© Succession Brancusi - All rights reserved. ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2023. Photo credit: Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge
Carving a sculptural design directly into a material, most usually stone, as opposed to producing it through a plaster model and then a cast reproduction in a metal such as bronze. The latter technique found favour, for commercial reasons, in the 19th century and constituted the standard practice of a sculptor such as Auguste Rodin. Carving became something of a cause célèbre in Britain and France in the earlier 20th century when it came to be associated with the dogma of truth to materials.
Text source: The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Art Terms (2nd Edition) by Michael Clarke
