Harry Cooper and Sharon Hecker
With contributions by Henry Lie and Derek Pullen

2003. 164 pp., 107 color and 5 black-and-white illus., 8 x 10 in.

ISBN 0-300-10033-7 Cloth (available from Yale University Press)
ISBN 1-891771-31-0 Paper.
$30.00.
Copublished with Yale University Press

The Italian artist Medardo Rosso (1858-1928) is a key figure in the development of modern sculpture. His portraits and figureal studies have long been considered sculptural equivalents to Impressionism's concern with light at the expense of form. This insightful book-the first comprehensive study of Rosso's art-presents an artist more deeply concerned with materials, process, and the reproduction of his works than previously imagined.

Rosso's fascination with technique is explored in detail from art-historical, technical, and phenomenological perspectives. Drawing on a wealth of new archival material and close-up study of the sculptures themselves, the authors show that Rosso's waxes-his best-known works-were not modeled by hand but cast with the help of gelatin molds. The authors compare wax, plaster, and bronze casts of the same subjects to show that the manipulation of materials for visual effect was at the heart of his work. The book also reproduces and analyzes Rosso's fascinating photographs of his own sculpture, which offer important clues to the charged relationship he sought to create between viewers and the mysterious busts and figures he made.

By providing a second impression of an artist little known outside Europe and often misunderstood, this book establishes Rosso's unique and critical role in the history of modern art.

Harry Cooper is curator of modern art at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums. Sharon Hecker is an independent art historian who has published widely on Rosso's art. Henry Lie is head of the Straus Center for Conservation at the Harvard University Art Museums. Derek Pullen is head of sculpture conservation at the Tate in London.

Published by Yale University Press in association with the Harvard University Art Museums.

See exhibition information