Plaster, beyond transitory 2/2
In recent years, publications on the subject of plaster have increased in number, whether they are symposium proceedings (A. Alexandridis, L. Winkler-Horaček [eds.], Destroy the Copy - Plaster Cast Collections in the 19th-20th Centuries, Berlin, 2022; T. Lochman, M. Guderzo [eds], Il valore del gesso come modello [... ], Possagno, 2017; E. Marchand, R. Fredericksen, Plaster Casts, Making, Collecting and Displaying from Classical Antiquity to the Present, Berlin, 2010), general volumes (G. de Laubier, G.-L. Barthe, Plâtres en majesté, l'univers du plâtre, Paris, 2023), or issues of scientific journals (Technè, 51, 2021; Sculpture journal, 28-3, 2019; In situ, 28, 2016).
Most of the times, plaster is studied from a unique perspective, it is mentioned as a step in the creative process. Indeed, plaster is often a "utilitarian" material, intended to prepare a sculpture in a definitive material. The plaster work is then transitory, destined to disappear because of its fragility or its low value. The article by Jacques de Caso, « Alors, on ne jette plus? » (La sculpture du XIXe siècle, une mémoire retrouvée, Paris 1986, p. 18-21) has made us aware of a heritage issue. Many collections of studio plaster casts, or major copies, were until then abandoned in storerooms, in a poor condition, or simply suppressed. Many campaigns to rehabilitate these collections have made it possible to rediscover them and to understand their importance. One of the most remarkable manifestations of this rehabilitation is the opening in 2018 of the sculpture gallery of the Petit Palais, made up of models previously stored in the reserves of Ivry-sur-Seine. Going beyond the sole criterion of the value of the material to judge the quality of a sculpture is thus a recent movement. Although plaster is visible in many museum institutions, it should be noted that only two types of plaster are valued, models or maquettes, and collections of casts.
The use of plaster thus remains stuck in its transitory status; it would only make sense in relation to an earlier or later work. This consideration of plaster in a chronological logic deprives the history of statuary of a study of plaster as a true medium, with its own aesthetic qualities, sought after by practitioners and artists, or allowing them to free themselves from the usual economy of statuary and from the norm. The session aims precisely at getting out of the apprehension of plaster as a substitute, and thus questioning the forms of completion by plaster. The aim is to determine how this inexpensive, liquid, and possibly temporary technique generates singular practical and artistic results, and even an aesthetic of its own.