Gothic Sculpture
"Gothic" is a word residing in medieval art with a peculiar history and even more twisted connotations. Naturally, the builders of Chartres of Canterbury never heard of the word. They may have seen themselves as moderns, but would be surprised to find that about four centuries later, people would be scurrying to find a term to explicate their style of Christian art. To most people, this sculpture form does not bring a vibe of scorn or praise. It is simply a technical term for the buildings with pointed arches.
We are not necessarily concerned with the matter of buildings or arches, but with the culture and the stone. If the word Gothic has any sort of permanent meaning, it is not only applicable to a cathedral, but also statues or reliefs. Many wonder how exactly Gothic sculpture differs from Ottonian art or Romanesque sculpture. There is no straightforward way to answer such a question. Gothic is relative, but not absolute. It can be compared to a flavor that is hardly detectable, or eve overwhelming. What really produced the flavor was another outburst of the spirit of visual curiosity, which is truly the chief motive for European arts.
What seems to be a concern for many is not the shape or function, but the capacity to provide an ideal setting for types of plastic arts. The Gothic spirit can be described as vertical; it leaps and soars like a rocket. Its essence is in the power which it suggests, not the final image. The secondary arts of sculpture and stained glass that it managed to foster so easily, seemed rather developed and not forced. Similar to a living plant, Gothic buildings have the power to indulge themselves in their own roots without losing central unity. With that same leaping and boundless energy of the Gothic structures, it communicates some sort of message which is embedded in the design as a whole.
Some great examples of this architecture are featured below:
The anonymity of Gothic art and sculpture provides some sort of obstacle to art historians in particular. The three great doorways of Rheims cathedral alone contains 33 realistically-sized and 200 smaller figures, each in which the product uses a passionately creative mind and a sense of craftsmanship. When one remembers the stunning collections of medieval sculpture in comparison to a hundred smaller buildings, one is amazed as the extraordinary fecundity of the 13th and 14th centuries in northwestern Europe.
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