Whereas sculpture is an artistic practice that involves not only static
but also material, three-dimensional, and durable objects, the cinema
produces kinetic, immaterial, two-dimensional, and fleeting images.
However, the history of cinema amply illustrates the attraction of these
opposites: statues coming to life in early cinema and disturbing the
peace in Surrealist and trance films; the optical and haptic exploration
of sculptural volumes in art documentaries and artists' films; the lure
of the wax museums in horror films; the statuary metaphors of post-war
modernist cinema; the mythological living statues of the peplum genre;
and contemporary art practices in which film is used as sculptural
medium.
Dealing with a wide range of magical, mystical, cultural, historical,
formal, and phenomenological interactions between film and sculpture,
this book examines key sculptural motifs in film and cinematic sculpture
in eight chapters and an extensive reference gallery.