In this post, it will follow up with some more observations I made of this sculpture “Marcus Daly” by Autustus Saint-Gaudens. Here I’ve laid out some examples of how lines in the position of masses can affect the movement of the viewers eye - these represent two of the tools artists use to guide a viewer’s experience work of a work of art. Here some of the things that I found my eyes doing while looking at this sculpture… see what you find yours doing… 

A look at the use of lines by Augustus Saint-Gaudens sculpture of Marcus Daly

A look at the use of lines and significant forms by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in the sculpture of Marcus Daly

 In the center, is what the sculpture as it looks when viewed from the back, to the left are the lines indicated that caught my eye and the directions they took me (you may have to click on image to see what direction the arrows are pointing). For me, it seemed like many of the lower lines brought my eye down to the bottom of that coat and to the leg is holding most of his weight. The upper lines seem to draw the attention to his shoulders and head. On the right are the main masses that caught my eye- starting with the head -I guess, because it’s at the top and maybe because some of those lines brought me there. Once my eyes fixated on the head, I found that it went down to that hat in his hand, then over to the bottom of the coat and then up to that portion of the coat draped over his arm and finally back to his head again. The ultimate effect for me was what a lot of artists referred to as ‘movement’ in a sculpture or painting… This is not to say that the artwork is of something in motion, rather, it creates movement on the part of the viewer’s gaze. So, even with a figure standing still or a bust can have ‘movement’ if it has the effect of sending your eye around the piece in a journey of continual discovery. Let us know what you find here and try it out on something near your home.