Bulbous
Swollen, rounded, bulb-like forms that bulge outward, in vessels, figures, sculpture, architecture and furniture.
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About
A bulbous form swells as if filled from inside, like an onion, a gourd or an inflated balloon. Potters have always understood the shape: the round-bellied storage jar and the Korean moon jar of the Joseon dynasty both gain presence from a generous, pressing curve. The onion domes of Russian Orthodox churches give the same outline to a skyline.
Modern sculptors pushed the quality further. Gaston Lachaise's Standing Woman (1932) exaggerates the body into ballooning volumes, Fernando Botero inflated people, animals and still lifes from the 1960s onwards, and Joannis Avramidis built figures from stacked, rounded segments. In design, the look returned with the inflatable and moulded-plastic furniture of the late 1960s and again with the soft, puffed shapes of recent seating and lighting. Look for curves that feel under pressure rather than simply round.
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