THE 31 MOST FAMOUS SCULPTORS IN HISTORY - ART - 2024

The famous sculptors in history have been visual artists who created three-dimensional works using different materials such as wood, stone, marble, glass, clay or metal. In this line, sculpture requires an advanced artistic sense, dexterity, precision and great physical work.

The art of carvings has existed since the beginning of time; some of the oldest sculptures on record date from around 10,000 BC Imagery has been a fundamental part of religious devotion in many cultures.

Great masterpieces were produced in Ancient Greece during the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture sought to represent the agony and passion of the Christian faith. Soon after, the revival of classical sculpture models during the Renaissance gave rise to famous sculptures, such as Michelangelo's David.

Today, modern sculpture has moved away from traditional processes and emphasis on the representation of the human body, giving rise to the constructivist sculpture movement.

You may also be interested in this list of famous architects.

Who have been the greatest sculptors in history?

Miguel Angel Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)

Italian sculptor, as well as painter, architect and poet of the Renaissance period. His influence on the development of Western art was fundamental. His most outstanding works in sculpture are David and La Piedad, both can be found in the cities of Florence and The Vatican, respectively.

Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917)

He was a French sculptor and is considered the father of modern sculpture. He was educated in the traditional art school, however he developed a style that would definitely influence the future of sculpture. Among his main works are The Thinker, The Kiss and The Bronze Age.

Donatello (1386-1466)

Italian sculptor, he developed in the early age of the Renaissance in the city of Florence. He worked stone, bronze, wood, clay and stucco. Although his greatest contribution are monumental sculptures (David, Saint George), Donatello also dominated the bas-relief genre.

Constantin Brancusi (1876 - 1957)

Roman sculptor, painter and photographer, he developed his career in France. He is considered a pioneer of the modernist movement and one of the most influential exponents of sculpture during the 20th century. Among his most recognized works are La Columna sin Fin and Ave en el Espacio.

Antonio Canova (1757 - 1822)

Italian sculptor of the Neo-Classicism period. He stood out for his works in marble, which took elements from the Baroque period and the revival of the classical period. Among his most famous sculptures are Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, The Three Graces and Venus Victrix.

Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378 - 1455)

Italian early Renaissance artist, best known as the creator of the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery. He studied blacksmithing and sculpture. He founded a metal sculpture workshop that was a hotbed for artists during his time.

Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

Spanish visual artist, poet, and playwright, he spent most of his adult life in France. Considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he was a co-founder of the Cubist movement.

He was self-taught in sculpture and developed his own style, crude at the beginning, but always innovative and purposeful.

Marcel Duchamp (1887 - 1968)

French artist, naturalized American. His work is associated with Cubism, Conceptual Art, and Dadaism. Along with Picasso and Matisse, he is considered one of the artists who defined the revolutionary development of the plastic arts at the beginning of the 20th century.

Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976)

American sculptor, considered the creator of the "mobile", a type of mobile sculpture that achieves a delicate balance of pieces that move by the action of touch or wind. He also produced wire figures and a miniature circus that he himself operated.

Camille Claudel (1864 - 1943)

Sculptor and graphic artist born in France. She died in relative obscurity, yet her work gained recognition for its originality after her death.

It is believed that she suffered from a mental illness that led her to destroy much of her work. She accused Rodin of stealing her ideas and plotting for her death.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

Italian artist and scientist who excelled in the areas of invention, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, history, and cartography. Among his most famous sculptures are Horse and Rider, a bronze sculpture.

Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987)

American artist, prominent figure in the visual arts movement known as pop art. His work explored the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertising in the 1960s.

His most famous sculptures are perhaps his Brillo Boxes, silkscreen prints on wooden replicas of the cardboard boxes used to store Brillo detergent.

Salvador Dalí (1904 - 1989)

Surrealist artist of Catalan origin, he was one of the most prominent painters of his time. His artistic abilities were influenced by the masters of the Renaissance. His repertoire of works includes films, sculptures, photographs, and collaborations with multiple artists.

Among his main sculptural works are Mae West's Lobster Telephone and Lips Sofa, completed in 1936 and 1937 respectively.

Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966)

A Swiss-born sculptor, he was also known as a famous post-impressionist painter. He belonged to the Surrealist, Expressionist, Cubist and Formalist movements. His anthropomorphic sculptures, such as Three Walking Men, were his hallmark.

Jean Arp (1886 - 1966)

Sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist of Franco-German origin. It belonged to the abstract, surrealist and dada movements. He was distinguished with several recognitions, including the Grand Prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1954.

One of his most recognized works is Pastor de Nubes, which can be found in the University City of Caracas, Venezuela.

Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741 - 1828)

French sculptor neo-classicism. Noted for the creation of busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the illustration. Among them, he portrayed Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire, Moliere, Washington, Jefferson, and Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806.

Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571)

Italian blacksmith, sculptor and musician. He belonged to and was one of the main exponents of Mannerism. He made large-scale sculptures, such as the Golden Bridge of the Chateau de Fontainebleau, one of the largest royal palaces in France, located southeast of Paris.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834 - 1904)

French sculptor, best known for his design of Liberty Enlightening the World, popularly called the Statue of Liberty. The sculpture was unveiled in 1886, as a gift from the French people to the American people. It was said in France that the model for the sculpture was Bartholdi's mother.

Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770 - 1844)

An internationally renowned Danish sculptor, he spent most of his life in Italy. His work was developed in a heroic neo-classical style. Among his most famous sculptures are that of Nicolaus Copernicus and JozefPoniatowski in Poland as well as that of Maximilian I in Munich.

Fernando Botero (1932-)

Colombian figurative artist and sculptor, born in Medellín. His characteristic style, called “Boterismo”, represents people in figures of exaggerated proportions and volume.

He is the most recognized and cited living Latin American artist. His works can be found in many parts of the world, such as Park Avenue in New York and the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Naum Gabo (1890 - 1977)

Prominent Russian sculptor who belonged to the Constructivist movement and was a pioneer of kinetic art.

His sculptures were monumental and mostly involved movement. An example is the Revolving Torsion, a moving sculpture / fountain found at St. Thomas Hospital in London.

Anthony Caro (1924 - 2013)

English abstract sculptor. It was characterized by the use of industrial objects and waste materials in metallic sculptural assemblages.

He is considered the leading English sculptor of his generation. During his career he also collaborated with famous architects, such as Frank Ghery and Norman Foster.

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 - 2002)

French sculptor, painter and filmmaker. Many of her works are large and are exhibited in public areas, such as Tympanum, in the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art or the Miles Davis sculpture outside the Negresco Hotel in Nice.

Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876 - 1918)

French artist, brother of Marcel Duchamp, he devoted himself to painting and sculpture. He mainly belonged to the Cubist movement and among his most outstanding works are the Torso of a Young Man, the Cubist Mansion and Maggy, a bronze sculpture.

Umberto Boccioni (1882 - 1916)

Italian painter and sculptor, he helped lay the foundations of the Futurist movement. Although he had a short life (he died at 33 years of age), his influence was clear on artists of the following generations.

His works are kept in art museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Andy Goldsworthy (1956 -)

British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist. He has produced works specially developed for specific places located in urban and natural settings. Lives in Scotland today.

Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917)

French artist, famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. He is particularly identified with the theme of dance, since more than half of his works include dancers.

He is considered one of the founders of impressionism, although he himself considered himself more of a realist. Among his most famous works is The Bellelli Family.

Augusta Savage (1892 - 1962)

African-American sculptor, associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Her study was instrumental in the development of a generation of artists who achieved national fame in the United States. She fought for equal rights in the artistic community.

Lorenzo Bartolini (1777 - 1850)

Italian sculptor of the neo-classicist period. It was influenced by the Florentine Renaissance. His main sculptural works include the Monument to Elisa Bonaparte and La Ninfa y el Scorpión. His work also includes a large number of busts and portraits.

Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985)

French painter and sculptor whose idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced the so-called "low art" and discarded traditional standards of beauty, favoring what he considered a more humane and authentic vision of image creation.

He is considered the founder of the so-called "Art Brut" and the collection of works that this movement generated. Among his most outstanding sculptural works are the Monument with the Standing Beast and the Monumentau Fantome.

Henry Moore (1898 - 1986)

English artist, best known for his monumental semi-abstract bronze sculptures, located in different parts of the world. His works mainly represent abstractions of the human figure, on many occasions illustrating figures of mothers and children.

His sculptures typically include empty spaces or holes. His ability to complete works of great magnitude earned him great fortune during the latter part of his life.

Bibliographic references

1. Sculpturehistory. Extracted from: visual-arts-cork.com.
2. The History of Sculpture. Extracted from: scholastic.com.