The original sculptural heads and busts were produced from clay for religious icons in the form of various Gods, Goddesses and Deities. Carved busts in stone were also widespread, and reached an advanced level of artistic expression in the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilisations.The word bust is derived from the Italian word busto, and more then likely from the latin word bustum, both meaning sepulchral monument. This indicates they were created for a burial vault or a receptacle for sacred relics. They were used on tombs to remember the departed in the form of a ceramic portrait in the form of a bust. Through the ages historical figures were well represented with ceramic portrait busts and also utilised by the ruling class and nobility as a symbol of status. Tomb monuments of prosperous middle-class Romans, very often featured portrait busts and the entrance hall (atrium) of a Roman elite house displayed ancestral portrait busts.
Bronze, marble, and terra-cotta were popular mediums for busts and the importation of Chinese porcelain figurines into Europe stimulated local production of decorative porcelain busts in the 17th century.
A sculpture bust or head was more compact and more practical for display then a full size statue and obviously more economical. Hence it was adopted more as homes got smaller. It remained a popular item of status and decoration up to the Twentieth Century. After the 30’s it drifted more into obscurity, but still maintains its place as a decorative item.
Jardin des Tuileries
Paris 2004
( Photo by Bailey Zimmermen )
Barrias Louis Ernest sculpture bust
Garden Buddha bust
Black bust of Mercury
( Huntley & Co)
Oscar Niemeyer – Casa das Canoas – Rio de Janeiro – 1952
Large ceramic bust – ShinYeon Jeo
Charles Gounod by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux – 1873
Matt Buckley
Janice James :
Janice James’s ceramic ‘tribal heads’ sculptures are a culmination of work combining form and surface pattern, exploring the art of body decoration still practised by global cultures. Each piece is hand built from Scarva Earthstone clay, biscuit fired to 1000°C and raku fired.
Bume – Janice James, Wales
John Noott Gallerie
Aerona– Janice James
Amahle -Janice James female head
John Noott Gallerie
Surma -Janice James
John Noott Gallerie
Ayira – ceramic head by Janice James
John Noott Gallerie
Kikuyu I -Raku head – Janice James
John Noott Gallerie
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Majolica Ceramic Heads, Taormina. Sicily, Italy
( Getty images )
Painted Wooden Buddah with turquoise inlays.
Ayelet Lalor – Chryseus garden sculpture
Ayelet Lalor – Serenity
Ceramic heads by Gudrun Baudisch (1907-1982), 1920s, at the Wiener Werkstätte
( hesitationwaltz.com )
Ciseau -Frederick Goldscheider – Young Lady With Headscarf and Fur Collar, Vienna 1903
Noi Volkov
Small bronze statuette on a yellow Siena marble bust representing Diana Huntress, by Alexandre Falguire, Thiebaut Frères Paris.
( Marc Menzoyan )
Dual Faces Sculpture
Elisabeth Dupin – Sjöstedt
Gene Pearson :
Gene Pearson sculptural head
Natty Dread Thelma Harris Art Gallery
Gene Pearson
Gene Pearson – Raku crackle glaze Sculpture
Buddha – Gene Pearson
Gene Pearson
Gene Pearson, Terra Firma Gallery
Greek, Attic, red-figure terracotta kantharos (drinking cup with high handles )
ca. 490-480 B.C.
Gudrun Baudisch ceramic heads
Harlequin head – Tod Donobedian Antiques – 1stdibs
Hemba Head – Congo, Africa
Carved wooden Akshobhya head.
Isabelle Dubost-Dessertine
France
Kathy Waggoner
Liz Ciesluk Paverpol
Malvina Hoffman
Phillipos (Greek King of Macedonia) – Yiannis Nanouris
Nanouris Art Gallery
See more on the veniceclayartists post Contemporary sculptures from Greece
Oscar Jespers – cubist head sculpture
Sarah Saunders
Suzie Zamit
Syrian Artist – Assem Al Bacha
Porcelain Bust of Victorian lady by Cordey
( Galerie Sommerlath, CA, USA )
