I could listen to Simon talk about his art and his craft for ever! What a beautiful process. The phrase 'carving is essentially trapping shadows' will stay with me!
That's why speaking is so important. Not everyone knows how to put their thoughts into words. Just like explaining your emotions to another, do they understand, can they comprehend? To teach another how to explain their feelings is so important to enhance our lives.
He does such a good job of describing the process and what goes through his mind. I’d love to see this with other artists, like directors, musicians, etc
What a privilege and a blessing to be such a gifted artist, and to know that hundreds of years from now your work will still be admired and appreciated.
"Removing the marks from the previous tool" until it reveals the beauty an artisans skills can create. Best description of carving I have ever heard (the essence of the process explained so well). "Roughing out" takes on a much more nuanced meaning with a Master's insight. Wonderful vlog Please share more.
This is quite a good introduction to the tools, process, and work habits for marble carving. The studio looks so authentic, and so does this artist. I have done copies too, but mine are drawings or paintings. And I agree with one point made here, which is that, aside from working to replicate the forms and style of the original, really the most important thing in the end it to somehow capture the "spirit". Successfully doing that can be difficult and elusive, and I must say that only an infinitesimally small percentage of later artists can ever achieve this. There is always a deep or moving spirit conveyed by the best artists in history, and I believe anyone copying such an artwork needs to become so immersed in recognizing that spirit that they can tap into the sensibility and purpose that the original artist must have felt.
I am absolutely in love with sculpture. I always visit the sculpture galleries of museums and spend hours just looking at various pieces and marveling at how artists can bring out a form out of stone. Just sublime.
There is though, you just have to be able to let go of the original vision and change your goal. Michaelangelo carved a pieta from a stone another artist had messed up, and considered unworkable.
I've never seen marble carved before. It's rather a delicate process and really quite beautiful. with one tool erasing the marks of the tool before it.
What a gift to the world this man and his talent is. If only more people could eke out the gems of their life; whether through painting, music, writing, dance etc. Bravo Simon Smith !
He does a fantastic job of explaining the process in a way that makes you understand the basics without overwhelming the mind. Makes me want to try my hand at it.
Marble is soft and fine, try granite!! granite is extremely hard and unlike the fine grain of marble- granite is very crystaline and course, it's a very difficult stone to carve!
you know how crazy you talk into it was even i had no background in sculpting, your words made me think i can. and by just following these steps wholeheartedly by means of passion of interest
I find this incredibly interesting, I know nothing of sculpting stone much less marble but I'm simply compelled to start learning. I live on an island so the only plentiful stones or rock are either river stones or lava rock. I'll also have to learn all about the tools of the trade, chisels brushes hammers etc. Anyways I'll be investigating many more videos on this subject, Thank you so much for posting this beauty.......🎸🎸🎸♥️
I absolutely love this! I always get put off by the less than ideal level of regard in the art world regarding copies. With music a reinterpretation of an original work is celebrated and thought of this something interesting and worthwhile, whereby in art we seem to have such much obsession with the original and copies are not often celebrated. I think this video shows that it's actually a wonderful thing to reinterpret an original work in any medium.
Ah I love this video. Very revealing to actually see someone going at the stone like this. Have always wondered about how it is with marble. "how could they make these out of stone?? stone is so hard?" a pointy metal thing and a hammer and going bit by bit by bit. fantastic
Wow! Simon is an amazing Artist. I love watching him. This was the fastest Seven minutes and Thirteen seconds of my life. Thank you for this great video, Jeff
Only just discovered this... out of all the arts the skills of a sculptor absolutely astound me! Not gonna lie! I think this is the best "taster" video to get me to find out more about this guy... thoroughly enjoyed how he explained the process, stunning work!
This is an incredible presentation. If I had seen this as a child it might have changed the direction of my life. I’ll never look at sculpture the same way again.
It's refreshing to hear a true artist explain things in simple coherent terms versus the so called conceptual artists that spew out a bunch of nonsense trying to explain away an uninspiring useless object.
In a world dominated by digital media and increasingly by AI -- I love seeing somebody creating something by hand, and doing it well. Nothing in the world beats hand-made artistry.
Enjoyed this. I have been a stonemason for 17 years, wish someone had clarified the nuances between banker and sculpture before I started my apprenticeship. It’s a shame that masons are paid so poorly compared to other trades, never understood why.
hello, I'm curious when you say the difference what do you mean? I had as well considered these very similar more or less being that a banker is just a sculpturer in a more construction-applied form. Currently looking for an apprenticeship in stone masonry, so this is actually very relevant to me. Are you taking apprentices if so respond with your email :) thanks.
made me want to try these tools and materials :) when I see someone doing art, I can’t help myself, but want to play with the toys these people are playing…
This man is amazing and i dont mean to take anything away from him with my next statement, but my mind is blown imaging people do this 700 years ago i cant believe people were that talented then, and figuring out how to do all this without modern tools or techniques, and from houses with no electricity.
I never really though about it before, but carving (especially panel carving) can be though of as a drawing using actual shadows as the medium. That is such an interesting concept that I would have never thought of before.
Excellent! Thank you so much! Marble. No power tools. A sculpture from start to finish. A Donatello! Perfect! The narration and camerawork are spot on. Kudos! P.S. - (No sanding?)
I’ve carved, wood, limestone and various varieties of alabaster but never marble. Gouges, mallets, points, flats, claws, rasps - loved connecting with the history of carving
Breathtaking! But all I can think of watching that stone dust fly is: where is your respirator mask?!?! All that fine stone dust going into your lungs and damaging them! I'm such a mom.🙇♀️
That was my thought as well, it would damage the lungs overtime 😮 and of course how amazing and beautiful your piece is 😍 I could watch that slow mo all day, very fascinating 🧐
Are there any modern day examples of re-creating carvings such as Queirolo's "Il Disinganno" without the use of modern day power tools? Would like to find more info/videos about modern sculptors that use traditional methods producing details such as gauze, or fishnetting as in Queirolo's mentioned piece.
In many cases for me, listening to an artist describe his or her method of creation can be somewhat distracting from the art itself. However, this reproduction project by Simon was just the opposite, giving light to the multiple layers of craftsmanship in working with marble while honoring the vision for the final rendering. I will never look at another marble sculpture again without remembering this video. Thank you for sharing!
I could listen to Simon talk about his art and his craft for ever! What a beautiful process. The phrase 'carving is essentially trapping shadows' will stay with me!
That's why speaking is so important. Not everyone knows how to put their thoughts into words. Just like explaining your emotions to another, do they understand, can they comprehend? To teach another how to explain their feelings is so important to enhance our lives.
I can but concur, a very pleasant and inspirational narrator. That phrase, furthermore, is really an epitome of the art.
Yes that really resonated with me really meant something to me
It is always a wonderful thing, to touch the mind of an artist.
That sounds messy and extremely dangerous to the artist.
Always wash your hands first.
“Capturing shadow”. Love this so much! More of these, please!
Make sure you're subscribed - we've got something coming up
"Trapping" I know, I loved that
@@vamuseumAre there any health problems from the marble dust that a sculptor inhales during the carving process?
How wonderful to watch this come to life
He does such a good job of describing the process and what goes through his mind. I’d love to see this with other artists, like directors, musicians, etc
Agreed. Other artists try to be coy or overly-philosophical to hide the actual mechanics of creating their works.
My son is 5 and we're learning about art. I showed him this and he thought it was very interesting.
1st time watching stone carving . why am i feeling so serene and relax .
Thank you Victoria and Albert museum another great video
Donatello was an incredible and very important sculptor who must not get forgotten
Beautiful, thank you Simon Smith and Victoria and Albert Museum for sharing this with us!
What a privilege and a blessing to be such a gifted artist, and to know that hundreds of years from now your work will still be admired and appreciated.
Carving is just about trapping the shadow! Incredible!
"Removing the marks from the previous tool" until it reveals the beauty an artisans skills can create. Best description of carving I have ever heard (the essence of the process explained so well). "Roughing out" takes on a much more nuanced meaning with a Master's insight. Wonderful vlog Please share more.
This is quite a good introduction to the tools, process, and work habits for marble carving. The studio looks so authentic, and so does this artist. I have done copies too, but mine are drawings or paintings. And I agree with one point made here, which is that, aside from working to replicate the forms and style of the original, really the most important thing in the end it to somehow capture the "spirit". Successfully doing that can be difficult and elusive, and I must say that only an infinitesimally small percentage of later artists can ever achieve this. There is always a deep or moving spirit conveyed by the best artists in history, and I believe anyone copying such an artwork needs to become so immersed in recognizing that spirit that they can tap into the sensibility and purpose that the original artist must have felt.
I am absolutely in love with sculpture. I always visit the sculpture galleries of museums and spend hours just looking at various pieces and marveling at how artists can bring out a form out of stone. Just sublime.
Do you prefer colored, the sort of sculptures the ancient Greeks and Romans made, or bare stone?
@@ZephaniahL I love the bare marble and fully admit that it’s the result of our “modern” sensibilities.
Sculpting in my opinion is the hardest form of art. There is literally *ZERO* room for error.
There is though, you just have to be able to let go of the original vision and change your goal. Michaelangelo carved a pieta from a stone another artist had messed up, and considered unworkable.
@@travismiller5548 That was The David
I've seen some interesting errors in sculpture
@@northfield3654 no, I mean the Florentine Pieta, "the deposition"
@@travismiller5548 the one Michelangelo didn't complete and destroyed?
I've never seen marble carved before. It's rather a delicate process and really quite beautiful. with one tool erasing the marks of the tool before it.
What a gift to the world this man and his talent is. If only more people could eke out the gems of their life; whether through painting, music, writing, dance etc. Bravo Simon Smith !
Really incredible to see this process and what a fabulous teacher.
He does a fantastic job of explaining the process in a way that makes you understand the basics without overwhelming the mind. Makes me want to try my hand at it.
What a demanding art form, absolutely incredible carving into such hard material with that precision. Truly talented.
Marble is soft and fine, try granite!! granite is extremely hard and unlike the fine grain of marble- granite is very crystaline and course, it's a very difficult stone to carve!
you know how crazy you talk into it was even i had no background in sculpting, your words made me think i can. and by just following these steps wholeheartedly by means of passion of interest
what an interview/documentary. skilled carver and communicates very well
I learn something new each time I watch this. Simon you make me want to try this as Donatello is my favorite Early Renaissance sculptor.
The part at 1:57 where he says “tempered and drawn out by a blacksmith” matched perfectly with the hitting sound is so sayisfying
In the 2012 TMNT Donatello constantly corrected people saying his namesake was a painter. SCULPTOR he would shout!
I enjoyed watching thanks and love from Turkey
"Trapping shadows" what a beautiful concept.
Thank you for keeping the dream alive - real artistry.
Utmost respect for people doing this work, keeping skills alive.
I find this incredibly interesting, I know nothing of sculpting stone much less marble but I'm simply compelled to start learning. I live on an island so the only plentiful stones or rock are either river stones or lava rock. I'll also have to learn all about the tools of the trade, chisels brushes hammers etc. Anyways I'll be investigating many more videos on this subject, Thank you so much for posting this beauty.......🎸🎸🎸♥️
Well done V&A! That’s a beautiful film. I wish every piece of art could be given this captivating treatment. 10/10
What a joy to watch! Thank you ❤
I absolutely love this! I always get put off by the less than ideal level of regard in the art world regarding copies. With music a reinterpretation of an original work is celebrated and thought of this something interesting and worthwhile, whereby in art we seem to have such much obsession with the original and copies are not often celebrated. I think this video shows that it's actually a wonderful thing to reinterpret an original work in any medium.
Fascinating! I've always wondered how such lifelike sculptures were made. Amazing!
Nothing quite as awe inspiring as the privilege of watching a master at his craft. Beautiful man, beautiful artist.
What an amazing video showing the talent required to create this piece of art. Thanks for sharing and Simon Smith...you are incredible!
Great work, Simon. Wonderful work, V & A.
Ah I love this video. Very revealing to actually see someone going at the stone like this. Have always wondered about how it is with marble. "how could they make these out of stone?? stone is so hard?" a pointy metal thing and a hammer and going bit by bit by bit. fantastic
That sublte sound made by the chisel, so carefully and proficiently driven onto the marble surface, is sheer and delightful music, to my ears.
Wow! Simon is an amazing Artist. I love watching him.
This was the fastest Seven minutes and Thirteen seconds
of my life.
Thank you for this great video,
Jeff
Wonderful video!
A pity it wasn't longer though - maybe 20 minutes or so!
Very relaxing and calming watching him work. A real craftsman!
I would love a long video of him just carving. No dialogue, just pure chiselling sound.
This experienced craftsman speaks so simply but so much experience and lessons learned
Only just discovered this... out of all the arts the skills of a sculptor absolutely astound me! Not gonna lie! I think this is the best "taster" video to get me to find out more about this guy... thoroughly enjoyed how he explained the process, stunning work!
He said the drawing is more of a diagram and made THAT DRAWING! Man he is talented and hardworking!
Before I ever knew how to draw, I started to carve. I was fascinated by old building brick and how soft it was and easy to work with.
marble is such a beautiful material
I had a lot of joy watching this.
This is an incredible presentation. If I had seen this as a child it might have changed the direction of my life. I’ll never look at sculpture the same way again.
Thanks for posting such awesome content! What an amazing artist he is and I loved the way he explained his process.
It's refreshing to hear a true artist explain things in simple coherent terms versus the so called conceptual artists that spew out a bunch of nonsense trying to explain away an uninspiring useless object.
Breathtaking! 🙏🏻
It is looking fantastic.
Incredible. Very rare talent to see. Thank you.
That was amazing, the way you described it it really meant something to me.
In a world dominated by digital media and increasingly by AI -- I love seeing somebody creating something by hand, and doing it well. Nothing in the world beats hand-made artistry.
love this … such beautiful craftsmanship
Simply amazing beautiful work. Wonderful craftsmanship
seems like a genuinely nice human being,........stone carving is def' a medium I haven't tried yet,......but looks so awesome.
Nothing quite like a pair of skilled human hands.
Enjoyed this. I have been a stonemason for 17 years, wish someone had clarified the nuances between banker and sculpture before I started my apprenticeship. It’s a shame that masons are paid so poorly compared to other trades, never understood why.
hello, I'm curious when you say the difference what do you mean? I had as well considered these very similar more or less being that a banker is just a sculpturer in a more construction-applied form. Currently looking for an apprenticeship in stone masonry, so this is actually very relevant to me. Are you taking apprentices if so respond with your email :) thanks.
Insufficient demand?
I really enjoyed this video. You are a fantastic artist.
made me want to try these tools and materials :) when I see someone doing art, I can’t help myself, but want to play with the toys these people are playing…
This man is amazing and i dont mean to take anything away from him with my next statement, but my mind is blown imaging people do this 700 years ago i cant believe people were that talented then, and figuring out how to do all this without modern tools or techniques, and from houses with no electricity.
Marble has been carved for almost 4000 years.
Beautiful allegory on how to be compelling: small nibbles
I never really though about it before, but carving (especially panel carving) can be though of as a drawing using actual shadows as the medium. That is such an interesting concept that I would have never thought of before.
Excellent! Thank you so much! Marble. No power tools. A sculpture from start to finish. A Donatello! Perfect! The narration and camerawork are spot on. Kudos! P.S. - (No sanding?)
I could be watching him and this channel for long hours, it is so informative, interesting and ASMR 🌼🌸 Once again, thanks for your channel 🌸🌸🌼🌼🌺🌺🏵🏵
Wow this guy is amazing, and very smart when it comes to his craft.
this is so fascinating!! please give us more videos like this!!
I have always wondered about the sculpting process. Thank you and the sculptor for sharing.
I’ve carved, wood, limestone and various varieties of alabaster but never marble. Gouges, mallets, points, flats, claws, rasps - loved connecting with the history of carving
he is human hero this is revelations beautiful sacrifice his life for stone marble cutting i couldn't do this work unbelievable
I could listen and watch this artisans narrative and art form forever. Such an incredible technique and skill. ❤
Wow.. thats just incredible
That was really beautiful, I was really impressed. I think you did capture a lot of the spirit - which isn't easy.
This is absolutely fascinating! Thank you for sharing your process. I’d love to see more!
Beautiful. Its would have been great to show how long did it take him to finish it
Such a wonderful satisfying process to watch.
Beyond fascinating!
Marvellous talent.
Amazing. Thank you for sharing. Would love to see more of Simon
Absolutely beautiful, thank you for talking about your work as you make this gorgeous piece. That is awesome. I loved listening to how you do this. ❤
This is so amazing! Thank you!
I love artists sooo much!
Beautiful work
great interview
Stunning!
Breathtaking! But all I can think of watching that stone dust fly is: where is your respirator mask?!?! All that fine stone dust going into your lungs and damaging them! I'm such a mom.🙇♀️
You are completely right, though.
That was my thought as well, it would damage the lungs overtime 😮 and of course how amazing and beautiful your piece is 😍 I could watch that slow mo all day, very fascinating 🧐
Let him be
I hope when he is just carving and not also presenting, he wears a mask.
Sugar is way more dangerous than this dust, but still you eat it and no piece of art comes from you
beautiful art form
Incredible
@1:45 look at that freehand straight line
It's not "freehand" he's using his second finger on the blocks straight line as a guide. Literally anybody can do it after a few minutes practice
Tungsten is a metal. Tungsten carbide is a ceramic with metal in it.
thanks - i was wondering. i wonder who the heck thought of that for sculpting? 🌹
Beautiful sculpture
Talent and magic.
Unrelated, but I love your workshirt!
So educational and beautiful work. Thank you.
Beautifully done
Are there any modern day examples of re-creating carvings such as Queirolo's "Il Disinganno" without the use of modern day power tools? Would like to find more info/videos about modern sculptors that use traditional methods producing details such as gauze, or fishnetting as in Queirolo's mentioned piece.
I can't believe that this is a V&A video and this carver is carving without a mask
In many cases for me, listening to an artist describe his or her method of creation can be somewhat distracting from the art itself. However, this reproduction project by Simon was just the opposite, giving light to the multiple layers of craftsmanship in working with marble while honoring the vision for the final rendering. I will never look at another marble sculpture again without remembering this video. Thank you for sharing!
It really is great seeing someone do this. I'm sharing this with my sculptor friends..