Metal

Metal is a hard, strong and opaque material that has been used by sculptors since the earliest times. Owing to its strength, malleability and ability to hold complex forms, metals allow the creation of both monumental sculpture and delicate jewellery. The most common in art are bronze (an alloy of copper and tin), which is cast in moulds, as well as iron, steel, copper, lead, gold and silver. Metal is worked in various ways — casting, forging, chasing, welding and engraving — each giving its own texture and expressiveness. Bronze casting, known since antiquity and perfected in the Renaissance, remains a classic technique of easel and monumental sculpture. In the twentieth century artists began using welded steel and industrial metals extensively: Julio González and David Smith opened a new language of constructed metal sculpture, and the Minimalists valued the cold precision of industrial surfaces. In Ukraine a rich tradition of artistic metalwork reaches back to Scythian gold and Cossack decorative art, and contemporary sculptors continue to work with forging, casting and welding in both monumental and intimate works.