Beginings
Primitive man first became familiar with the
concept of "impression" when he realised that he could leave his
prints in the sand and the clay. He began using these imprints to
express his presence and to enforce his prominence on the nature
surrounding him. Pottery was the obvious utilitarian outcome of
hand moulding of clay.
The "Culture of impression" lasted until the Era
of writing; numerous discoveries, in fact, demonstrated that
handprints had a ritualistic or magical significance.
The Sumerians - and consequently all the
civilisations of Mesopotamia - made wide use of form by
moulding. Theirs was a brick-built culture. They also
used impressions on clay panels: cylinders in diorite or stone were
rolled on the clay leaving cuneiform symbols or ornamental motives
impressed.
The Egyptians, however, were the first people to
make wide use of gypsum. Gypsum is found in nature in the form of
soft stone which can be easily reduced to dehydrated powder by
crushing and drying; thanks to its special characteristic of being
able to re-hydrate when mixed with water, it becomes malleable
before hardening naturally by crystallisation.
Because its texture is superior to clay, plaster
was preferred to produce hand- made objects; due to its fire
retardant and antiseptic properties, it was used to cover the
internal walls of tombs making them sterile. Plaster was also used
to impregnate the linen bandages in which the bodies of important
deceased people were wrapped, some of which have been mummified
until our times.
Also from this period we have the first bivalve
moulds in plaster, which were used to model small figures of
divinities.
During the Bronze Age (1700 b.C.-750 b.C.) the
first forms for holding metal were introduced. Examples of bivalve
moulds in stone, belonging to the Camuna civilisation, are
conserved in the museum of Capodimonte. These moulds were patiently
hollowed out in both halves in order to obtain hand-made articles
and tools such as axes, daggers and arrowheads. Once the two halves
of the mould were closed, molten metal was poured into the centre.
Initially the high temperature of the liquefied metal caused a
sudden contraction that made the mould explode so grooves were made
to allow the excess metal to drain out. Later it became the
practice, which is still used today, to bury the mould in order to
make the procedure safer.
It was without doubt the Greeks who reached the
highest levels of refinement and perfection in the technique of
plaster casts and they also invented the procedure for obtaining
moulds of the human body. Their great understanding of their art
was due to the fact that the technique of sculpture was not the
final aim but it was supported by philosophical principles that
celebrated the aesthetic ideal of "mimesis" (that is the perfect
imitation of nature) as being the most elevated and desired aim of
the artist.
The closer the work was to reality, the greater
the sculptor. If the finished statue responded to the aesthetic
rules of perfect proportions and if it was realised in such a way
as to reproduce difficult and articulate positions, the artist was
even considered to be a semi-god who had been guided by divine
inspiration.
Documents proving this have been found in various
treatises on figurative art; Senocrate of Sicione, for example,
considered the sculptor Lisippo (370 B.C.) to be the best because
he was even able to reproduce muscle tension with nerves and
veins.
The credit for having perfected the proportional
relationships between the various parts of the body however goes to
Policleto whose "Kanon" earned lasting, universal fame.
Artists in this period were greatly influenced by
Plato's theory according to which a total beauty didn't exist in
nature. Because of this, the sculptor tended to "construct" ideal
beauty with the technique of mould from a living person".
Magnificent examples of this are the Bronzes of Riace or the Zeus
of Capo Artemisio.
After having obtained various moulds taken from
human models which were proportioned and compatible, they were
assembled in such a way as to create a statue whose position
satisfied all the principles of equilibrium and proportion so that
the whole was balanced and free- standing even without the muscular
tension of the human body.
Sculptors often adopted different expediencies
such as wet drapes or elements attributed to the divinity so as to
cover or hide the modelled joints.
The methodology was always that of the "lost
form" as it allowed them to have a single copy in marble or bronze
from the original in plaster. If a metal was used, they followed
the difficult procedure, still used today, and called INVESTMENT
CASTING.
After the classical period, the cultural and
artistic influence of the tragedy reflected on the educated classes
and on the interpretation of the sculpture. No longer did it lean
towards an abstract beauty, geometrically constructed, but it
became important to search for and express the external
manifestations of "pathos".
In the Hellenistic period the ideal reference was
to the character and the story of Niobe. The legend tells how the
woman dared to compare the beauty of her fourteen sons and
daughters to that of the gods, Apollo and Artemis and because of
this affront she was punished with the death of all her children.
Her sorrow was so great that she turned into stone.
This period gave rise to many statuary groups
like those regarding Niobe, which represented the fourteen youths
as they were being killed.
Technically the plastic modelling used as a
finish for plaster moulds became more important and eventually took
over when works of gigantic proportions and bodies with twisting
movements were produced. Splendid examples of this are the VENUS by
MILO and the NIKE of SAMOTRACE.
The new dynamics typical of open statuary, that
is with limbs moving in all directions and with the busts and heads
turned, led to a preference for the use of marble, thus limiting
the production of works in bronze which had to be produced in a
single fusion because the Greeks didn't have knowledge of welding
in bronze.
Numerous works were destroyed, plundered or fused
and only later were they used for decorating civil architecture
where they were nevertheless relegated to the roles of secondary
art.
The contempt shown by the Romans towards the
Greek artists was probably initiated by their inability to
reproduce the realism and refined techniques of the sculpture.
Consequently the works of copiers flourished. These copiers were
usually Greeks who were given the task of reproducing the works
that were considered most significant although by doing so they
were reduced to mere duplicates.
The credit goes to Emperor Adriano for having
given incentive to this production and for having transported many
sculptures from the Hellenic period to adorn his villa in Rivoli.
These statues currently constitute the patrimony of many museums
including the Capitolini museums. Thanks to Adriano's collections,
we can still admire the Venus Capitolina, a copy of the Venus of
Cnido by Prassitele and "Eros drawing his bow" produced by Lisippo
or again the "Wounded Amazon" which Sosicles had copied from
Kresilas.
Although the copiers tried to remain as faithful
as possible to the originals, their works were often unable to
reproduce the balance of the positions. For this reason they
resorted to extra supports such as drapery touching the ground or
tree trunks that were against the legs. The difficulties increased
when they copied works in marble and bronze or other hard, rigid
materials since they couldn't apply the moulding from life, a
technique used for the original. In particular they were unable to
cover the statue with large plaster forms because the material,
filtering into the undercuts such as the pleats in the drapery,
expanded and hardened as it dried, thus causing cracks in the
marble:
So they refined the technique of "block
moulding", the most difficult to use with plaster.
In this way they could reproduce complex groups
of statuary such as Lacoonte.
Subsequently, during the fall of the Roman
Empire, it became less necessary to copy from real life and more
importance was given to creating from imagination. Forms were used
less for sculpture and more for decoration and the copiers were
replaced by stonecutters, that is artists who cut the stone without
prior preparations, thus producing pieces that were unique and
individual.
During Medieval times, moulding was looked down
upon because the materials used such as clay and plaster were
considered poor and without value.
The favourite techniques in this period were
painting (frescoes), mosaics and above all, glass as they
emphasized the predominance of light and colour on the form.
Moulding was nevertheless indispensable as a necessary passage in
the process of melting and in the technique used for producing the
bronze portals in the cathedrals.
During the Renaissance however, there was a new
flourishing period for sculpture which became re-valued together
with the entire classical patrimony; art was appreciated both for
the technical and theoretical result. The renewed interest for
classical antiquity encouraged the collection of works from that
period and moulding served to transform many classical statues into
bronze. It was at this point in time that the roles of those who
worked in this field were first defined. First of all there was the
MOULDER, the person in the group who specialized in architectural
decoration and who made the MOULDS and the plaster forms so as to
obtain casts of linear and repetitive motives with classical
decorations. The material in which these were usually made was
either stucco or clay.
Once the moulder had produced the copies, the
PLASTICATOR took over. It was his job to model the pieces by hand
and, if necessary, to finish them with additional material. Finally
there was the SCULPTOR who modelled and personally finished the
work by controlling the melting or by instructing the pupils how to
transform the work into marble. Michelangelo was an extremely
gifted sculptor and he was the only artist of that time who, like
the stonecutters, was able to produce works by carving directly
onto the marble thus gaining the admiration of his
contemporaries.
During the Renaissance the use of plaster casts
developed in three different spheres; architectural, founding in
bronze which often used moulding from "life" and for studying the
parts of the human body.
A.Verrocchio (1435-1488) was one of the most
expert Florentine sculptors in the use of moulding in plaster. He
re- introduced the use of mortuary casting, which had been so
popular with the ancient Romans, and also with moulding from "life"
finalising it with the study of anatomy as in this way it was much
easier to imitate and reproduce the parts of the human body. A good
example of this can be seen in Verrocchio's "David" where the head
of the giant Goliath seems to be taken from real life as do the
remains of "Medusa" (with arms and legs dismantled) at the feet of
the victor in Cellini's "Perseus".
Verrocchio's most illustrious student was
LEONARDO who, however, didn't share the practice of copying from
"life" to which he had been subjected as an apprentice and he grew
up with a poor consideration for sculpture considering that volume
could only be obtained through design. He claimed that marble
tended to flatten the figures while he preferred the use of bronze
where the luminous effect rendered the work more perspective.
Although this brilliant artist carried out his
studies of the human body on paper, his contemporaries produced
real anatomical sculptures that began with analysing the skeleton
and the subcutaneous musculature. Among these works are those by
Michelangelo and those by Bartholomew Bandinelli.
Among the most famous sculptures, the figure of
Saint Bartholomew deserves a special mention. It can be seen in the
transept of the Duomo of Milan and it represents the saint standing
completely stripped of his skin, which is thrown over his shoulder,
as if it were a cape. In fact, apart from its interpretation of the
martyr, it was used by many artists to study anatomy.
With the urban renewal of Rome at the beginning
of the 6th century, moulding was widely used for restoration.
Interest in archaeology increased and many of the marble works that
were discovered were restored and the missing pieces were
replaced.
In Italy the first collection of plaster casts
was due to the sculptor LEONE LEONI (1509-1590) from Menaggio who
obtained the authorisation from the Pope to carry out a cast of the
horse of Marco Aurelio which, in that period, had been placed in
the centre of the square in Campidoglio on Michelangelo's
wishes.
Shortly after, on the request of Maria of
Austria, Queen of Hungary, Leone Leoni produced plaster copies of
the statue to be then cast in bronze.
They were then transported by mule to Milan where
they were put on display in the quadriportico of the sculptor's
palace, giving origin to the modem idea of plaster cast galleries.
(gipsoteca)
The pleasure and wonder that people could get
from admiring these marvellous works without travelling to Rome was
enormous and it became popular for Princes and Rulers to obtain
prestigious copies with which to embellish their own homes.
On his death, Leoni's collection was left to the
CALCHI family and so locally reproductions in plaster were called
"dei Calchi" (of Calchi) and then, consequently, "the calchi" (the
casts).
Once the phase of collections was over, workshops
and private schools were transformed on an institutional level into
Academies, which then proposed to abandon mannerism in favour of a
renewed interest in reality.
Moulding was considered a useful means of
artistic education and so it was taught in the schools.
At a later date, Neo- classicism started the cult
of classical works, which were considered prototypes of formal
beauty, but without ever reaching a spiritual adhesion to the
antique ideals.
Many people followed the philosophical theories
of Winckelmann who, in order to simplify the relationship between
beauty and spirituality in art, elevated Classicism to a position
of superiority for balance, harmony and perfection.
Collections of plaster copies in the Academies
increased and this gave rise to a number of plaster cast galleries
where the students could go periodically to gain practise in the
"poor" art of copying works of art.
In 1776, Maria Teresa of Austria promoted the
foundation of a new academy in Milan at the palace of Brera, but it
was not possible to transfer the plaster casts from the Biblioteca
Ambrosiana, as had been requested by the Austrian governor, as the
founder, Cardinal Federico Borromeo, had donated them only on the
condition that they were not to be moved.
It was only during the Napoleonic period that the
Gipsoteca of Brera became more vital thanks to the rector Giuseppe
Bossi who requested, and obtained directly from Napoleon, plaster
casts from the Louvre. Others arrived from Rome and Mantua. Antonio
Canova, the inspector of antiques of the Belle Arti, managed to
obtain the moulds of the marble of Fidia of the Parthenon and that
of the bas- relief of the Madonna and child.
Canova was an brilliant sculptor who interpreted
the classical canons in a unique and personal way. He preferred to
use white Carrara marble for his works because of the superficial
transparency it gained when polished. He was also a keen collector
of antique sculptures.
Even in his works in plaster, still today on
display in the Plaster Gallery of Possagno, Canova rendered their
surface as glossy as that of marble by means of a special
finish.
In the second part of the 19th century, the
neo-classical style gave way to the romantic style and this was the
start of a slow decline of sculpture inspired by antiquities as
they were considered a pagan element.
The formation of aspiring artists was mostly
directed towards painting and studies from real life.
Moulding became popular again during the Liberty
period where it was widely used for architectural decorations
inspired by ornamental and figurative designs.
During the 1930s, because of the growing
popularity of rational architecture, decorative motives were almost
totally abolished and the use of plaster moulds was reduced, even
in the restoration of buildings where it had always had a wide
application. In this field, the technique of "re-building" gave way
to "preservation" and decorations with missing parts were no longer
completed but left as they were.
Despite everything, plaster casts have the
prestigious role of conserving antiquity. Many original statues and
bas-reliefs which were destroyed or lost, even during the Second
World War, or which have deteriorated over the years, can now be
seen and appreciated only through their copies. Today the
reproduction of antique sculptures is once again becoming important
as it has become necessary to remove the originals from the
damaging effects of atmospheric pollution and to save our artistic
patrimony for future generations.
At a more mundane level, moulding plastic is
central to industries producing everything from car bodies and
furniture to toy soldiers. An under-appreciated, but critical,
sector of Japanese manufacturing is the country's mould-makers.
Tiny, secretive firms generally consisting of less than a handful
of workers, these craftsmen usually work in what look like dim,
grimy, oversize garages, filled with worn machines and piles of
scrap metal. Industrial moulds are used to create the shape and
form of almost anything that can be picked up, from ballpoint pens
and toys, to mobile- phone and satellite parts. The work is highly
specialised. Many mould-makers, now in their 50s and 60s, started
learning their trade when they were children.
The best firms, clustered around Ota, Shinagawa
and Sumida wards in south and east Tokyo, make moulds, often
prototypes, for the top international names in cars and
consumer-electronics—and even for NASA, America's space
agency. Mould- making technology lies at the base of all
manufacturing.