Meet one of the most enigmatic and anachronistic sculptors in history - Franz Messerschmidt. His work looks modern, but that's a few centuries off the mark! He's not what you would expect from a sculptor from the Rococo period... So what gives? Why were these strange heads made? Learn the startling answer here.
Episode 89 - Anna Hyatt Huntington and Brookgreen Garden
Huntington was a prolific American sculptor in the early 20th century, but her greatest legacy may be the extensive and unique sculpture park she built, the first of its kind in the United States. Listen here to learn about the past and future of Brookgreen Garden; with interviews with Bryan Rapp and Robin Salmon.
Episode 88 - Greco-Roman Wrestling
The Venus De Milo, the Torso Belvedere, The Winged Victory, The Laocoon - some of the most famous Antique sculpture in the world. Strange that we know so little about who made them and why! So what makes them so famous? Find out the unexpected reasons here.
Episode 87 - The Colossus of Rhodes
It's often hyperbole to describe something as 'colossal' - but when you're talking about the statue for which the word 'colossal' was coined, you get a pass. Learn what there is to know about how and why the Colossus of Rhodes was built, and how it rightly earned its place as one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the original Bucket List.
Episode 86 - Quiz Show Finals!
The Sculptor's Funeral Podcast is finishing off this strange and terrible year with the final round of the quiz show! Listen to Lubov, David, and Liz test their knowledge of the history of sculpture, in their quest to attain the coveted Sculptor's Funeral coffee mug.
Episode 85 - Quiz Show, Round Three
Listen to CJ, Mark, and Lubov go head to head in Round Three of the Sculptor's Funeral Quiz Show!
Episode 84 - Quiz Show, Round Two
Listen to Rony, Alison, and David go head to head in Round Two of the Sculptor's Funeral Quiz Show!
Episode 83 - Quiz Show! Round One
Three avid listeners of the Sculptor's Funeral Podcast match wits and test their knowledge of art history! Round one, with Bruce, Liz, and Ali.
Episode 82 - The Road to Hellenism, Part II
Praxiteles and Lysippos - the two giants of 4th century Greece, and they are both covered in this episode. Learn what happened to the first classical nude female statue! Learn why eight heads are better than seven! And does Alexander succeed in Making Attica Great Again? Find out here.
Episode 81 - The Road To Hellenism, Part One
If 'Classic' derives from the Greek word for 'Best', then what comes after the time of Classical Athens? Something not as good for Athens, of course. But despite the fall of the world's first democracy, the arts in Athens and all of Greece continued and even flourished. In the first of this two-part episode, we'll cover the sculptors Alkamenes, Kresilas, and Skopas. In the second part, look out for Lysippos and Praxiteles.
Episode 80 - Polykleitos
In this episode, Jason discusses the sculpture of Polykleitos and the ideas behind them. One of the most celebrated sculptors in history, Polykleitos devised a new formula for the creation of figurative sculpture, known as the Kanon, which set the standard for generations of Greek sculptors following in this giant's wake. Want to be a Classicist in sculpture? The Kanon of Polykleitos is Classicism 101.
Episode 79 - The Parthenon
In this follow-up on the episode concerning the Greek sculptor Phidias, we take a look at the sculptural program of Greece's most famous structure, the Parthenon: why they were made, what they meant then, and why they have remained relevant - and even controversial - right up to our own day.
Episode 78 - The Golden Age
Vision, talent, will, and money - the perfect combination for a Golden Age in sculpture. It's only happened a small handful of times, and it happened first in 5th Century BC Greece. In the first of a series of episodes covering this period, Jason discusses well-known landmarks of Classical Greece such as the Riace Bronzes, the Discus Thrower, and the life and work of the greatest of Old Masters - Phidias.
Episode 77 - The Rise of Athens
What did it take to move Greek culture forward into the Classical period from the Archaic? Just a few victorious battles against impossible odds, unexpected and fantastic wealth, military and political genius, and... - oh yeah, the complete destruction of Athens. Learn how luck, will, disasters, and mayhem strong enough to wipe the archaic smile off any Greek's face kickstarted the greatest era of Greek civilization.
Episode 76 - Naissance
Renaissance means 'Rebirth'. But we don't hear much about the original 'Naissance' in Ancient Greece that gave birth to what we call Classical sculpture. When were the first lifesized bronze figures cast? What were the first civic public monuments? Who invented Contrapposto? Find out here.
Episode 75 - Why Greece?
In the first of a new series of Sculptor's Funeral episodes focusing on the ancient Greeks, Jason looks at the fundamental question underlying the nature of the entire Western European Tradition of sculpture - Why Greece? Why did it all start there, and why do artists throughout history keep returning there -and not Egypt or Persia or another artistic tradition? It's actually a question with a straightforward answer - Nature. But the origins and motives behind this simple answer are more complex.
Episode 74 - The Shrine of Democracy
Gutzon Borglum's masterpiece, the Mount Rushmore National Monument... Overblown tourist attraction, or a sculpture for the Ages? Listen to the unlikely story of its creation, and you might decide that somehow it's both.
Episode 73 - Gutzon Borglum, The One Man War
Who is Gutzon Borglum, you ask? How strange that the sculptor of the Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota is practically unknown, even in the United States. In the first of this two-part episode, we look at the life and work of the man, before he met the mountain.
Episode 72 - Confederate Statues and the Power of Propaganda
This episode of the Sculptor's Funeral examines the controversy surrounding the removal of statues from public spaces around the United States. Why are statues commemorating the losing side of a civil war more prevalent than those commemorating the victors of other wars? What is the message they were designed to send - and who sent the message? Jason examines this fascinating case study in public art as propaganda.
Episode 71 - The Lincoln Memorial
Daniel Chester French's greatest work is arguably the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. but where does 'greatness' in art come from? Is it given to the artwork by its creator, or is it, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder?