User:Kshortesnasher/sandbox

Starting in 1881 in Milan, Rosso began producing bronze busts and figures that reflected largely Realist influences, with works such as The Hooligan (1882) and Kiss Under the Lamppost (1882). Rosso's style began to change after 1882, possibly due to the discovery of Impressionism, and some of his first works during this period, including Portinaia (Concierge) (1883–84) and Carne altrui (Flesh of Others) (1883–84) begin to "suggest a loss of detail in favor of sketchy modeling, flattened planes, and gently modulated surfaces to soften the play of light and shadow." Rosso’s output comprises fewer than 50 primary sculptures, all of which he created between 1881 and 1906. For the remaining 22 years of his career, Medardo Rosso devoted himself to recasting these primary sculptures, producing more than 400 variations in plaster, wax, and bronze. Rosso’s extensive exploration of techniques and materials exemplifies how art was transformed on a broad scale during the late 19th century.

Rosso never made preparatory drawings for his sculptures. He opted to work directly with the clay from which he would then make a working model in plaster. This was used to create the negative mold that he would later cast in bronze using the cire perdue method. Rosso’s cast wax and plaster sculptures are unique within modern sculpture. He started out casting his works in plaster, and, much later, wax with a plaster interior. Some art historians have suggested that Rosso traveled to Paris in 1884 and worked in the studio of sculptor Jules Dalou, but no historical record has corroborated this. In Milan, Rosso continued to cast small-scale works throughout the mid-1880s, in addition to a series of entries for public monuments, such as a funeral monument to the critic Filippo Filippi.