Customer Reviews

Living Materials: A Sculptor's Handbook

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The good news is that this is probably the best book available on the materials of sculpture. The bad new is that it was written twenty years ago. (This paperback edition may have been published in 1988, but AFAIK, the text was unchanged from the original 1983 version.)

If you are interested in traditional forms, then this book probably covers everything you need. But if you want information on any materials and/or techniques that came into use post-1970's, you're out of luck. Plastics are a good example: urethane and silicone molding rubbers are given a cursory mention, even though they are quite common now. I don't think polyurethane casting resins (Por-a-kast, Poly 15, etc.) or polyurethane glues (Gorilla Glue, ProBond, etc.) are mentioned at all.

The wood section is surprisingly thin, with a bias toward subtractive methods (carving), even though wood construction is as common--if not more common--in contemporary work.

While there are plenty of photos (all black and white) of classic sculptures, there are a lot of unbelievably bad pieces illustrated--probably chosen for their materials rather than quality. Some are downright hideous.

This is a good resource, but be aware that it is no longer comprehensive.

This is a supurb reference book for a working sculptor. It covers stone and wood carving, as well as most major 20th century materials, from plastics to masonry to metal fabrication techniques. Nothing on fabrics or paper though. The illustrations are exciting and fairly thorough, with an emphasis is on innovative work. This is the one book I would want to take with me if shipwrecked on a desert island!

These details relate to the University of California hardback edition.

A comprehensive and detailed analysis of "the bewildering wealth of sculpture materials." Each chapter focuses on a certain type of material, obtaining it, using it, altering it, linking it with other media -- the whole magilla.

349 pp with over 425 b&w illustrations: photos, drawings, technical drawings, tables. Bibliography and list of suppliers (now dated) at the end of each chapter.

Hardback, cloth over boards in dustjacket. Index.