The Sculptor's Funeral
Latest Episodes
Episode 80 - Polykleitos
In this episode. Jason discusses the sculpture of Polykleitos and the ideas behind them. One of the most celebrated sculptors in history, Polykleitos devised a new formula for the creation of figurative sculpture, known as the Kanon, which set the...
Episode 79 - The Parthenon
In this follow-up on the episode concerning the Greek sculptor Phidias, we take a look at the sculptural program of Greece's most famous structure, the Parthenon: why they were made, what they meant then, and why they have remained relevant - and even...
Episode 78 - The Golden Age
Vision, talent, will, and money - the perfect combination for a Golden Age in sculpture. It's only happened a small handful of times, and it happened first in 5th Century BC Greece. In the first of a series of episodes covering this period, Jason...
Episode 77 - The Rise of Athens
What did it take to move Greek culture forward into the Classical period from the Archaic? Just a few victorious battles against impossible odds, unexpected and fantastic wealth, military and political genius, and... - oh yeah, the complete...
Episode 76 - Naissance
Renaissance means 'Rebirth'. But we don't hear much about the original 'Naissance' in Ancient Greece that gave birth to what we call Classical sculpture. When were the first lifesized bronze figures cast? What were the first civic public monuments?...
Episode 75 - Why Greece?
In the first of a new series of Sculptor's Funeral episodes focusing on the ancient Greeks, Jason looks at the fundamental question underlying the nature of the entire Western European Tradition of sculpture - Why Greece? Why did it all start there,...
Episode 74 - The Shrine of Democracy
Gutzon Borglum's masterpiece, the Mount Rushmore National Monument... Overblown tourist attraction, or a sculpture for the Ages? Listen to the unlikely story of its creation, and you might decide that somehow it's both.
Episode 73 - Gutzon Borglum, The One Man War
Who is Gutzon Borglum, you ask? How strange that the sculptor of the Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota is practically unknown, even in the United States. In the first of this two-part episode, we look at the life and work of the man,...
Episode 72 - Confederate Statues and the Power pf Propaganda
This episode of the Sculptor's Funeral examines the controversy surrounding the removal of statues from public spaces around the United States. Why are statues commemorating the losing side of a civil war more prevalent than those commemorating the...
Episode 71 - The Lincoln Memorial
Daniel Chester French's greatest work is arguably the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. but where does 'greatness' in art come from? Is it given to the artwork by its creator, or is it, like...