The space of
sculpture, like the space of painting, is of course a represented or
imaginary space, to be carefully distinguished from the real space of
the room in which it is placed and the floor upon which it stands. The
pedestal serves the same purpose in sculpture as the frame in the
sister art; it cuts off the ideal space which the statue fills from
the real space where it is housed, raising it above the common ground
of real life, with its practical and social attitudes, into the realm
of contemplation. The pedestal should be of a different material from
the statue, else it belongs with the latter, and fails to perform its
separating junction. The plate, on the other hand, should be of the
same material, otherwise the statue would be made to stand on our
earth, and in the same space with us.
However, just as in painting every object should be represented as
belonging to a wider whole of space, so in sculpture, every part of
the body should be represented as belonging to the whole body. If,
therefore, only a part of the body is sculptured, it should be evident
that it is a part and not the whole. In the portrait statue, for
example, if the head alone is represented, there should appear, along
with the head, as much of the bust as will suggest attachment to the
body, in order that it may not seem decapitated! It is because the
torso is so obviously a fragment of an ideal whole that we do not feel
it to be an uncanny mutilation of a man or woman.
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