Using Objective Descriptive Narrative to Describe a Picasso Sculpture

¶ … Pablo Picasso / Bull / 1958 The sculpture's materials: Plywood, tree branch, nails, and screws The sculpture's size: 46 1/8th x 56 3/4s x 4 1/8th Where seen: Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gallery Label: Focus: Picasso Sculpture, July 3 -- November 3, 2008. Before specifically identifying the components of this sculpture -- which are created mostly from plywood -- it is a worthy task to quickly discuss plywood. Not why the artist chose this medium, but what plywood is made of.

"Plywood" is of course a term used to explain the product that the artist used to create the essential parts of this sculpture. The eye tends to be drawn immediately to the plywood that has been fashioned into a sculpture because most people observing sculptures think of sculpture in connection with stone, steel, or other materials. In truth, plywood is not really wood at all, but rather it is a sheet material that is created from several layers of thin wood veneer.

The manufacturer uses strong glue ('resin") to lock layer after layer of wood veneer together tightly by the application of massive amounts of pressure. Part of the plywood composition is also known to be a medium-density "fiber board," so-called because it too is a composite of wood fibers; and another component is known as "particle board," so-called because again, because it isn't wood, but it is particles of wood broken down from other sources.

But this work of art on the face of it transitions from plywood to a sculpture because of the effort of the artist. Like the actual manufacturing process of creating plywood, the artist has used layers of plywood and other materials to form a complete sculpture. Instead of one solid art work carved out of wood, the artist has cut the plywood into shapes that roughly bring to mind the form of an animal.

And unlike the production of plywood, the artist apparently has not used resin or glue, but has chosen nails and screws. A frame that would normally hold a painting or picture is attached to the larger upper portion of the bull's body to indicate a face. And apparently two screws are driven into the plywood to indicate eyes of the bull. The artist then used a small wooden ball (perhaps made of real wood and not plywood?) apparently screwed into the plywood to represent the nose.

The horns of the bull curve outward in the same menacing way that a real bull's horns curve out. Both front legs are formed from the main portion starting from the horns down to the hoofs. Another piece of plywood is nailed to a cross board that seems like an extension of the front of the bull, and two branches are attached to the hoofs and bend upwards to connect with the right and left horns.

In the back portion of the body an oval-shaped piece of plywood is nailed to a portion of the torso with approximately sixty nails. Sticks which may be from trees are used in horizontal and vertical positions. It is also apparent that the bull is.