These three photographs of two views  of a Civil War Soldier bust and a Sea Captain bust show the beginning of   busts carved to their basic form.  They are ready to receive detail carving to bring life to their face and outfits.

Where and when did the idea for a sculptured bust come into existence.  The answer could be lost in the dusty annals of antiquity at first thought, but on second thought the origin of the sculptured bust happened this way.

According to research into the deep caverns of imagination it was discovered that a long time ago in that “once upon a time” in a small mountain village a young sculpture of plaster, stone and wood was beginning to ply his art and trade.  This young sculpture named Buster carved full figured sculptures of famous people in his village and surrounding area.  A full figured sculpture took a long time and occupied a lot of space which he did not have is his small shop.  In order to have an inventory of examples of his artist ability, Buster settled upon carving the head, shoulders and chest of the represented human as a way of demonstrating his ability and artistic eye.  He reasoned that the face was the most important part of any sculpture being the first part of the sculpture that a patron observed.  He carved several of these smaller versions as his portfolio to show to prospective patrons.

At first the children of the village who played near his studio called these smaller versions of sculptured humans “Little Busters.” Buster was pleased that the children refered to his creations as “Little Buster” because each one was so much a part of him as he put his heart and soul into each creation.  Soon the new title was shortened to simply “Busts,” a term Buster soon used when a prospective patron came to inquire about carving of a statue.

Buster would show the gallery of ‘busts’ as part of his selling pitch. Sometimes the patron would ask Buster to carve one of his little ‘busts’ of the subject they would want to be carved into a full figured sculpture so the patron would have a idea of what it would look like. Since a bust took less time to complete and took up less space, all too often the patron would simply want to buy only the bust.  Then there were times when prospective patrons would look through the gallery of busts and want to buy one.  At first Buster did not want to sell the busts because they were his display models but then times were hard, money was scarce and Buster liked to eat.

Reluctantly he would sell a bust now and then until one day a marketing idea came to him.  The idea said to him, “Buster, since a bust takes less time, less space and is just as good in artistic quality as a full figured statue, perhaps you should concentrate on selling your ‘Little Busters’ or Busts.” Buster’s reputation as the supreme carver of “Busts” spread far and wide.  As he grew rich he employed other artists as apprentices to learn the art of carving busts.  Soon all the sculptors across the land began to follow Buster’s innovation of carving busts as well as monumental statues.

And that dear reader is the true origin of the sculptured bust,  as true as the date of this posting.  (April Fools Day 2010)