What's your favourite sculpture / sculptor ?

And bonus question: what for you, makes a good sculpture?

I like Rodin a lot, he’s very prolific and his pieces are expressive. His Gates of Hell is incredible. But I was more impressed with the detail and artistry of the work of his wife I saw at Musee Rodin, Camille Claudel
Salvadore Dali is fantastic, literally, with impossible forms.
For the abstracts, I have a fondness for Calder’s monumental works. His little stuff is delightful too! (circus, toys)

Aside from the classics like Rodin, I love Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s sculptures (and paintings). I love the round shape of his pieces and like the size, they are huge…

I love Erte. Another one I like is Lalique.

I’m a fan of Loet Vanderveen’s sculptures, and even own one. Why? At first, it was for the natural grace of the animals and how he uses brass touches on some of them to highlight certain aspects on some of them. Years later, when I read his biography, it touched my heart.

Michelangelo isn’t too bad either. :) We were able to see a few of his sculptures while on a trip to Rome and The Vatican.

I love this piece by Rodin which I saw at the Rodin Museum in Philly. There is so much emotion conveyed by the body posture! it is an incredible sculpture and I just kept coming back to it and walked around it to see every angle and curve, it is mostly curves! Very beautiful curves.
http://www.rodinmuseum.org/collection/96034.html
I also love this piece of his at the Metropolitan Museum of Art-NYC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjr1961/2517115751/
He gets the feeling of her burden in the pose. The way she is twisting with one arm crossed over the other one! It is poetry in motion.

Don’t know many, but I have much respect for Michelangelo’s David.

I am a Rodin fan also, and some of Picasso’s sculptures are amazing to me. But if I had a large house and grounds to house a sculpture properly, and no money consideration, I’d go for a Calder.

@zenvelo: MIlo here; as I do also.

When I’m in the mood for excess, I choose Bernini;

This
This
And ultimately, this

The Endless Column

Ever since I went to see an exhibition with her work I am always delighted when I see one of Niki de Saint-Phalle’s sculptures

I’ll second Henry Moore.

C.M. Russell I’m not into cowboy stuff, normally, but C.M. Russell’s work tells stories- his sculptures and paintings both tell stories. I take my time in his museum in Great Falls, MT because there’s so much to absorb. Also, he has a great sense of humor and a lot of his work shows that. HIs work is similar to Remington’s sculptures- with a lot of texture and depth, but Remington seems to focus more on the struggle while C.M. Russell focuses on the story or experience.

Chihuly I go nuts over Chihuly’s use of colors and shapes in such a fragile art form. The energy and movement is just amazing- I could look at his sculptures for hours. Some of his work looks like visual music for me.

Donatello
I like Donatello better than Michelangelo- Donatello’s work just evokes more emotion and drama for me than Michelangelo’s, which comes across as ethereal and aloof.

I especially love Dega’s Dancer and this ballet dancer

I also love Deborah Butterfield’s horse sculptures, most of which are made from scrap metal, wire, sticks and old junk. Like this one and these and this one

Alexander Calder’s sculptures also speak to me. Like this one and this one and these two

And these 2 Egyptian sculptures by unknown artists. Selket and Queen Nefertiti

I have no idea why these particular pieces move me. Each group of sculptures seems so different from the others. Except for Butterfield’s horses, which I first saw as an adult, I saw the other sculptures when I was a little kid and instantly felt a connection to them.

@Porifera Botero’s work is fun and so accessible.

@linguaphile Chihuly ! yummy. I forgot about his ingenious and dazzling work.

I’m quite partial to Brancusi’s Sculpture For The Blind.

It makes me want to touch it. It’s so sensuous. It’s a shame that it’s locked up inside a plexiglas box. I find that highly ironic and I always want to free it whenever I see it.