The Art of the Bronze Statuette from the Renaissance through the Nineteenth Century: Intensive Research and Cataloguing

Our culture’s ability to manufacture almost any plastic form—ranging from Jeff Koons steel bunnies to chocolate ones—can numb us to the magic of bronze figurative statuettes. Yet beginning in the Renaissance, small bronzes were admired as miniature marvels. Created from molten manmade alloys that assume any shape a talented sculptor can give them, statuettes embody the humanist revival of ancient technologies as well as the figurative art of the classical past. Cool to the touch, often turned round in the hand to appreciate every detail, bronzes were made to delight the senses and excite the imagination. In a collaboration between BGC and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts will offer an intensive, hands-on course exploring the many facets of the bronze statuette from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries. The course will focus on issues of style, iconography, connoisseurship, technique, and production. Students will be instructed through a series of seminar-style classes, each designed to combine lecture, group discussion, and object study. Visual examination will be an area of emphasis, as students will be taught to inspect and handle objects in order to comprehend their forms and facture. In week 7, students will submit a catalogue entry for a single bronze. This assignment is designed to introduce students to collections-based art historical writing. In the second half of the semester, students will undertake independent research on a bronze or set of bronzes approved by the course instructors. This work will include conducting collections-based research, engaging with current scholarship, and, above all, close looking. At the semester’s end, students will present their research and submit an extended catalogue essay on their chosen object(s). Check-in meetings between students and ESDA curatorial supervisors will take place periodically throughout the semester regarding coursework progress. Limited availability—enrollment by application only. Consult Deborah Krohn if interested. 3 credits.