Sculpture: Principles and Practice by Louis Slobodkin (review)

Books 165 at the disarray of Kortlander’s workbench and raise their eyebrows at his manner of mixing paints with his brush on the canvas, but who can deny that the final results of his trial-and-error approach are certainly beautiful. His figures are distorted, though probably for artistic effect rather than because of incapacity to render verisimilitude. A true teacher, the dedicated Kortlander finishes his book with sound advice to the beginner on selecting an educational direction. The closing pages that illustrate student paintings are a generous and humble offering that reveals more of the personality of this gifted artist and educator. Sculpture: Principles and Practice. Louis Slobodkin. Dover, New York, 1973. 255 pp., illus. $4.00. Reviewed by Peter Lipman-Wulf* This is a reprint of a 1949book. There are many books on how to paint, dealing with the simplest and the most sophisticated techniques, but very few on how to sculpt. Slobodkin’s manual is solid and comprehensive and the best written since the books by Malvina Hoffmann and by W. Zorach, both of which are now rather dated. How well has the manual stood up to a quarter of a century of work by sculptors? Very well, I believe, however it does not treat the considerable changes in the attitudes to sculpture and in the kind of materials used that have occurred during this period. A neophyte is provided with a good introduction to traditional styles, materials and techniques, which should also be of value to those interested in the revival of Realism and in Pop art. The book is a valuable guide to the nearly lost skills of making sculpture in the round and in the form of relief. Students in the U.S.A. have received little, if any, methodical training in these skills since World War 11. The critic James R. Mellow in the The New York Tirites of 19 Jan., 1975 quotes the sculptor Mary Franks in regard to the lack of training in these traditional skills as follows: ‘It’s a mistake. There’s a lot of technique involved. I’ve had to learn it as if 1 were growing up in the Stone Age.’ I wonder why the author has not written a new book to include new tendencies, such as the use of negative and inverted forms, new materials and techniques and different approaches to the relationship between architecture and sculpture. These matters could readily displace certain parts of the 1949 book devoted, for example, to enlarging and copying works in different materials. Such a book that meets the standard of Slobodkin’s exposition is badly needed. Sculpting in Steel and Other Metals. Arthur Zaidenberg. Chilton, Radnor, Penn., 1974. 137 pp., illus. $12.50. Reviewed by Harold Cousins** ‘The purpose of this book is to introduce the novice to the various methods of “drawing with steel”.’ This opening sentence in the Foreword states the author’s aim and it would have been fairer if the title had reflected the book‘s intent. Professional sculptor-welders and art teachers will glean little from the text and the illustrations. He discusses the use of wire and sheet metal for making sculpture as opposed to solid metal, without pointing out their limitations. He recommends the preparation of preliminary ‘match stick’ drawings before making sculpture from wire and provides several illustrations of his own works of this type. Well illustrated chapters treat welding, brazing and soldering methods for ferrous and nonferrous materials, welding equipment and its layout in a work area and *Whitney Rd., Sag Harbor, Long Island, NY 11963, U.S.A. **46Place du Chatelain, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. safety precautions to be taken. It would have been helpful to novices if the three basic flames of the oxyacetylene torch had been illustrated in color, in view of the use of color plates elsewhere in the book. The construction of bases for sculpture and some of the problems of large-scale works are touched upon. On the dust jacket of the book one reads: ‘Once you’ve acquired the materials and basic soldering and welding tools, learning to create modern metal sculpture is easy.’ Surely, this is an example of cruelty to...