While marble and bronze have a historically been the preferred medium for sculptors, new techniques in the use and configuration of steel have become one of the best ways for the modern sculptor to use. Steel is, it goes without saying, strong. It is also easy to maintain and the gloss finish hard and not opaque with age. It needs little maintenance and is able to capture fine details and nuances. In the delicacy of its use, the sculptor is able to use it as precisely and the painter uses a brush.

Steel sculpture came to be in the hands of artists born in the early 20th century. These sculptors adopt and modify European modernism in a way so dramatic that develops its own style. These artists approached sculpture of paint from the point of view instead of a sculptor and found the meaning and beauty in industrial products and employment creation of geometric designs and abstract shapes. For them, steel was the material of choice. They understood that steel is not can replace only those lines and planes of marble, iron and even wood, but give the finished work of art a power and presence no other material could match.

Steel sculpture opened the door to new concepts. The size of the sculpture is currently limited only be the imagination of the sculptor. And as steel was immune to the effects of weather, large outdoor sculptures became common. These were not only pieces from private collections and galleries, but were made for public places. Steel sculptures could now be commissioned by municipal authorities for public plazas, parks, airports and buildings. The availability of public finds for commissioning large sculptures gave a huge boost to the genre of steel sculpture.

Steel sculpture also ceased to be exclusively the work of the artist, although the artistic values were not lost. An example of this is 1967 Picasso creation of an enormous head of a woman of steel. This was done in Chicago and the complete work was made in a steel company that was located near the city classified by industrial steelworkers who were able to use company equipment to raise, cut, weld, bend and shape enormous pieces of heavy steel to create the final sculpture using based on the small model that the artist had created for them to work.

Although steel sculpture became popular in the years after World War II, most universities and art schools do not have the experience or equipment to teach steel sculpture. However, in the 1970s, the popularity of the art form has created a demand that these institutions were able not only acquire the necessary equipment to teach this art form, but were also able to bring teachers with experience and ability to assist in the birth of a new generation of sculptors who had both an understanding of steel as raw material and the ability to create with it.

Today, steel is the preferred material for large outdoor sculptures and often commissioned by the government.

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