What’s on the Mass & Void poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
Sculpture is made of solid mass and the space that mass displaces. Opening the mass lets space pass through the work, so the surroundings become part of it.
- Hepworth pierced the form from 1931 onwards.
- Moore's reclining figures open the body into space.
- A void changes with the viewer; the mass does not.
- Light through an opening animates the interior.
- Silhouette and void together carry the reading.
- Negative space in sculpture is a shape, not a gap.
- Pierced form — Hepworth, 1931
- Test — walk right around it
- Photograph the piece against a bright ground: the voids will read as the strongest sh…
A form with no void is read only from its surface. Opening it makes the surrounding space do half of the work.
Questions about the Mass & Void poster
- What’s on the Mass & Void poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. Sculpture is made of solid mass and the space that mass displaces. Opening the mass lets space pass through the work, so the surroundings become part of it. Hepworth pierced the form from 1931 onwards.; Moore's reclining figures open the body into space.; A void changes with the viewer; the mass does not.; Light through an opening animates the interior.; Silhouette and void together carry the reading.; Negative space in sculpture is a shape, not a gap.; Pierced form — Hepworth, 1931; Test — walk right around it; Photograph the piece against a bright ground: the voids will read as the strongest sh…. A form with no void is read only from its surface. Opening it makes the surrounding space do half of the work.
- Who is the Mass & Void poster for?
- Mass & Void belongs to the Art & Design section rather than to a school year, because design is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning form & 3d can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Mass & Void poster?
- Use it when a three-dimensional piece reads as a lump from every angle. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Mass & Void belongs on the wall where that design work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Mass & Void?
- Modelling & Carving, Armatures and Clay & Firing sit alongside Mass & Void in the Art & Design section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Modelling & CarvingArmaturesClay & Firing
- Is the Mass & Void poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Mass & Void downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Art & Design section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Mass & Void poster print at?
- Mass & Void is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Mass & Void loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Mass & Void on the same wall.
Browse every Art & Design poster, or start from the full catalogue.