VAM galleries including this work:
Jacobs Collection at Georgetown College | Go Figure || VAM Home

Four Backs presents just that: images of the human back in four different positions. This work demonstrates John Tuska’s understanding of the human body and how the appearance of the bone and muscle structures change when the body moves.

About the Artist

While John Tuska was considered primarily a potter, he was also a sculptor, a collagist, a draftsman, a photographer, and a designer with remarkable talent and dedication. As a professor at the University of Kentucky for nearly 30 years, he inspired hundreds of students, and his workshops over the years helped introduce art to the general public throughout the region.

In 1970, while on sabbatical in Italy, Tuska began an in-depth study of the human figure, working primarily in bronze. (A remarkable cast-bronze screen of human figures, completed in 1985, embellishes the entrance to the Fine Arts Building at UK.) He worked with various materials to present the human figure, and some of the most impressive work he produced grew out of his experiments with cast paper. His technical skills and creative renderings let him deal not only with the surface, but also with the complexities and depth of his subject matter. An artist reminiscent of Degas, Tuska continues to be admired by collectors and the public.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Would you have been able to identify what these images represent without knowing the title of the work? What might you think the figures were if you just glanced at them briefly? Is this an abstract work of art? Why or why not?

Activity: Looking at your hand, draw it in several different poses. You may draw it in either a realistic or an abstract manner. Experiment using a medium that you have never used before, like charcoal, oil pastels, etc.

Links

Tuska’s cast-bronze screen of human figures is mounted on the exterior of the University of Kentucky Fine Arts Building.
[http://www.uky.edu/FineArts/Art/]

Read a brief history of Tuska’s career at the Art Exchange.
[www.art-exchange.com/art-exchange/artistbio.asp?FN=John&MN=Regis&LN=Tuska]

Learn how to make cast paper at the Arnold Grummer web site.
[www.arnoldgrummer.com/information/cast_paper/]