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Sculpture and Sketching: From Traditional to Modern

Grades 4 through 12

We will offer a selection of in-person and virtual field trips (using Zoom) for fall 2024.

Requests for winter/spring field trips (January 6 – May 30, 2025) will be accepted from December 1, 2024 – April 5, 2025.

From figurative bronzes and marble carvings to works of art that challenge conventional ideas about sculpture, students will investigate materials, techniques, subject matter, and artistic intent. Through sketching exercises and discussion, students will develop their ideas and interpretations of traditional sculptures in the West Building and modern sculptures in the East Building.

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Carved from white marble, a young woman sits turned to face the back of a wooden chair, where she props the open book she reads in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, her knees face us but her body and head are turned slightly to our left, toward the ladderback of the chair, so we see her face almost in profile as she looks down at the book. Her long hair is loosely tied back at the nape of her neck. She has a straight nose and her lips are closed. A delicate tear falls from her left eye, closer to us. A loose, short-sleeved garment falls open over her right shoulder so her breast is exposed. A medallion with a portrait of a man hangs from a long string around her neck. She holds the book open with her right hand, farther away from us, and her other hand rests in her lap. The book lies on more fabric bunching over the back of the chair. Her bare feet, crossed at the ankle, peek out from under her long garment so one foot extends beyond the edge of the marble base on which the chair rests.

Pietro Magni, The Reading Girl (La Leggitrice), model 1856, carved 1861, marble, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2003.84.1

Looking and Learning Skills

This field trip encourages participants to develop their ideas and interpretations based on careful observation, sketching, and discussion of sculpture at five to six stops. Students will practice:

  • Using sketching as a tool to observe and understand sculptural technique, form, and function
  • Debating, discussing, and interpreting the intended purpose and message of a sculpture or group of sculptures, and
  • Comparing and contrasting the materials, technique, and subject matter of sculptures

In-Person Field Trip Information

Group Size: Up to 60 students
Length: 90 minutes
Meeting Location: West Building Rotunda

Important Scheduling Information

Field trips must be scheduled at least four weeks in advance. Groups must contain at least 15 students.

Once your field trip has been scheduled, you will receive an email confirmation within ten business days.

Bus Transportation

Bus transportation is available for DCPS (District of Columbia Public Schools) participating in our docent-led school field trips. Teachers should follow the guidelines here to apply for bus transportation.

Examples of Works Featured on this Field Trip

A winged woman has hoisted a young, muscular man up and across one shoulder in this freestanding bronze statue. In this view, the woman runs toward us, her back foot lifted, as she wraps her arms around the man’s thighs. She looks off to our left, her hair swept up. Long, narrow wings slice into the space behind her. Her chest and shoulders are covered with gold armor, and drapery swirls around her legs. The man is nearly nude, covered only with a cloth across his groin. His arms are flung wide, one reaching high in the air and the other holding a broken sword by the woman’s shoulder. His head lolls to one side, his lips parted. A laurel branch lies at the woman’s foot on a small mound textured like a rock. An inscription on the front rim of the base reads “GLORIA VICTIS.”
Example works featured on the Sculpture and Sketching school tour

Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié, Gloria Victis, model c. 1874, cast after 1879, bronze, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1985.52.1
Sculpted with rich brown wax, a young ballerina stands with her arms straight, hands clasped behind her back, and one foot in front of the other on a square wooden base. Her body is angled to our left in this photograph. Both feet are splayed outward, and her right foot is placed far in front of her left. Bangs cover her forehead, and she has a heart-shaped, upturned face with a squat nose and slightly pursed lips. Her heavy-lidded eyes are nearly closed and her hair is pulled back and tied with a wide, cream-white ribbon. She wears a fabric costume with a sleeveless, gold-colored bodice, a gray tulle skirt, and ballet slippers. Her body is sculpted from dark brown wax, and a layer of wax covers her hair, bodice, and ballet slippers.
Example works featured on the Sculpture and Sketching school tour

Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1878-1881, pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton faille bodice, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.80.28
Carved from white marble, a young woman sits turned to face the back of a wooden chair, where she props the open book she reads in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, her knees face us but her body and head are turned slightly to our left, toward the ladderback of the chair, so we see her face almost in profile as she looks down at the book. Her long hair is loosely tied back at the nape of her neck. She has a straight nose and her lips are closed. A delicate tear falls from her left eye, closer to us. A loose, short-sleeved garment falls open over her right shoulder so her breast is exposed. A medallion with a portrait of a man hangs from a long string around her neck. She holds the book open with her right hand, farther away from us, and her other hand rests in her lap. The book lies on more fabric bunching over the back of the chair. Her bare feet, crossed at the ankle, peek out from under her long garment so one foot extends beyond the edge of the marble base on which the chair rests.
Example works featured on the Sculpture and Sketching school tour

Pietro Magni, The Reading Girl (La Leggitrice), model 1856, carved 1861, marble, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2003.84.1
We look down onto nine gray stone domes that melt into each other in the space of a patio enclosed with a pink marble wall opposite floor-to-ceiling windows. Each dome is nearly as tall as the ceiling over the windows, and each is made of stacked pieces of slate. At the top center of each dome is a collar of gray slate to create a pupil-like opening. The stone collar creating the openings is lighter gray around the ink-black centers, which are the shaded interiors of the domes. The domes meld and stack like a handful of bubbles.
Example works featured on the Sculpture and Sketching school tour

Andy Goldsworthy, Roof, 2004-2005, Buckingham Virginia slate, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2005.86.1
Example works featured on the Sculpture and Sketching school tour

Constantin Brâncuși, Bird in Space, 1927, brass, limestone, and wood, Given in loving memory of her husband, Taft Schreiber, by Rita Schreiber, 1989.31.3
Six black, wedgelike shapes, one dark blue arrowhead shape, and six red triangular shapes with rounded corners are connected with thin rods to form this abstract sculpture. In this photograph, we look up at the piece to where it hangs from the glass ceiling of a light-filled interior space with marble walls. The paddle-like shapes are attached to the end of the curved rods, which are linked together like branches. In our view, the black arm curves up across the top of the picture and the red arm curves down into the lower right corner, and to our left. Each red paddle is smaller as they move from the central armature to the end of the branch.
Example works featured on the Sculpture and Sketching school tour

Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1976, aluminum and steel, Gift of the Collectors Committee, 1977.76.1

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