As with painting, the earliest example of sculpture dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period (40,000 to 10,000 years ago).  During this period stone and ivory were used to create small female figures.  It wasn’t until the Greeks used bronze casting that life size figures were represented in sculpture.

Technically, sculptures are for the most part three-dimensional artworks created by shaping and moulding materials – typically marble, metal, glass, wood and bronze.  A two-dimensional form of sculpture exists, where the object is not fully detached from its background, which is described as relief carving.  Often relief craving is used to depict a scene with many figures interacting on a detailed landscape. Sculpture is often painted, but commonly loses its paint over time.

The four well-know techniques to make sculpture are:

• Craving using stone, wood, ivory or bone.
• Modeling in clay or wax.
• Casting is a very popular method, where liquid in the form of bronze is poured into a cast and hardened. The lost wax process is a technique used to produce casts where a clay and plaster mould take on wax which is melted through a vent and molten metal is poured in to replace it. Sand casting is another simpler technique that uses moulds made out of compacted fine sand.
• Assemblage sculpture is a technique that involves the collation of several different, often found materials and objects within one work.

Donald Judd, Artist. Owning Art: The Contemporary Art Collector’s Handbook by Louisa Buck and Judith Greer, Cultureshock Media, 2006