The Art of Repoussé

Funeral Mask of King Tutankhamen, Egyptian, 1324 BC.

• Mask of Agamemnon

• Repoussé or repujado in Spanish, is a metalworking technique in which a sheet of metal has a design worked into it by pushing the metal in and out from both sides using a variety of tools.

• The metal is stretched so the sheet remains intact with no loss of material.

• In French repoussé means

“pushed out”.Elixir of Life by Rocio Heredia

History of Repoussé

Agememnon’s Funeral Mask Gold Mycenean Cup

• Repoussé is a very old art form dating from antiquity and was widely used with gold and silver for detailed works and copper and bronze for larger sculptures

• By the year 3000 BC. semi-mass production techniques were introduced to avoid

repetitive free-hand work.Artisan’s could press sheets of gold into molds carved in intaglio into bone, metal or stone to more easily form a design.

• Patterned punches were introduced as early as 2000 BC. to texture the background and sharpen details and relief.

• Early materials used to fill repoussés included mud and resin in Egypt and beeswax in Ancient Greece

Gary Dadyan, a Russian artist, is tapping the repoussé tools into the sheet of metal using a small hammer.

• During the Hopewell and Mississippian periods of the Southwest and Midwest Native Americans, repoussé was used to form ritual jewelry and decorations which were eventually used as burial goods.

• copper repoussé plate depicting Birdman, Late Braden Style

• The best known example of repoussé is the Statue of Liberty by Frederic Auguste Barthodi

Repoussé continues to be used to make decorative plaques and is a popular technique of making jewelry.

Student Examples

• http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=494850

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7vXNLpVafM&

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

• Using the internet and books in room, choose a historical motif for your repousse

• The entire surface has to be used. No empty space

• Graded on:– Craftsmanship (no tears, 3 levels– Composition – use of entire surface– Complexity (detail and 3 height levels– Creativity