Broken

A compelling exploration of fragments in sculpture across time and cultures.

Some objects draw power from the way they have been broken. Becoming beautiful abstract shapes, they provoke consideration of how destruction can create something so aesthetically appealing. Beyond the visual, these fragments are compelling because they force us to confront the often unsettling stories of their breakage.

Published in conjunction with the National Gallery of Art and accompanying a traveling exhibition, this lavishly illustrated book explores our enduring fascination with broken statues through a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, featuring contributions by scholars and artists, along with examples of striking works from around the world spanning the third millennium BCE to the present. 

Organized in three sections, Broken begins by investigating what makes fragments so intriguing and reveals the optical and neurological processes behind the strong emotions they evoke. It then moves to the act of breaking itself, exploring the forces—both natural and human—that shaped these objects, the power dynamics of iconoclastic dismantling and defacement, and how various cultures treat broken statues. The book concludes by considering one of the most powerful ways humans have responded to fragments over the course of history: by creating new works that are intentionally fractured.

C. D. Dickerson III is senior curator of European and American art and head of the department of sculpture and decorative arts at the National Gallery of Art. Andrew Sears is assistant curator of northern European paintings at the National Gallery of Art.