue were rotten and had to be remade to try and make it look like it did long ago.

This sculpture has a wooden middle, that was carved for the face and legs.
The head and legs are covered in gold leaf hammered to the wood and stuck there with a sticky black gooey oil called bitumen or asphalt.
The ears are made of copper which has turned green.
The ram's horns and fleece on it's shoulders are made of lapis lazuli.
The fleece on the body is made of shells stuck to bituman.
It's belly is made of silver plate.
The tree or bush is covered in gold leaf and gold flowers.
It is standing on a small rectangle covered in shells, red limestone and lapis lazuli.
There used to be small silver chains around the ram and trees, but those were too old to recover.



(from: wikipedia - ram in a thicket)


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Trundholm Sun Chariot

We just learned about the ancient sculpture the Gundestrup Cauldron.

Another ancient sculpture is called the Trundholm Sun Chariot.

This sculpture was made out of bronze, with some gold parts on one side, which is called gilding.

It was made using something called lost wax casting.
This means someone started off with a sculpture made of wax, made a shell of sand, and used hot ovens to pour melted metal into the shell to make the sculpture.

The horse is pulling a circle that looks like the sun.
Long ago people did not know about how the planets and stars worked, so some people believed stories about the sun being pulled across the sky by a magical horse.


(from: wikipedia - trundholm sun chariot)


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Gundestrup Cauldron

We just learned about the sculpture Guennol Lioness.

Another sculpture is the Gundestrup Cauldron.

This is a large metal bowl that was made thousands of years ago, and has many carvings on the side of people and animals.

In order to make this bowl, they had to find some rocks that had silver in them, and put them in a hot fire where everything burned away except the silver.
This is called cupellation.

Then they took the silver bars and pounded them flat, then heated them up again so they could pound some shapes and pictures into the silver.
This is called annealing and repoussé.

Next they used some hard tools called punches and tracers to poked holes, make dents and lines on the metal for pictures.
They added some other metals on the outside like gold and silver to make it look nice.
This is called gilding.

Last they put some pieces of glass into the carvings on the bowl.
This is called inlay.


(from: wikipedia - gundestrup cauldron)


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Guennol Lioness

We just learned about the swimming reindeer prehistoric art.

Some ancient art from an area known as Mesopotamia is called the Guennol Lioness.

It is a sculpture of a woman mixed with a lion.

(from: wikipedia - guennol lioness)


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Swimming Reindeer

We just learned about the prehistoric art Lion Man
.
Another work of prehistoric art is the sculpture Swimming Reindeer.

This is a carving of two reindeer swimming, made out of mammoth tusk.
It was found in France in 1866 buried 23 feet underground.

It was very interesting because reindeer don't live in France anymore, and it was carved from the mammoth which is now extinct.


(from: wikipedia - swimming reindeer)


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Lion man of the Hohlenstein Stadel

We just learned about the famous work of art the Metz & Co showroom by Bart van der Leck.

One of the oldest sculptures ever found in history goes all the way back to prehistoric times.
It was a statue of a person with a lion's head, carved out of ivory.


(from: wikipedia - lion-man)


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Metz & Co showroom - van der Leck

We just learned about the famous work of art Composition VII by Theo van Doesburg.

Another famous work of art is the Metz & Co showroom by Dutch artist Bart van der Leck in 1941.

Like Mondrian and van Doesburg, van der Leck was part of the abstract art style called De Stijl.

Metz and Co was a store that asked van Doesburg to make a nice looking room, and he made it using simple shapes and colors, that weren't supposed to look like anything except a bunch of shapes.

(from: wikipedia - bart van der leck)


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Composition VII - van Doesburg

We just learned about the famous painting Composition II by Piet Mondrian.

Another famous work of art is Composition VII by Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg in 1917.

Like Mondrian, van Doesburg was part of the De Stijl movement that made abstract art using shapes and colors that were just from their imagination.

(from: wikipedia - theo van doesburg)


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Composition II - Mondrian

We just learned about the work of art Revolving Torsion by Naum Gabo.

Another famous work of art is Composition II by Piet Mondrian.

We learned a while back about another of Mondrian's works called Broadway Boogie Woogie

Mondrian was famous for an abstract style of painting called De Stijl which is Dutch and means the style.

He only used the same shades of white, yellow, red, blue and black to make his paintings, and he used straight lines, squares and rectangles.


(from: wikipedia - piet mondrian)


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Revolving Torsion - Gabo

We just learned about the work of art Dance. An Objectless Composition by Alexander Rodchenko.

Another famous work of art is the sculpture Revolving Torsion by Russian artist Naum Gabo.

This was another constructivist work of art.

(from: wikipedia - naum gabo)


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Dance. An Objectless Composition - Rodchenko

We just learned about the work of art Tatlin's Tower.

Another famous work of art is the painting Dance. An Objectless Composition by Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko in 1915.

This was another painting in the Constructivist movement.

Rodchenko used scales and compasses to make lines and shapes to try and get rid of the extra styling from normal paint brush strokes that he thought were not needed.

(from: wikipedia - alexander rodchenko)

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Tatlin's Tower - Tatlin

We just learned about the work of art Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by Lissitzky.

Another famous work of art is Tatlin's Tower, designed by Vladimir Tatlin in 1919 to be built in Russia.

The tower was never built because there wasn't enough money, but it was supposed to be a very large metal tower bigger than the Eiffel Tower in France, and there are smaller models of what it would have looked like.

It was supposed to be a really big tower to show how modern, strong and successful the Russians were.

(from: wikipedia - tatlin's tower)


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Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge - Lissitzky

We just learned about the famous work of art Black Square by Malevich.

Another famous work of art is the painting Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by Russian artist Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, also known as El Lissitzky in 1919.

In Russia there was a big fight between two groups of people called the red party and the white party.
The artist El Lissitzky liked the red party, so he made this poster to show the red party beating the white party.

Lissitzky's art was known as constructivism which meant it wasn't just art to look at,
it was made to help do something like help change people's minds in a war.
He also did a lot of work coming up with ideas for new buildings.


(from: wikipedia - beat the whites with the red wedge)


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Black Square - Malevich

We just learned about the famous painting Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin by Gino Severini.

Another famous work of art is Black Square by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in 1915.

This art was part of something called suprematist art.
This type of art used simple shapes like circles, squares, lines and rectangles
painted in simple colors like black, white, grey or brown.


(from: wikipedia - black square (painting))


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Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin - Severini

We just learned about the famous work of art The City Rises by Umberto Buccioni.

Another famous work of art is the painting Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin by Italian painter Gino Severini in 1912.

This was another futurist painting, showing a bunch of dancers moving around and looking lively.


(from: wikipedia - gino severini)


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The City Rises - Boccioni

We just learned about the famous work of art Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash by Giacomo Balla.

Another famous work of art is the painting The City Rises by Italian Painter Umberto Boccioni in 1910.

Just like Giacomo Balla, this artist was also famous for painting in the style of Futurism.

In this painting, there are things like buildings in the background, but most of the painting is people and horses that are all blended together.

The artist painted them in this way to try and make them look like there was a lot of action and movement.

(from: wikipedia - the city rises - (boccioni))


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Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash - Balla

We just learned about the painting Elegant Ball, Dance in the Country by Marie Laurencin.

Another famous work of art is the painting Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash by Italian artist Giacomo Balla in 1912.

This artist was famous for helping come up with the kind of art known as Futurism.
During the time of his paintings, there were many great inventions like the car and the airplane, and people really liked new fast and exciting things.

In Futurist paintings, the artists tried to make it look like things were moving fast.

(from: wikipedia - giacomo balla)


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Le Bal élégant, La Danse à la campagne - Laurencin

We just learned about the famous painting Personnage écrivant by Polish artist Louis Marcoussis.

Another famous work of art is the painting Le Bal élégant, La Danse à la campagne by French artist Marie Laurencin, in 1913.

The French name for the painting means Elegant Ball, Dance in the Country.

Marie Laurencin was part of the Cubism movement with artists like Picasso, but focused mostly on paintings of women, and used curves more than sharp edges.


(from: wikipedia - marie laurencin)


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Personnage Écrivant - Marcoussis

We just learned about the famous painting Woman with a Fan by Jean Metzinger.

Another famous work of art is the painting Personnage écrivant by Polish artist Louis Marcoussis in 1931.
Marcoussis was born in Poland, but moved to Paris, France and did most of his art there because many of his fellow artists lived and worked there.
He even changed his name which was originally Ludwik Kazimierz Wladyslaw Markus to be Louis Marcoussis so that he would fit in better in France.

He worked with other cubism artists like Picasso, and made abstract art pieces like this one that showed a picture of a person at a desk writing.


(from: wikipedia - louis marcoussis)


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