Books w/ Jason Arkles - Sculpture Inside and Out

A Book Recommendation featured on The FAA Collective Patreon

Dear Patrons,

It is our pleasure to share with you the second installment of our new series on book recommendations by FAA Collective artists.

Books are an immense source of knowledge and inspiration to our community, and this week’s review is from sculptor and historian, Jason Arkles, of Malvina Hoffman’s, Sculpture Inside and Out.

We hope you enjoy this review!

Jason Arkles is a sculptor and art historian living in Florence, where he regularly gives lectures at the Florence Academy of Art and other institutions.

Find Jason's lecture 'Likeness in Sculpture', originally given at the FAA Florence campus, here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/art-history-w-in-38566323

Jason is also the creator and host of The Sculptor's Funeral Podcast, a popular podcast focusing on the history of art and figurative sculpture: http://www.thesculptorsfuneral.com/episodes

In his sculpture, Jason specializes in portraiture in marble and terracotta, carving his marble by hand, and firing his terracotta work, in his Florence studio. Additionally, Jason likes to delve into allegorical and narrative work, with an eye towards social criticism.

To view the work of Jason Arkles and find contact information please visit jasonarkles.com

“It's just about the best sculpture manual I know of. I recommend it to everyone who asks me about sculpture manuals. One aspect of the book I appreciate is that Hoffman was working as a sculptor in a very unique period in the history of Western Figurative sculpture; she was trained in the traditional academic practices of late 19th century Paris, but her career extended into the interwar period in the United States, and in her work, she gives expression to both traditional figurative work and to Modernism, at a time when they were not considered to be at odds with each other but simply alternative techniques.

Her manual is not simply a straightforward how-to book, but offers Hoffmann's opinions and insights into the nature of sculpture, day to day studio practice, and really paints a picture of how it was to be an American artist in the 1930's.

Another aspect I appreciate about the book is how immediate and contemporary her writing feels, compared to other older sculpture manuals. It doesn't feel like a peek into the distant past, but rather like a conversation with a mentor or peer. It really gives the sense of continuity with art history in a way other manuals don't. I don't even agree with some of her opinions or taste sometimes - she was a product of a more segregated, patriarchal time - but there is more to like in the book than to criticize.

But I wouldn't be recommending this book if it were not also a first rate source of studio practice and information. It's from this book that I learned how to use enlarging scales for marble carving, and with this book alone as a guide I enlarged a 40% life size figure in clay to a life-sized version straight into marble. I'm not sure if I even know of another manual which offers the specific information she does.

Most others stick to the figure in clay, and anatomy, but Hoffman details carving, casting, and even principles for the design of a good sculpture studio. Some of her information is dated, but this just means it has additionally become a part of the historical record of technique.”

Pictures of Jason's pantograph in his studio in Florence

More about the author:

Malvina Hoffman is often remembered for her sculptures in the “Races of Mankind” exhibition at the Field Museum from 1933, which by contemporary standards offered racist and myopic typologies of human biological variation. Deinstalled in 1966, many of the bronzes in the 104-piece exhibition were kept on display over the years as art, and not science at the museum. Recently restored, most of the artworks are back on display in the Looking at Ourselves: Rethinking the Sculptures of Malvina Hoffman which takes a hard look at the consequences of the original exhibition as well as reworking the narrative of the sculptures “closely examining the nuance and beauty that defines the person and inspiration behind each sculpture” (Field Museum). In correspondence from Hoffman while she was working from the field, traveling around the globe to sculpt people, she explained that she wanted to illustrate the “dignity and individuality of each of her subjects” which appears to be the aim of this newer exhibition.

Looking at Ourselves: Rethinking the Sculptures of Malvina Hoffman: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibitions/looking-ourselves-rethinking-sculptures-malvina-hoffman”

Malvina Hoffman biography: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/malvina-hoffman