The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break read more

The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone

All my life as an artist I have asked myself: What pushes me continually to make sculpture? I have found read more

All my life as an artist I have asked myself: What pushes me continually to make sculpture? I have found the answer. art is an action against death. It is a denial of death.

Sculpture is more divine, and more like Nature,
That fashions all her works in high relief,
And read more

Sculpture is more divine, and more like Nature,
That fashions all her works in high relief,
And that is Sculpture. This vast ball, the Earth,
Was moulded out of clay, and baked in fire;
Men, women, and all animals that breathe
Are statues, and not paintings.

I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.

I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.

A sculptor wields
The chisel, and the stricken marble grows
To beauty.

A sculptor wields
The chisel, and the stricken marble grows
To beauty.

The scupltor does not work for the anatomist, but for the common
observer of life and nature.

The scupltor does not work for the anatomist, but for the common
observer of life and nature.

Not from a vain or shallow thought
His awful Jove young Phidias brought.

Not from a vain or shallow thought
His awful Jove young Phidias brought.

Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.

Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.

And the cold marble leapt to life a God.

And the cold marble leapt to life a God.