Sophie Ryder 2018 by Galerie de Bellefeuille

SOPHIE RYDER

G d B3 - rue She rb rook e

S O PHIE RY D E R

14 juin - 6 juillet, 2018 | June 14 - July 6, 2018 exposition et prévente en cours / exhibition and presale in progress

Conversation, bronze, 84⅝” x 85⅜” x 26 ¾”, ed. 9

GdB G A L E R I E

BELLEFEUILLE

1 4 5 5 r u e S h e r b r o o k e O. , M o n t r é a l , Q u é b e c , H 3 G 1 L 2 T é l : 5 1 4 . 9 3 3 . 4 4 0 6 d e b e l l e f e ui l l e .c om

a r t @d e be l l e f e ui l l e .c om

GALERIE

BELLEFEUILLE

© G A L E R I E D E B E L L E F E U I L L E , 2018 ISBN: 978-2-924821-08-4 Dépôt légal - Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2018 Dépôt légal - Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2018 Conception / Design: Galerie de Bellefeuille Texte / Text: Sophie Ryder Traduction / Translation: Bilel Benzeman & Grégory Cancé Photographies / Photographs: Tania Dolvers, Anne Purkiss & Sophie Ryder Publié par / Published by: Galerie de Bellefeuille Impression / Printer: Transcontinental (couverture | cover) Lovers on Horseback, bronze, 80⅝” x 83¾” x 35”, ed. 12

Imprimé au Canada / Printed in Canada

S O PHIE RY D E R

Standing Minotaur with Little Lady (Medium) bronze, 27⅜” x 20¾” x 10⅛”, ed. 9

G A L E R I E

D E

B E L L E F E U I L L E

Sop hi e Ryd er affi rme sa p résence sur l a scène art i st i q ue d ep ui s l ’ob t ent i on son d i p l ôme à T he R oyal Acad em y of Art s, en Ang l et erre. Ayant commencé sa format i on à l ’âg e d e 17 ans, el l e y est l a p l us j eune art i st e ad mi se d ep ui s Turner. Ryd er a const rui t sa carri ère au t ravers d ’une mul t i t ud e d ’exp osi t i ons, d e command es et d e p roj et s maj eurs. Ses œ uvres font d ésormai s p art i e d e nomb reuses col l ect i ons à t ravers l e mond e. O b st i née q uand i l s’ag i t d e ses créat i ons, Sop hi e Ryd er a t ouj ours eu une ap p roche ri g oureuse et d i sci p l i née d u t ravai l en st ud i o. Son t ravai l s’est affi né au fi l d es années, t ant d u côt é concep t uel q ue t echni q ue, p ar sa mai t ri se d e mat éri aux ard us, afi n d e créer un uni vers aussi b i en si ng ul i er q ue p ersonnel . Les scul p t ures d e Ryd er, not amment en fi l d e fer et en b ronze, ai nsi q ue ses d essi ns, t ap i sseri es, col l ag es et i mp ressi ons l a p l ace d i scrèt ement p armi l es art i st es l es p l us sensi b l es d e not re ép oq ue. Ind i fférent e aux t end ances d u marché et d u mond e d e l ’art , el l e rest e d évouée à l ’exp l orat i on d e l a forme et d e son cont enu conformément à sa p rop re vi si on, t out en él arg i ssant cet t e d erni ère p ar l e b i ai s d e l ’i conog rap hi e et d u choi x d e méd i ums p roches son i d ent i t é p ersonnel l e. L’i mag eri e est un fact eur récurrent d e son t ravai l , not amment l a femme- l i èvre, l e mi not aure et p l us fréq uemment l ’esp èce cani ne. Dans l ’i mag i nai re d e Ryd er, l e Mi not aure est uni avec une créat ure hyb ri d e, un croi sement ent re une femme et un l i èvre. Dep ui s sa concep t i on, l a femme- l i èvre, avec ce vi sag e d él i cat et sensi b l e i nsp i ré d es l i èvres sauvag es d es camp ag nes b ri t anni q ues, est l a comp ag ne const ant e d u Mi not aure. À t ravers l es d i fférent s méd i ums d e scul p t ure ou d e d essi n, ces êt res i mag i nai res d ét i ennent l e p ouvoi r d e forg er d es i mag es charg ées d ’émot i ons p l us i nt enses l es unes q ue l es aut res, al l ant b i en au- d el à d e l a si mp l e rep résent at i on. « Mes chi ens, mes l i èvres et mes mi not aures sont t ous d es p ersonnag es q ui d ép assent l eur asp ect ani mal . C ’est l eur esp ri t q ui m’i nsp i re. Je ne sui s p as i nt éressée à p rod ui re d es rép l i q ues. Je ne me sui s p as assi se p our ét ud i er l ’anat omi e et l a st ruct ure d es sq uel et t es. » N ul ne serai t surp ri s d e voi r un suj et ou une comp osi t i on sp éci fi q ue p rend re forme, en b ronze ou en fi l d e fer, une p remi ère foi s en t ant q ue maq uet t e, p our évol uer vers une t ai l l e réel l e et p ui s fi nal ement , not amment ces d erni ères années, d eveni r d es scul p t ures ab sol ument monument al es. Le b ronze est l e mat éri au vers l eq uel Ryd er se t ourne l e p l us souvent p our créer ces scul p t ures d e p et i t es t ai l l es. Ryder est une adepte de l a techni que de l a ci re p erd ue l orsq u’el l e t ravai l l e l e b ronze. C ette méthode tradi ti onnel l e permet de cap t urer chacun d es d erni ers mouvement s et des derni ères marques sur l a surface de ses œ uvres. E n ob servant at t ent i vement son travai l , i l est possi bl e d’y remarquer des traces d e d oi g t s et aut res p et i t s mément os personnel s, col l ecti onnés au fi l des ans, fai sant référence à sa vi e d ep ui s son enfance. C e processus de coul ée de bronze p ermet aussi aux t ravaux d e Sop hi e Ryd er d’être produi ts en peti tes édi ti ons. Sophi e est i mpati ente de reveni r à l a G al eri e d e Bel l efeui l l e p our y exp oser ses œ uvres une seconde foi s. Sa rel ati on avec l a g al eri e a t ouj ours ét é sol i d e et cet t e exposi ti on présente un excel l ent aperçu sur l ’évol ut i on d e son corp us au cours d es 17 derni ères années. « Mon i nspi rati on vi ent de mon amour pour l a créat i on ai nsi q ue p our l es p ersonnes et l es ani maux qui m’entourent. Si vous me d emand ez l a si g ni fi cat i on d e mon t ravai l , j e n’ai pas vrai ment de réponse i ntel l i gente. Il est ce q u’i l est . C ’est ce q ue j e me sui s senti devoi r créer, et si cel a peut procurer d u p l ai si r aux aut res, c’est un p l us formi dabl e.» 2

Sophie Ryder quickly developed notable presence as an artist since her artistic education at The Royal Academy, which she commenced at age 17, making her their youngest student since Turner. Ryder has established an impressive career through numerous exhibitions, major commissions and projects, with works in collections in many different countries. She has always been a tenacious worker with a consistently disciplined approach to studio practice and over the years her work, both conceptually and technically, has become more refined as she mastered difficult materials to create a personal and distinctive vocabulary. Ryder’s sculptural endeavours in wire and bronze, as well as her drawings, tapestries, collages and prints, have quietly placed her among the most sensitive and sensible artists working today. Indifferent to market trends and art world fashions, she has remained committed to exploring form and content in accordance with her own vision while expanding that vision in dimensions truthful to her spirit, iconography, and choice of media. Imagery has remained constant within her oeuvre – the hare, specifically the lady hare, the minotaur, and, more frequently the canine. Very quickly the Minotaur was united in Ryder’s imagination by a female creature who was half-woman half-hare. Since then, the Lady Hare has been a constant companion, her delicate, sensitive head inspired by the wild hares of the English countryside. Through the medium of sculpture and drawing these imagined beings have the potential to forge images that are charged with a character and emotional intensity that goes beyond mere representation. “My dogs, hares and minotaurs are all characters beyond animal form. It’s their spirit that engages me; I’m not interested in making replicas. I haven’t sat down and studied anatomy and bone structure.” One should not be surprised to see a specific subject and composition occur in wire and bronze, to see it first as a maquette, then life-size, and finally, in recent years as a truly monumental sculpture. Bronze has been the material to which Ryder has turned most often for smaller sculpture. Ryder enjoys the lost wax process of bronze casting, a traditional method which allows for every last mark and gesture on the surface of the sculpture to be captured. When looking closely at her work, one can notice finger marks and personal mementos, collected over the years reflecting aspects of Ryder’s life from childhood to adulthood. The process of bronze casting allows Ryder’s work to be produced in small limited editions. Sophie is excited to be returning to Galerie de Bellefeuille to exhibit for a second time. Her relationship with the gallery has always been steadfast and this exhibition displays a significant insight into how her work has developed over the past 17 years. “My inspiration comes from my love of making and the people and animals who surround me. If you ask me what my art means, I don’t have any clever answers. It is what it is. It’s what I have felt compelled to make, and if it gives pleasure to other people that’s a wonderful bonus.” 3

Lady Hare and Boar on a Barrel (Large) bronze, 90” x 56” x 37”, ed. 9

Minotaur and Boar on a Barrel (Large) bronze, 82⅝” x 37⅜” x 27½”, ed. 9

Paintpots (Maquette) bronze, 20⅜” x 24¾” x 8¼”, ed. 9

Me and My 5 Babies (Small) bronze, 12⅛” x 15⅝” x 4⅝”, ed. 12

Girl Leaning on Horse bronze, 14½” x 17½” x 6⅛”, ed. 9

Girl Hugging Dog bronze, 23⅛” x 25⅛” x 6¼”, ed. 9

Dancing Ladies II (Maquette) bronze, 15¼” x 19⅝” x 19⅝”, ed. 9

Dancing Ladies bronze, 74¾” x 90½” x 90½”, ed. 9

Lovers on Horseback (Maquette) bronze, 23⅛” x 23⅛” x 8¼”, ed. 9

Conversation (Small) bronze, 7” x 7⅜” x 2¼”, ed. 50

Hugging (Small) bronze, 5⅞” x 2½” x 1¾”, ed. 75

Lady Hare with Dog III bronze, 27½” x 13¾” x 12½”, ed. 9

Minotaur and Boar on a Barrel (Maquette) bronze, 23½” x 9” x 11¾”, ed. 9

Lady Hare and Boar on a Barrel (Maquette) bronze, 22” x 14” x 9¾”, ed. 9

Standing Lovers on Horseback with Dog bronze, 28¼” x 22¾” x 6¼”, ed. 9

Girl Hugging Horse bronze, 15⅝” x 3⅞” x 10⅛”, ed. 12

Girl with Knees Up (Maquette) bronze, 17¾” x 7½” x 11¾”, ed. 9

Sitting Minotaur with Little Lady bronze, 23½” x 18” x 18”, ed. 9

Reclining Dog bronze, 5¼” x 11” x 3⅝”, ed. 9

2009 2008 2007

2006

2005

2004

2003 2002 2001 2000

SOPHIERYDER

1999

Née/Born – 1963, Londres/London, UK Vit et travaille/Lives and works – Cirencester, UK

1998 1997

EDUCATION 1984

Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

1996 1995 1994

EXPOSITIONSINDIVIDUELLESSÉLECTIONNÉES SELECTEDSOLOEXHIBITION 2018 2017 2016

2014

2013

2012 2011 2010

Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC Hignell Gallery, London, UK Hignell Gallery, London, UK Sophie Ryder: Rising, Waterhouse and Dodd. Rising, New York, NY, USA New Brewery Arts, Cirencester, UK Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Stockbridge Celia Lendis Contemporary Art Gallery, Moreton-in-Marsh, UK Royal West Academy, Bristol, UK Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA, USA Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, UK Villa D’Arte, Pietrasanta, Italy Aynhoe Park, Oxfordshire, UK Aynhoe Park, Oxfordshire, UK

1992 1991 1990

1988 1987

Château Saint Rosaline, Les Arc-surArgens, France Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA, USA Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI, USA. Atkinson Gallery, Millfield School, UK Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Canary Wharf, London, UK Solomon Gallery, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Instalation, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA, USA Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK Storey Galleries, Lancaster, UK Berkley Square Gallery, London, UK Metropole Galleries, Folkestone, Kent, UK Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal, QC Berkeley Square Gallery, London, UK Odapark, Venray, The Netherlands Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver BC Berkeley Square Gallery, London, UK Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK O’Hara Gallery, New York, NY Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum and Town Centre, UK Berkeley Square Gallery, London, UK Belloc Lowndes Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA Berkeley Square Gallery, London, UK Winchester Cathedral, Inner Close, Winchester, UK Red House Museum & Gardens, Christchurch, Dorset, UK The Allen Gallery (Garden), Alton, Hampshire, UK Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK Newport City Museum & Art Gallery, Newport, Gwent, UK Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK Henley Festival, Henley-on-Thames, UK Berkeley Square Gallery, London, UK St. Paul’s Gallery, Leeds, UK Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK Edward Totah Gallery, London, UK Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, UK

EXPOSITIONSDEGROUPESÉLECTIONNÉES SELECTEDGROUPEXHIBITIONS 2013 2011

2007 2006

2005

2004 2001

1999

1998 1997

1996 1994 1993

1992

1991 1990

1988

Wet Paint Gallery, Cirencester, UK Art Basel, Miami, Florida, FL, USA Aynhoe Park, Banbury UK Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada Blickachsen 6, Kurpak, Frankfurt, Germany Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Atkinson Gallery, Millfield School, UK Solomon Gallery, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Canary Warf, London, UK Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada Kirkland International Sculpture Exhibition, Washington, DC, USA Eigse Carlow Arts Festival, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Sculpture contemporaine, Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal, QC The Shape of the Century, 100 years of sculpture in Britain, Salisbury and Canary Wharf, UK Deb Haag Sculptur, La Haye, The Netherlands Vancouver Sculpture Festival, Vancouver, BC Manchester Academy, Manchester, UK Wimpole Hall, Cambridge, UK The Scottish Gallery, Edimburg, UK Animals in Art (Blue Cross), Sotheby’s, London, UK Chelsea Harbour, London, UK Minotaur, Myths & Legends, Berkeley Square Gallery, Londres, London, UK Sophie Ryder Collages, Oxford Gallery, Oxford, UK Within Reach, Bury St. Edmunds Art Gallery, Suffolk, UK Art at Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes, UK Millfield 20th Century Sculpture Exhibition, Millfield School, Somerset, UK Women Artists - Critics Choice, Bruton Street Gallery, London, UK Young British Art, Arhus Festival, Aarhus, Denmark. Bruton Gallery, Bath, UK Hannah Peschar Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Ockley, UK Menagerie, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow, UK

1987 1986

1985

1984

Glasgow Garden Festival, Glasgow, UK Cleveland Gallery, Middlesborough, UK The Cultivated Garden, Oxford Gallery Oxford, UK Chilford Hall Press, Cambridge, UK The Fabricated Landscape, Plymouth City Museum, UK Cats, Louise Hallett Gallery, London, UK Bretton Menagerie, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK Freedom to Touch, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK Animal in Photography, Photographers Gallery, London, UK Summer in the City, Gallery 24, London, UK The Nature of the Beast, Sculpture Lawn, Henley Festival, Henley-on-Thames, UK Harry Scott & Sophie Ryder, Gallery 24, London, UK Christie’s Inaugural Pick of the Graduates, London, UK Dogwork, Interim Art, London, UK

COLLECTIONS Yorkshire Sculpture Park Newport City Museum & Art Gallery Barings Bank De Beers Collection Gerrard & National Bank New Hall College, Cambridge Conoco Ltd The BOC Group The Private Bank and Trust Company Ltd The National Trust Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum Cheltenham Borough Council Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, Tennessee Victoria Art Gallery, Bath Robert and Mary Montgomery Armory Arts Center, Palm Beach, Florida, Ballantrae Park Dublin, Ohio, USA Frensham Heights School Folkstone Town PRIXETDISTINCTIONS GRANTSANDAWARDS 1992 Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries Art Newspaper. Prix pour la meilleure oeuvre exposée / Award for best sculpture in show.

Imprimé au Canada / Printed in Canada

SOPHIE RYDER

G d B3 - rue She rb rook e

S O PHIE RY D E R

14 juin - 6 juillet, 2018 | June 14 - July 6, 2018 exposition et prévente en cours / exhibition and presale in progress

Conversation, bronze, 84⅝” x 85⅜” x 26 ¾”, ed. 9

GdB G A L E R I E

BELLEFEUILLE

1 4 5 5 r u e S h e r b r o o k e O. , M o n t r é a l , Q u é b e c , H 3 G 1 L 2 T é l : 5 1 4 . 9 3 3 . 4 4 0 6 d e b e l l e f e ui l l e .c om

a r t @d e be l l e f e ui l l e .c om

GALERIE

BELLEFEUILLE