Nude Photographs Inspire Female Nude Sculpture

I took inspiration for “Landscape in Five” from some black and white photographs I have seen of nude female figures. The photographers had arranged several female models side by side, facing up and down or on their sides and then back lit the composition. The result was a photo that appeared to be of a landscape of sand dunes.

I began work on this sculpture at Studio SEM in Pietrasanta, Italy when I rented space to work in the fall of 2008. My vision was to create five female figures in repose as a high relief on the top side of a rectangular block of Carrara marble. I partially worked the piece in Italy and then finished the sculpture in my studio in Vancouver.

I have carved the figures’ physiques as slim and athletic. The positive curves of thighs, breasts and buttocks and negative hollows combined with the smooth, matte finish allow for wonderful shadows to be held.

It quickly became evident that my composition was bottom heavy, so I began rounding the bottom and hit upon the notion of bringing the bottom planes up to meet the edges of the figures’ anatomy. Since the female bodies alternate head to toe and front to back, their thighs, shoulders and necks form an undulating line at the perimeter. When I brought the bottom plane up, this undulating line looks like the lip of a giant clam shell or  petals of a flower.

I mounted the sculpture on a pin at the center of the bottom and the piece can be easily rotated so the viewer can enjoy any angle. The circular base is made from charcoal grey basalt. The title describes my intent perfectly. A landscape of female figures arranged to emulate a landscape.

For more information on this female nude marble sculpture, click here.