Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting. ~Adolph “Ad” Reinhardt
Guilty as charged. Bucolic scenes such as the Hudson River School paintings draw me in like flies to honey. I admit I haven’t always granted sculpture the respect it is owed. I have given it thought lately, though, and it has been on my posts-to-be-written list for months. Serendipitously, a friend recently mentioned a sculptor he knew, George Bumann, and we met virtually. Less than five minutes into our conversation, I realized how narrow a view of the sculpting process I have held. We’ll talk about Mr. Bumann’s work, but history first.
How long has sculpture been an art form?
Probably the best we can do is an educated guess. We do know sculpting goes back over 34,000 years, according to a J. Paul Getty Museum post. There is evidence that people from that era decorated functional items (possibly tools) using sculpting techniques. Additionally, they created animal and human forms from bone, ivory, or stone, perhaps for spiritual purposes. Once again, the movers and shakers of the sculpture world were in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the geneses of so many cultural developments available in the modern world. If geometry did start there, I wish they had kept it. Back to the process.
Ancients would have used whatever clay was available for molding, once they began working with malleable materials. In the 19th century, however, a gentleman named William Harbutt created a concoction of “calcium salts, petroleum jelly, and pigments.” This modeling clay, now known as plasticine, retains moisture longer than natural clay, making it user-friendly. Though the recipe has changed slightly, this product is manufactured and sold in art supply stores worldwide. While the shapes still begin with clay, they last because of a process created more than 2,000 years ago.
Here's what keeps creations in one piece
And back to Mesopotamia (and ancient Susa & Luristan*), where lost wax bronze casting began in the 4th century BC. Note that this is when tin became part of the bronze alloy with copper, rather than the arsenic that they had used before. A healthy choice, true, but tin was also “stronger and easier to cast” according to the American Bronze Foundry site, which explains that the mix is usually 88% copper and 12% tin.
The process for lost wax bronzing has not changed substantially, though the techniques for finishing the bronze have. In current practice, a finished piece might be sandblasted or subjected to a chemical bath to alter the patina. It is important to remember that though the sculptor may be present during the process, as Bumann usually is, a commercial foundry handles everything that comes after–from pouring the molten bronze to the finishing touches once the original is ready.
*Southwestern & Western Iran
George Bumann and His Work
Bumann uses lost wax bronze casting, but the casting process is way downstream from the conception. He starts many projects by jotting down words that embody the message he is attempting to portray with a specific animal’s stance. Bumann lives in a small town in Montana at the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park, so he has ample wildlife to observe for behavioral purposes. To keep his work within realistic proportions, he records measurements of recently deceased animals that he encounters while walking in the woods or while driving.
Bumann starts with clay, his preferred base material. You would likely assume that would be the starting point, but his preferred shaping tools might surprise you. Sophisticated instruments purchased from specialty stores? Not so much. He uses whatever works best to create the vision for a particular piece. Bumann might use his hands, a spoon, or serrated knives, and the latter may have been purchased at a consignment shop. Not kidding. The process is more hands-on than I had expected. I knew potters were up to their elbows in their work (see my post on that topic), but sculpting? Who knew? I had also pictured stone and chisels, but if you read my posts regularly, you are aware I still have a lot to learn. Back to Bumann’s process.
How long does all this take?
As you might imagine, different items take widely varying amounts of time to complete. Bumann has one piece that he has tweaked periodically for ten years. While this is an outlier, there is no question that many creatives struggle with when to let a piece go. That is, at what point does an artist stop tweaking? And just so you realize the investment involved, consider this. A small work might require less than an hour to sculpt, but larger pieces require studio time and may take 8-12 years. The average is 1-3 years. And when I say “let it go”, I mean permanently. In the “lost wax” method, once the mold is complete, the original sculpture is destroyed. Here’s how it rolls.
Steps in creating bronze casting (simplified)
- Shape clay.
- Create the mold using a rubber layer and a hard plaster layer. (Again – the original clay is destroyed.)
- Pour wax into the mold to make a hollow version of the sculpture.
- Coat the wax inside and out with a ceramic slurry material.
- Heat the wax/ceramic coating to harden the outer layer and melt out the wax.
- Pour molten bronze into the airspace in the ceramic shell left behind by the wax.
- Allow the bronze to cool.
- Chip the ceramic shell off; sandblast; weld any removed pieces back on.
- Grind away weld marks, known as “chasing”, to match the sculpture’s texture.
- Apply colored patina with torches and acid solutions.
- Seal finished bronze with wax or lacquer and mount on a stone or wood base.
Note that the molding and casting at the foundry takes 12-15 weeks. This art form is not for you if you’re looking for instant gratification.
You can follow George Bumann on Facebook and Instagram, and can learn more about George Bumann’s works on his websites: GeorgeBumann.com and AYellowstoneLife.com.
On the emotional side ...
If you don’t have residual anxiety after reviewing the process, you may not understand the gravity of the situation. Or you’ve never had the experience of working on something for months and then handing it over to someone who might or might not execute the next, critical step successfully. 🙄 Can’t relate? Of course, talent and effort are part of the equation when you see a sculpture–or any work of art–in a museum or gallery. However, I have to believe it is passion that inspires artists, whether the product is a painting or a sculpture. It is that which drives them to hold onto their work until it is deemed worthy to release. Otherwise, art enthusiasts would not be moved as they gaze upon the image of a wolf or a grizzly that is forever stilled, but appears to be ready to charge.
Bumann’s path was heavily influenced by his mother, who was also a sculptor, though she focused on the human figure and equine subjects rather than wildlife. Bumann holds an M.S. in Wildlife Ecology, which he might have applied as a lecturer or researcher. Instead, he has used it to study wildlife and recreate it with an impressionism similar to Monet’s approach. That’s my opinion. You can go to his portfolio and decide for yourself.
As for me, I am once again in awe of the diversity of human abilities. Bumann is a talented sculptor, and his work is no doubt more impressive due to his desire and patience to observe wild creatures so that he can replicate their likenesses. But another human, more than 100 years ago, developed a product that to this day facilitates the sculpting process. Further, someone, somewhere, came up with the lost wax bronzing process that has endured for two millennia. And that doesn’t even cover the tools, devices, and transportation aids that have been evolving since antiquity.
While we don’t all have the same abilities, we can easily enjoy the talent others have in great abundance. Those of us who are truly blessed have friends who serve as conduits to broaden our horizons and help us to see the world and all its beauty in 3D.
