Sculpture is a three-dimensional form of art, in contrast to the flat, two-dimensional style of painting. You can sometimes walk all around a sculpture to see it from different angles. Statues and carvings are types of sculpture. The first sculptures were for worship and ceremony, and were of animals and gods. Early Europeans made small sculpted figures, called figurines, from bone, antler, stone or ivory around 25,000 years ago. The creation of very large sculptures, perhaps to impress people with the power of a ruler, dates back to the Great Sphinx of Giza, ancient Egypt, about 4500 years ago. There are several ways of making a sculpture: carving, casting, modelling from clay, joining items together, or simply arranging them in groups in interesting ways.

Carving

When carving a statue, the artist starts with a block of solid material, such as wood or stone, and chips away pieces using a hammer or chisel to leave the required shape. It is as if the sculpture is hidden inside, and requires only the skill of the sculptor to reveal it. Very often the sculptor uses a small model, called a "maquette", of the finished work first. Marble is a commonly used type of stone, because it is easy to work and produces a beautiful, smooth surface after a final polish.

The carver begins by removing, or "pitching", large chunks of unwanted stone with a pitching tool, a chisel with a broad, flat edge, together with a mallet, a hammer with a large, barrel-shaped head.

Reliefs

Relief carvings are generally classified as either high-relief or low-relief (bas-relief). High-relief sculpture is carved deep into the background so the subjects stand out from the stone or metal. The Parthenon Marbles (from around 465–425 BC) made by sculptors in ancient Greece are some of the best examples of high-relief carving.

Bas-relief carvings are shallower, and stand out only a little way from the background. Trajan’s Column in Rome is a fine example of bas-relief carving, with war scenes spiralling up the column.

Classical period

The sculptures of ancient Greece and Rome, known as the Classical period in Europe, were often representations of gods and other mythical figures, made in a lifelike style. The graceful Venus de Milo (by Alexandros of Antioch, sculpted c.150 BC) is a good example. The best sculptors were able to create flowing curves so they could show draped clothes and natural poses. Many Classical period sculptures were made of bronze or marble.

Renaissance

The Renaissance in Europe, between 1400 and 1600, was a time when the arts flourished. Many rich people commissioned sculptures for their homes and for public spaces. The sculpture of the Renaissance took its inspiration from the Classical period.

One of the first great Italian Renaissance sculptors was Donatello (c.1386–1466), who produced marble and bronze figures that were both lifelike and characterful. A statue of David was sculpted in bronze by Donatello in about 1430. It was the first free-standing nude statue produced since the days of ancient Greece and Rome. It is often described as the first major Renaissance sculpture.

The great Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475–1564) was a talented sculptor as well as a painter, architect and poet. He borrowed poses from Classical statues but tried to make them look even more realistic. He wanted to show how powerful the human body could be. His David (1504), the biblical figure who conquered the giant Goliath, is a good example of this.

Later periods

The Baroque period followed the Renaissance. Many sculptures at this time were of groups of figures, often shown as if frozen in the process of movement. They could be viewed from lots of different angles, and were often displayed in large open areas. An example is The Fountain of the Four Rivers, Rome (1651), sculpted by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598–1680).

Later sculptors experimented with feelings, nature and ideas. One of the greatest sculptors of the 19th century and early 20th century was French artist Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). Rodin was interested in the way light and shadows worked in his sculptures. He attempted to capture fleeting moments in normal life, such as in The Kiss and The Thinker. Rodin wrote of his own work: "What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain with his knitted brow ... but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes."

Sculpture in society

Sculptures are often produced for display in public places. Statues are made as memorials to great people, such as war heroes and leaders. Well-known examples include Nelson’s Column in London, made in 1867 with its statue by E.H. Baily (1788–1867) and the Statue of Liberty (1886), designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904), which stands on an island in New York Harbor.

The Marine Corps Memorial (also called the Iwo Jima Memorial) by Felix de Weldon was unveiled in 1954 in Washington, D.C. The sculpture was based on a photograph of the raising of the US flag, the Stars and Stripes, by five US marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japan, towards the end of World War II.

Sculpture of some kind is found in nearly every civilization around the world, for example the Polynesian Tangaroa statues (2000 BC–AD 1000) and the giant Moai, groups of human figures carved in stone on Easter Island (AD 1250–1500). Stone carvings and pottery models have survived better than sculptures made of materials that decompose more easily, such as wood. Many wooden ancient carvings, such as African masks, have been lost for this reason.

Wood was used in North America for making totem poles, which were carved by Native American sculptors, incorporating designs of people and animals. The Maya and Aztecs made intricate stone carvings of their animal gods. A popular subject for Asian sculptures is Buddha.

Modern sculpture

Various artistic movements of the 20th and 21st centuries took sculpture in different directions. Sculptors of the Dadaist "anti-art" movement, for example, produced works from everyday, or "found", items. The French Dadaist artist Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) produced "Readymade" sculptures such as Fountain (1917), which is a disconnected urinal turned on its side. Another group, known as Constructivists, preferred to build, rather than carve, their sculptures. These included the mobiles—sculptures that move, known as "kinetic art"—of Alexander Calder (1898–1976).

Raw materials

Traditionally, sculptures are made from naturally occurring materials such as wood, stone, clay and metal. More modern artists make sculptures from just about anything: ice, bricks, fibreglass, plastic and recycled items. Christo (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009), made sculptures from nature and structures in their actual surroundings. These "landscape sculptures" include wrapping whole coastlines or islands, as well as buildings and bridges, in fabric.

​​​​​​​Land art uses the materials of the Earth such as soil, rocks and water. City, begun in 1972 but not finished until 2022, is a land art sculpture by Michael Heizer (born 1944). Located in the Nevada desert, it consists of a complex of mounds, glyphs and concrete pyramids. At 2.4 km (1.5 miles) long, it is the largest contemporary artwork ever built.