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Exercise in Studio Art: Ugliness and Beauty in Sculpture

Auguste Rodin said:

"And as it is solely the power of character which makes for beauty in art, it often happens that the uglier a being is in nature, the more beautiful it becomes in art."

"There is nothing ugly in art except that which is without character, that is to say, that which offers no outer or inner truth."

"Whatever is false, whatever is artificial, whatever seeks to be pretty rather than expressive, whatever is capricious and affected, whatever smiles without motive, bends or struts without cause, is mannered without reason; all that is without soul and without truth; all that is only a parade of beauty and grace; all, in short, that lies, is ugliness in art."

Student instructions:

Using Rodin's idea of ugliness as your guide, search the AMICO Library and find a sculpture you consider ugly. Then create a sketch, plan, maquette, or model for a sculpture representing your interpretation of Rodin's idea of beauty.

Include with your assignment a print out of the work from the AMICO Library and a brief description of the "ugly" sculpture and the "beautiful"sculpture.

View All Model Assignments

Provide Feedback

All the AMICO assignments have been tested against The AMICO Library to make sure there is sufficient content to complete the exercise. We are expanding this area with additional assignments on a regular basis and would appreciate understanding your needs for more exercises in a particular area or of a particular type. Also, we would like to post assignments from faculty of subscribing schools to make this area as rich and useful as possible. Please email feedback@amico.org if you wish to comment on the existing assignments, suggest future assignments, or contribute something you've created.



     


In June of 2005, the members of the Art Museum Image Consortium voted to dissolve their collaboration. This site remains online for archival reasons.