Dancing Bear Figurine. Onyx, Fabergé.

Sculpture (Latin sculpture, from sculpo – I carve, I carve), sculpture, plastic art is a type of fine art whose works have a three–dimensional shape, three-dimensional and tangible. This kind of art originated in ancient times. The first carved figurines date back to the Stone Age. In ancient Egypt, statues served as decorations for buildings, masters depicted gods, kings, mythological creatures. This art reached a special heyday in Ancient Greece, where sculptors created figures of gods, rulers, heroes of myths and public figures. In Russia, sculpture was called sculpting. This kind of art traces its history back to pagan times, from wooden idols. After the adoption of Christianity, temples began to be built in cities, their walls were decorated with reliefs with floral or geometric ornaments. In the XVIII century, secular sculpture began to develop. Architects erected palaces, the facades of which were richly decorated with statues. The sculpture is divided into a round one, freely placed in space, and a relief in which three-dimensional images are located on a plane. Sculpture can be divided into types – easel, monumental, monumental and decorative sculpture, small plastic. The sculpture reproduces the real world, but the main object of the image is a person, through whose appearance his inner world, character, psychological state, as well as the human body, the transmission of movement (head, bust, torso, statue, sculpture group) is transmitted. Images of the animal world make up the animalistic genre of sculpture. The expressiveness of the sculpture is achieved by constructing basic plans, light planes, volumes, masses, rhythmic ratios. The clarity and integrity of the silhouette are of great importance. Textured surface treatment and details complement the expressiveness of the plastic solution of the sculptural image. The materials of the sculpture are stone (marble, limestone, sandstone, granite, etc.), wood, bone, metal (bronze, copper, iron, etc.), clay and baked clay (ceramics – terracotta, majolica, faience, porcelain, etc.), gypsum. The complex and multi-stage technology of sculpture involves a lot of physical labor. Various technical methods are used – modeling, carving, carving, casting, chasing, forging, welding, various materials are used – stone, metal, wood, clay, gypsum, ceramics, glass, plasticine, wax, synthetic polymer compounds. In addition to the author's work of the artist (modeling, carving, processing of solid materials), an important role in sculpture is played by the auxiliary work of craftsmen (stone cutting, molding, casting, chasing, etc.). One of the most ancient forms of art. Various forms of sculpture have existed among all peoples of the world for a long time: female figures and reliefs of the Neolithic (Venus from Savignano (Modena), 10-8 thousand BC). Developed forms of sculpture are known among the peoples of the Ancient East (Queen Nefertiti, 14th century BC, Berlin State Museums; reliefs from the palace of Ashurnasirapal II in Nimrud, 883-859 BC, London, British Museum), Ancient America. An important stage in the history of sculpture is antiquity, the ideals of which were the creation of the image of a harmoniously developed person (Miron, Phidias, Polycletus, Praxiteles, Scopas).