Modeling the Head in Clay [Hardcover]

Bruno Lucchesi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1979

Creative techniques step-by-step. This book offers the reader an opportunity to watch one of our foremost contemporary sculptors at work, to see not just highlights of the creative process, but every step from beginning to end.

In order to recreate the immediacy of an actual workshop situation, Bruno Lucchesi takes a single life-size head through all the stages of roughing in, modeling, refining the surface, and finishing and texturing, so that the reader can see exactly how he positions and models every detail.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill; First Edition edition (April 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823030989
• ISBN-13: 978-0823030989
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #446,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on clay sculpting, August 10, 1999

By 

Randall Black (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modeling the Head in Clay (Practical Craft Books) (Paperback)

I bought this book (along with several others) while taking a class in sculpture. I found it to be the most informative and inspiring of any source, including my sculpture teacher. Using a series of close-up, detailed photographs, the book walks the student through the steps of creating a clay head. I followed them and made a good (for me) sculpture of a man's head and later a bust of a woman. I went on to make other clay faces, incorporated into mugs and pots. I don't pretend to be a great sculptor but, thanks to this book, I am able to make recognizable sculptures. The excellent directions include how to control surface texture using water and a brush; it is possible to make clay look like skin. If you are struggling to bring clay to life, this book doesn't just tell you how, it shows you how.

Randall Black

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful photographic illustration of modeling, June 5, 1999

By 

Mary M. Earnest (Euless, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modeling the Head in Clay (Practical Craft Books) (Paperback)

This is a book that shows you, via numerous photographs, how a clay sculpture is actually made. The book starts with detailed photographs of different types of sculpture that whet your excitement. It then moves to defining the tools and supplies that are going to used in the rest of the book. The greatest part of the book is the detailed step by step photographic illustration of what happens during each part of building the sculpture. It is really exciting to see how the model is transformed between its various stages. I learned more from this one book than 2 adult- evening sculpture classes(that cost $300+)from the local Art college. This book is worth the investment!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Pass This One Up, October 26, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Modeling the Head in Clay (Practical Craft Books) (Paperback)

I am interested primarily in learning figure sculpture, so I bought this as a companion to the volumes "Modeling the Figure in Clay" and "Terracotta." I must say I was not disappointed. The book is a walkthrough of a single sculpture, but it is not developed in the anatomical style taught in "Modeling the Figure in Clay." Students of portraiture may prefer a more detailed treatment of facial anatomy. However, the work shown in the book has the grace and "flow" which is so difficult for beginners to master -- and which is tough to learn without viewing the piece as an integrated whole.