Sculpture Machines. Competition of Reproduction Techniques 1770-1870

• Applicant: Dr. Buket Altinoba
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 436256896

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

At the onset of the nineteenth century, collaboration between artists and engineers led to the creation of sculpturing machines capable of producing precise three-dimensional replicas. This study explores the origins, circumstances, and rationale behind the emergence of these machines, as well as their impact on the reproduction of sculpture and the concepts of originality and imitation. It examines early industrial machines' designs, functions, and output and highlights their significance for canonisation, contributing to a media history of sculpture. Traditionally, the discourse on reproduction has focused on photography, but this research positions sculpturing machines as central to nineteenth-century reproduction. It reconstructs sculptor’s pronounced engagement with mechanical processes during the transition to modernity, providing insights into the historical precursors of modern artistic practices and their relevance for the sculptural in the (post-)digital age. The study argues that machinegenerated forms, such as those produced by sculpturing machines, challenged traditional freehand artistic creation and paralleled the development of photography. These machines are seen as advanced technical tools and aesthetic paradigms with significant implications for art reproduction through the lens of contemporary image and object theories. By analysing sculpturing machines and their role in technological innovation since the Industrial Revolution, the study sheds light on the impact of modern reproduction techniques, including photo-sculpture, and highlights the importance of these techniques in the development of CNC milling, 3D scanning and 3D printing technologies. This interdisciplinary approach showcases how advancements in technology and materials have transformed reproduction processes and the interconnectedness between photography and sculpture, emphasising the various socio-economic, ecological, gender-specific, and philosophical implications of employing tools, mechanical processes, and machines in art. Viewing the sculpturing machine as a precursor of current technologies, this study also highlights its output, such as miniature busts or small and monumental sculptures, and thus its influence on canonisation. Through this analysis, it offers new perspectives on the complex relationships between technology, art and society in the nineteenth century and beyond.

Publications

• Das ‚Multiple‘ im 19. Jahrhundert: Von Skulpturmaschinen, Techniktraktaten und Porträt-Miniaturbüsten, in: ———/Männig, M., Figuren der Replikation, kritische berichte, 48, 3, 2020, 67–80
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Figuren der Replikation, kritische berichte, 48, 3, 2020
  Altinoba, Buket & Männig, Maria
  
• Lissabon 2021: Internationaler Kongress: A “Arte” do Gesso – Entre a criação e a réplica – Estudo e preservação. The “Art” of Plaster – Between Creation and Reproduction – Study and Preservation; Faculdade de Belas-Artes, Universidade de Lisboa, Vortrag: “Sculpture Machines. Competition of Reproduction Techniques 1770-1870,” 08.–10. Nov. (online)
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• München 2021: Internationales Symposium: The Sculpture in the Post-)Digital Age, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte München; Vortrag: “Skulpturmaschinen. Wettstreit der Reproduktionstechniken 1770–1870”, 26.–27. Mai (online)
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Rom 2021: Internationaler Workshop: Marble from the Middle Ages to Today. Questions and Perspectives, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte Rom; Vortrag: “Machines for Reproducing Sculpture: Marble Concepts and the Crisis of Materiality in the Nineteenth Century,” 16.–18. Sept.
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• ›Kunst und Technik‹. Klaus Lankheit und das Weltausstellungsarchiv. Kunstgeschichte an Polytechnischen Instituten, Technischen Hochschulen und Technischen Universitäten, 593-620. Böhlau Verlag.
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Bochum 2022: International Conference: All that is solid melts into air. Produktionsverhältnisse in der Kunst des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts, Kunstgeschichtliches Institut Ruhr- Universität Bochum; Vortrag: “Skulpturmaschinen. Reproduktionstechnologie im 19. Jahrhundert,” 09.–11. Nov.
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Düsseldorf 2022: Internationale Konferenz: Nach Canova. Skulptur in Rom von 1822 bis 1870; Kunstakademie Düsseldorf; Vortrag: “From Art towards Invention. Relations between Sculpture, Machines and Reproduction in Post-Canova Rome,” 27.–28. Nov.
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Erlangen 2022: Internationaler Workshop: “Tender hands and rough stone”. Sculpture’s Stereotypes of Gender and Making (1550–2021), Kunstgeschichtliches Institut Friedrich- Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU); Vortrag: “From Sculpture to Invention - Harriet G. Hosmer and the Perpetual Motion Machine,” 05.–07. April
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Berlin 2023: Internationale Konferenz: Contact: Transcultural Techniques and Metaphors of Imprinting, Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Vortrag: “Hands-free? Machines for reproducing sculpture and the question of the authentic imprint,” 30. Mai– 02. Juni
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Bonn 2023: Netzwerktreffen: Vom (Un)Sinn der Italienforschung, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Universität Bonn; Vortrag: “Skulptur und Technik. Johann G. Schadow und sein Italien- Netzwerk”, 16.– 17. Nov.
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Princeton 2023: Robert Janson-La Palme*76 Visiting Lecture and Conference Endowment Workshop: The Lure of the Machine in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Department of Art and Archaeology; Vortrag: “Machines for Reproducing Sculpture: Competition of Reproduction Techniques,” 14.–15. April
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• “Curious Machines”. Reproducing Sculpture via Machine and Its Modus of Display in the Nineteenth Century. The Sculptural in the (Post-)Digital Age, 37-57. De Gruyter.
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Engineers as Artists. Artists as Engineers. The Reproduction of Art Objects at the Great Exhibition 1851, in: ———/Karentzos, A./Oesterreich, A. (Hg.), ‚Gesamtkunstwerk World’s Fair‘. Revisioning International Exhibitions, RIHA Journal 0304 | 31 May 2024
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Gesamtkunstwerk World’s Fair. Revisioning International Exhibitions, RIHA Journal 0304 | 31 May 2024
  Buket Altinoba; Karentzos, A. & Oesterreich, M.
  
• Lyon 2024: 36th Congress of CIHA, “matière matter materialité materiality”, Teilnahme in der Sektion “Tools, Materials, Processes”, Vortrag: “Sculpturing Machines. An Analytical Approach to Nineteenth-Century Sculpture Reproduction”
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• ‘Anybody can do sculpture, it is purely mechanical’: Harriet G. Hosmer and the relation between sculpture, reproduction and machine invention. Sculpture Journal, 33(1), 29-46.
  Altinoba, Buket
  
• Scalability and its Limits in Photography and (Digital) Sculpture. De Gruyter.
  Altinoba, Buket; Männig, Maria & Ströbele, Ursula