CARVED CAST CONSTRUCTED BRITISH SCULPTURE 1951–1991
CARVED CAST CONSTRUCTED BRITISH SCULPTURE 1951–1991 5–8 October 2017 Stand C8 Frieze Masters Regent’s Park
25 October –25 November 2017 Marlborough Fine Art 6 Albemarle Street London W1S 4BY +44 (0)20 7629 5161 mfa@marlboroughfineart.com www.marlboroughlondon.com
INTRODUCTION BY PHILIP WRIGHT For more than 30 years after 1945 the visual arts in Britain spawned an increasingly rapid succession of theories and styles which both reflected, and profited from, the expansion of initially public rather than private funding that was available. The profile of the visual arts was raised by the multiplying opportunities to study at art schools, to show at publicly-funded exhibition spaces at home and abroad, to read or appear in a growing number of art publications, let alone in the media in general – featuring in newspapers and their colour supplements, and on radio and television programmes. From the early 1960’s the visual arts profited from a new-found topicality in the ‘never-had-it-so-good’ era as spectacle, scandal or entertainment, assisted by the multiplying opportunities for international travel, exchanges and exhibitions, which in turn fed a growing international clientele of competitive and increasingly high-profile public art museums and private collectors.
Thanks to the dynamic patronage of a few private individuals, New York’s Museum of Modern Art [MoMA], founded in 1929, would within ten years not only own the most significant public collection of 20th century art in the western world, but also have researched and presented exemplary and style-defining exhibitions of almost all the movements involved in its development. MoMA’s prime mover was its founding director Alfred Barr, who would give Henry Moore his first international retrospective in 1946 and, incidentally, make the first acquisition for an international public museum’s collection of a work by Francis Bacon. In Britain such patronage also existed, but was modest if not also timid, and scattered across the country. Moore’s first retrospective had been in Leeds in 1941, and Hepworth’s in her home town Wakefield in 1944. Both sculptors had been closer in style at moments during the 1930’s, but with Moore as an Official War Artist drawing quasi figurative war subjects, and Hepworth isolated in St Ives with her husband Ben Nicholson, their styles would diverge. With the revelation of the effects of the Holocaust and the atomic bomb after the war, it would seem that the morality of the artistic gesture, and the language of humanism in art needed reaffirming.
Hepworth would follow a classicizing abstraction, while Moore would recover his pre-war theme of dignified standing and reclining female figures, and now family groups, whose optimistic and human-centred subjects would win him the International Sculpture Prize at the first post-war Venice Biennale in 1948. Moore was also generous in taking on aspiring sculptors as assistants, already before the war Bernard Meadows, and after the war Meadows again, Kenneth Armitage, Anthony Caro and Roland Piché amongst others. This hard-working, straight-speaking figure with an indomitable international reputation after Venice, would be the one against whom a new generation might choose to rebel, or at least from whom it might feel the need to distance itself. Promoted by a newly empowered British Council visual arts department, its director Lillian Somerville had focused Britain’s international standing in sculpture first with Moore, and after his success, presenting Hepworth in Venice (to a more muted reception), and then with Herbert Read’s somewhat artificially but catchily named ‘Geometry of Fear’ group of younger sculptors in 1952. They included Reg Butler, who would win the First Prize in the international competition for a monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner in the following year, and Lynn Chadwick, who would win the International Sculpture Prize again for Britain at Venice in 1956.
“ The war had left a legacy of devastated forms in brick, stone and above all in metal, of gaping holes in urban settings, of shattered fragments of buildings, not to speak of the torn limbs and damaged bodies that survived.”
The group also included Kenneth Armitage whose gentler, more humorous figure groups coincided least well with Read’s pithy phrase, and Eduardo Paolozzi as the outright rebel who, while acknowledging Moore’s stature, had said ‘he is still a man of the 30’s, and the idea of holes in wood for sculpture is not for us today’. While many young British artists were anxious to reconnect with Paris after the war, and especially to see the much talked about ‘existential’ work of Giacometti and Dubuffet, among the sculptors only Paolozzi and William Turnbull were able to spend two years each in that city between 1947 and 1950. The war had left a legacy of devastated forms in brick, stone and above all in metal, of gaping holes in urban settings, of shattered fragments of buildings, not to speak of the torn limbs and damaged bodies that survived. In the decade following, the savagery of human existence that Art Brut reflected can be seen in Paolozzi’s disfigured or junk-assembled figures, whereas Turnbull would turn away from the immediate past to pre-classical or archaeological sources. In the 1950’s these two sculptors would join with the photographer Nigel Henderson and Richard Hamilton in a splinter group within the Institute of Contemporary Arts [the ICA] to form the ‘Independent Group’. Hamilton would organize a number of pioneering interdisciplinary exhibitions including, famously in 1956, ‘This is Tomorrow’ with its proto-Pop spirit, but also would share with Victor Pasmore teaching a Bauhaus-inspired course of Basic Design that they had devised for Durham.
In the late-1940’s Pasmore had gradually subtracted the basic structures from his figurative paintings into points and lines of force and geometric outlines. This self-imposed discipline would lead him both to collaborate with architects on designs for the New Town of Peterlee in County Durham, and to assemble three-dimensional constructions on his own wall-hung works. His use of unconventional materials such as perspex in these sculptural works was not in essence new. Indeed that ‘liberation’ owed its origins – as in so many instances – to Picasso and to the Russian constructivists well before 1920. Works such as the former’s wall-hung, sheet metal-and-wire guitar and the latter’s mixed media suspended-inair constructions and reliefs encapsulated the 20th century’s decisive break with the sculptural tradition of progressing through imitation, to a premium to be placed on invention. In Britain this ‘liberation’ would come through Caro’s lecturing at St Martin’s from 1952 when, even before his own Damascene encounter with the American critic Greenberg and the sculpture of David Smith in 1959, he elected not to teach a style or a dogma, but ‘a discipline of doubt and enquiry’. This would famously bring forth a generation that used new materials such as plastics and fibreglass, as well as prefabricated units in their work, such as he would also use in his own work after 1959. Caro expanded the example of the earlier Russians’ ‘drawing in space’ on a new, gallery-invading scale, using industrially produced sheet metal and iron joists. Over the years his works grew from mainly constructed to a more pliable expressiveness with literary, poetic and even architectural associations.
No stronger contrast could be found between Caro’s evident determination to innovate with contemporary materials, and John Davies’ reconnection with figuration: no traditional figuration but one at a remove that embraces silent performance, strangeness and alienation, and disturbing hieratic presences that are rich in associations but defy categorization. Towards the end of the last century, ‘sculpture’ had effectively transcended its traditional methods and materials. Scale had been denatured, and corporality penetrated and reconstructed into its constituent elements. The human figure as sculpture could be present in life, or vanish completely, leaving only traces of a scarcely visible activity or an imprint on the ground. And yet this vigorous and fundamental deconstruction of the idea of sculpture would also permit ‘artists-insculpture’ to build solid environments to illustrate the ephemerality of assembling and dissolving bodies, meaning that sculpture could be everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.
HENRY MOORE 1898–1986
01. Study for the Head of a Warrior, 1954 Bronze Height 38.1 cm Edition 3/9
02. Wall Relief Three Forms, 1955 Bronze 19 x 33.5 x 6.4 cm Edition 2/12
BARBARA HEPWORTH 1903–1975
03. Bird Form, 1963-68 Bronze with green patina Height 35.6 cm Edition 4/9
04. Four Hemispheres, 1970 Quartz Height 15.2 cm Edition 10/10
VICTOR PASMORE 1908–1998
05. Relief Painting in White, Black and Maroon, 1952 Painted wood and plastic 35.5 x 44.5 x 9 cm
06. Abstract in White, Black, Ochre and Maroon, 1957 Mixed media on wood 76 x 81 cm
07. Abstract in White, Black and Ochre, 1963 Projective relief construction (painted wood and plastic) 121.9 x 121.9 cm
LYNN CHADWICK 1914–2003
08. Drawing for Two Winged Figures, 1957 Pen and ink 32 x 44 cm Signed and dated lower right
09. Pyramids, 1962 Bronze 68.5 x 49.7 x 60.3 cm Edition 3/3
MARGARET MELLIS 1914–2009
10. Two, 1979 Driftwood construction 66 x 45 cm Estate number 9.002
11. Twenty-Four, 1982D Driftwood construction 49 x 42 cm Estate stamp and number on reverse 9.024
12. Marsh, 1989-90 Driftwood construction 106 x 72 cm Signed, titled and dated on reverse Estate stamp and number on reverse 9.095
13. Passing, 1990 Driftwood construction 66 x 65 cm Signed, titled and dated on reverse Estate stamp and number on reverse 9.105
KENNETH ARMITAGE 1916–2002
14. Sibyl (version 1), 1961 Bronze Height 115.5 cm Edition of 6. Cast no. not known
15. Pandarus (version 3), 1963 Brass Height 61 cm Edition of 3. Cast no. not known
16. Pearly Gates (version 2), 1966 Aluminium 68.5 x 53.3 x 50.7 cm Unique
RAYMOND MASON 1922–2010
17. Paris, 1953 Bronze 21.6 x 44.8 cm Edition 5/8
18. London, 1957 Bronze 21 x 42 cm Edition 6/8
19. Procession of Clouds, 1970 Painted polyester resin 85 x 131 x 15 cm Edition 4/6
20. Rue Monsieur le Prince, Paris 6e, No. 1, 1992 Painted polyester resin 130 x 92 x 15 cm Edition 3/8
WILLIAM TURNBULL 1922–2012
21. Mask, 1953 Bronze Height 23 cm Edition of 2. Cast no. not known
ANTHONY CARO 1924–2013
22. Table Piece Z-8, 1978-79 Rusted and varnished steel 68.6 x 172.7 x 50.8 cm Unique
EDUARDO PAOLOZZI 1924–2005
23. Untitled Head, c. 1957-58 Bronze Height 149.9 cm Unique
ALLEN JONES B.1937
24. Third Man, 1965 Painted plywood, acrylic ‘head’ with oil paint 170 x 85 x 35 cm Unique
25. Red Dancer, 1982 Fibreglass/Red ‘Hammer’ finish Height 188 cm Edition of 3 each painted differently
ROLAND PICHÉ B.1938
26. Sunset and Deposition in Space Frame, 1966 Fibreglass, resin and aluminium 49.5 x 31.7 x 38.2 cm Edition 4/4
JOHN DAVIES B.1946
27. Man on Wooden Ladder, 1984-88 Resin, fibreglass, stone dust, acrylic paint with wood and steel Height 271.8 cm Unique
28. Gesticulating Figure, 1990 Painted bronze Height 53.3 cm Unique
29. Stilt Walkers, 1991 Bronze Height 48.9 cm Edition 1/3
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
KENNETH ARMITAGE 1916–2002 1916 Born in Leeds, Yorkshire 1934-37 Leeds College of Art 1937-39 Slade School of Fine Art, London 1939-46 Serves in the Army where he teaches aircraft and tank identification from silhouettes 1946-56 Head of the sculpture department at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, Wiltshire 1952 New Aspects of British Sculpture XXVI Venice Biennale. First solo exhibition Gimpel Fils, London 1953-55 First UK university artist in residence at University of Leeds 1958 Solo exhibition XXIX Venice Biennale and award for best international sculpture under 45 1959 Retrospective Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Joins Marlborough Fine Art 1960 Exhibits with Lynn Chadwick at Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover 1962 First exhibition at Marlborough New London 1967-69 DAAD Artist in Residence in Berlin 1969 Awarded CBE 1972-73 Arts Council touring exhibition Norwich, Bolton, Oldham, Kettering, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Llanelli, Leeds and Hull 1974-c.81 Tutor, Royal College of Art, London 1985 Retrospective Artcurial, Paris 1994 Appointed Senior Royal Academician 2016 Centenary retrospective at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath 2017 Exhibitions at The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds and The Tetley, Leeds  
Kenneth Armitage. Photo: Ida Kar, 1954
ANTHONY CARO 1924–2013
Anthony Caro. Photo: Jorge Lewinski, 1967
1924 Born in New Malden, Surrey 1944-46 Serves in Fleet Air Arm of Royal Navy 1944-46 Studies sculpture at Regent Street Polytechnic, London 1947-52 Royal Academy Schools, London, academic training from various RA sculptors. 1949 Marries painter Sheila Girling, with whom he has two sons 1951-53 Moves to Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, to work as part time assistant to Henry Moore. 1953-81 Teaches part-time at St Martin’s School of Art, London. Students include Richard Deacon, Barry Flanagan, Hamish Fulton, Gilbert & George, Phillip King and Richard Long. 1956 First solo exhibition at Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, figurative work in clay or plaster 1957 First solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils, London 1958 Man Taking Off His Shirt 1955-56 included in XXIX Venice Biennale 1959 First Paris Biennale for young artists. Awarded sculpture prize which enables him to visit Carnac, Brittany, where he studies primitive standing stones. Tate Gallery purchases Woman Waking Up 1955. Meets sculptor David Smith and painter Kenneth Noland, also Motherwell, Frankenthaler, Diebenkorn, Kienholz and other New York and West Coast painters 1960 In London makes first abstract sculptures in steel. Frank Martin sets up welding shop at St Martin’s 1961 Makes first polychrome sculpture. Exhibits the only sculpture in New London Situation at Marlborough New London 1963 Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, Group show Kasmin, London, includes work and continues to show regularly 1963-65 Teaches at Bennington College, Vermont. Large college garage belonging to Fire Department made available as temporary studio 1964 First solo exhibition in New York at André Emmerich Gallery, with whom he continues to exhibit. Included in Documenta III, Kassel, Germany 1965 Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Washington DC. Visits USA three-four times a year, usually working a month there for next two decades
1966 1967 1969 1970 1971 1975 1976 1977 1981 1982 1984 1985 1987 1989 1990 1992 1994-95 1995 1996 1996-97 1998 2000 2001 2004 2005 2008-9
Exhibits Five Young British Artists British Pavilion Venice Biennale. Begins to make Table Pieces, small sculptures, using handles and coming over the edge of the table Retrospective Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Holland Retrospective Hayward Gallery, London. Moves studio to former piano factory, Camden Town, London. British section X Säo Paulo Bienal. Awarded CBE Makes unpainted steel sculptures where the rusted steel is varnished or waxed Visits Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and India with family lecturing at art schools and universities. Retrospective MoMA, New York, tours to Minneapolis, Houston and Boston Presented with key to the City of New York Retrospective of Table Pieces, British Council tour to Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, Austria, New Zealand and Germany Council Royal College of Art, London (until 1983) Trustee Tate Gallery, London. Council Slade School of Fine Art, London 60th birthday exhibition Serpentine Gallery, London, tours to Manchester, Leeds, Ordrupgaard, Düsseldorf and Barcelona Builds a barn at Ancram, New York State, to use as US studio. Visits Greece for the first time, which inspires series of sculptures based on Greek pediments Receives Knighthood Retrospective Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul. Visits Korea and India. First solo exhibition at Annely Juda Fine Art, London First exhibition in a French museum Musée des Beaux Arts, Calais. Visits Japan Retrospective in ancient Trajan Markets, Rome, organised by British Council. Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture, Tokyo Several exhibitions to celebrate 70th birthday. Table sculptures organised by Kettle’s Yard, tours to Manchester and Sheffield Retrospective new Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Musée des Beaux Art, Angers, figurative sculptures and drawings of the 40s and 90s With Norman Foster and engineer, Chris Wise, wins competition for new footbridge over the Thames from St Paul’s to Tate Modern at Bankside, London. Lifetime Achievement Award for Sculpture Caro-Sculpture from Painting, National Gallery, London, first solo contemporary sculptor show. First theatre commission, Samson Agonistes, Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough, Halifax Receives OM, first sculptor to receive award since Henry Moore in 1963 Inaugural exhibition large architectural works Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park Exhibitions worldwide mark 80th birthday Major retrospective Tate Britain, London; tours in reduced form to IVAM, Valencia Musée des Beaux Arts, Angers; Musée des Beaux Arts et de la Dentelle, Calais; LAAC, Dunkirk; Musée du Dessin et de l’Estampe Originale, Gravelines, accompanies opening of his Chapel of Light at Bourbourg
LYNN CHADWICK 1914–2003 1914 1933-39 1941-44 1944-46 1947-52 1950 1951 1952 1956 1958 1960 1961 1964 1971 1985 1989 1991-92 1995 2001 2003
Lynn Chadwick. Photo: Jorge Lewinski, 1964
Born in Barnes, London Works as architectural draughtsman. While working with Rodney Thomas (1937) makes several mobiles for exhibition stands and starts to make mobiles as works of art Serves as Pilot in the Fleet Air Arm Resumes work with architects Produces textile, furniture and architectural designs First solo exhibition Gimpel Fils, London Enrols on a welding course at the British Oxygen Company’s Welding School, Cricklewood Commissioned to make moving and static constructions for the Festival of Britain New Aspects of British Sculpture XXVI Venice Biennale Wins the International Sculpture Prize at XXVIII Venice Biennale Moves to Lypiatt Park, Stroud, Gloucestershire Joins Marlborough Fine Art Exhibits with Kenneth Armitage at Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover First exhibition at Marlborough New London Awarded CBE Opens his own foundry at Lypiatt Park Created Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Invited back to the Venice Biennale Retrospective Yorkshire Sculpture Park Stops working Appointed Senior Royal Academician Retrospective Tate Britain, London
JOHN DAVIES B.1946
John Davies. Photo: Jonathan Youens, 1984
1946 1963-67 1967-69 1969 1970 1972 1975 1978 1980 1981-82 1984 1985
Born in Macclesfield, Cheshire Manchester and Hull Colleges of Art and visits René Magritte with a travel bursary in 1966 Slade School of Fine Art, London, where figurative sculptor Reg Butler is Professor of Sculpture Awarded sculpture fellowship Gloucester College of Art Wins Sainsbury Award and moves to Faversham, Kent, where a former Congregational chapel becomes his studio First solo exhibition Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Represents the United Kingdom in 4th Indian Triennale, New Delhi The Artist’s Camp at Kasauli, North India First exhibition Marlborough Fine Art, London Solo exhibition of sculpture 1970-1980 Kunstverein, Hamburg, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe Exhibits acrobat sculptures at Marlborough Fine Art, London The Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture, Royal Academy of Arts, London. Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, largest presentation of his works in the UK
1995-98 1996 1997 1999 2004-5 2007 2009 2011 2012 2015 2015-16
Lives in Thessalonika, Greece Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester Exhibits Bodyworks Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, with Anthony Caro (early work) and his old tutor from Hull, Victor Newsome National Portrait Gallery commission a head of Lord Foster Retrospective Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao; Institut Valenciá d’Art Modern, Valencia Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Dragão do Mar, Fortaleza, Brazil This is Sculpture, Tate Liverpool United Enemies: The Problem of Sculpture in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Home Sweet Home, Marlborough Barcelona Self: Image and Identity: Self-portraiture from Van Dyck to Louise Bourgeois, Turner Contemporary, Margate Making It: Sculpture in Britain 1977-1986, Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield; Mead Gallery, University of Warwick; Edinburgh Art Centre
BARBARA HEPWORTH 1903–1975
Barbara Hepworth. Photo: Crispin Eurich, late 1960s
1903 1920-21 1921-24 1924 1925 1928 1931 1933
Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire Scholarship to Leeds School of Art, Henry Moore is also a student Scholarship to Royal College of Art to study sculpture Travels to Italy Marries sculptor John Skeaping in Florence, lives and work at the British School in Rome, until return to England the following year Moves to Hampstead and remains there until 1939. First public solo exhibition Beaux Arts Gallery, London Meets painter Ben Nicholson, her second husband, joins the Seven and Five Society and shows with them until 1935 when the group is dissolved Visits Paris and becomes member of the Abstraction-Création group
1934 Exhibits with avant garde group Unit One at Mayor Gallery, London 1937 First solo exhibition at Alex, Reid & Lefevre, London 1938 Marriage to Ben Nicholson 1939 Moves to St Ives, Cornwall, with her family a week before the outbreak of war 1943 First retrospective Temple Newsam, Leeds 1948 Shows at first Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture, Battersea Park, London 1949 Buys Trewyn Studio, St Ives, where she lives permanently from 1950 (now the Barbara Hepworth Museum, opened in 1976 and an outpost of Tate since 1980). Takes on permanent assistants for the first time including painter Terry Frost. Founder member of Penwith Society of Arts in Cornwall 1950 Shows in the British Pavilion at the XXV Venice Biennale, selected by Herbert Read. The Tate Gallery acquires its first Hepworth sculpture 1951 Retrospective Wakefield City Art Gallery, touring to York and Manchester. Marriage to Ben Nicholson dissolved 1954 Major retrospective Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. Visits Greece 1958 Awarded CBE 1959 Exhibits at 5th São Paulo Bienal, Brazil, and wins the Grand Prix. Exhibition organised by British Council touring to South America 1960 Honorary Degree, University of Birmingham; Leeds, Exeter, Oxford, Manchester follow 1961 Acquires Palais de Danse, additional space, opposite her Trewyn studio 1962 Second exhibition of work 1952-62 Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1964 British Council touring exhibition Scandinavia. Attends unveiling of Single Form, United Nations Secretariat Building, New York, commissioned in memory of her friend Dag Hammarskjöld (Secretary General) 1965 Created DBE. Retrospective Rietveld Pavilion Rijksmusem Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Holland. Trustee, Tate Gallery, London (until 1972), the first female trustee 1966 Exhibits at Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York and Gimpel Fils, London 1968 Major retrospective Tate Gallery, London 1970 Senior Fellow, Royal College of Art, London 1972 Joins Marlborough Fine Art and exhibits The Family of Man 1975 Dies in an accidental fire at Trewyn Studio 2003 Barbara Hepworth Centenary Tate St Ives and Yorkshire Sculpture Park 2011 The Hepworth, Wakefield, opens; inaugural Hepworth Prize for Sculpture (2016) 2015-16 Retrospective Tate Britain, London, Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World, tours to Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; Arp Museum, Rolandseck, Germany
ALLEN JONES B.1937
Allen Jones. Photo: Simon Thompson
1937 1955-59 1959-60 1963 1964 1969 1970 1972 1975 1978 1979 1986 1987 1990
Born in Southampton Hornsey College of Art, London Royal College of Art, London Paris Biennale, Prix des Jeunes Artistes First solo exhibition Arthur Tooth & Sons, London Exhibits Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York Group exhibition Pop Art Redefined, Hayward Gallery, London Stage commission for Oh! Calcutta! First exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art, London Exhibitions at Oriel Gallery, Cardiff; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Arnolfini, Bristol Retrospective of drawings and watercolours Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge Retrospective 1959-78 Serpentine Gallery, London; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden; Kunsthalle Bielefeld and Galerie Wentzel, Hamburg Appointed Royal Academician Stage commission for Eric Satie’s Cinéma, Ballet Rambert Trustee, British Museum, London (until 1999); Emeritus Trustee in 2000
1992-93 1995 1995-96 2000 2002 2005 2007 2008 2012-13 2013-14 2015
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea; Oriel 31, Powys; Wrexham Library Arts Centre; Middlesbrough Art Gallery Print retrospective Barbican Art Gallery, London Stage commission for Signed in Red, Royal Ballet Exhibitions at Kunsthaus, Cologne; Kunsthaus, Hannover Kunsthalle Villa Kobe, Halle/Saale Retrospective Palazzo dei Sette, Orvieto Galleria d’Arte Maggiore, Bologna Sculpture retrospective NORD/LB Galerie, Hanover Allen Jones, Works, Royal Academy of Arts, London Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Southampton Solent University Exhibits prints, paintings and watercolours, Alan Cristea Gallery, London Showtime!, paintings and sculptures, Marlborough Fine Art, London Off the Wall, Kunsthalle, Tübingen; UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vöklinger Hütte; Saarbrücken; State Art Collection, Chemnitz, Germany Kunsthallle, Hannover. Retrospective Royal Academy of Arts, London Colour Matters, sculpture exhibition, Marlborough Fine Art, London
RAYMOND MASON 1922–2010
Raymond Mason. Photo: Barbara Lloyd, 1991
1922 1937-39 1939-41 1942 1943 1945 1946-47 1948 1951 1952 1953
Born in Birmingham Scholarship to Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts Volunteers for military service in the Royal Navy and invalided out Scholarship to Royal College of Art, London, to study painting, evacuated to Ambleside, Lake District Leaves the Royal College to return to Birmingham. Applies to the Slade School of Fine Art, London, (then evacuated to the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford). Friendship with fellow student Eduardo Paolozzi. Turns to sculpture. Moves to London and rejoins the Slade on its return. Visits Henry Moore in Hampstead Enters Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, with a scholarship from the French State Meets Alberto Giacometti and forms a life-long friendship Travels to Greece and Crete Executes Man in the Street which he considers the beginning of his career. Second visit to Barcelona. Acts as interpreter between Giacometti and Moore at latter’s exhibition Moves to a studio in rue Monsieur-le-Prince in the Latin Quarter, Paris, where he works for the rest of his life. First high relief Barcelona Tram
1954 Meets Picasso in south of France. First exhibition Beaux Arts Gallery, London 1955 Meets Balthus and visits him frequently at the Villa Medici in Rome (1960-76) 1958 Buys a cottage near Ménerbes, France, on hillside facing Lubéron hills 1959 Designs stage set and costumes for Phèdre at Théâtre du Gymnase, Paris 1960 Opens Galerie Janine Hao with his wife adjacent to his studio with inaugural exhibition of his work (gallery opens for six years) 1965 First exhibition at Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris 1968 First exhibition at Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York 1969-71 Monumental work The Departure of Fruit and Vegetable from the Heart of Paris a version of which is installed in the Church of St Eustache, Paris (1976) and Four Seasons Hotel, Georgetown, Washington D.C. (1993) 1977 Exhibits Landscape sculptures and drawings Chartreuse de Villeneuve-les-Avignon. A Tragedy, numerous sculptures and drawings at Galerie Claude Bernard. Henry Moore is taken by James Lord to see the mining sculpture 1978 Awarded Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 1980 Maison de l’Yonne et Tourisme, Auxerre 1982 Exhibits in Aftermath. France 1945-54, inaugural exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery, London. A Tragedy in the International Section of Venice Biennale. Retrospective Coloured sculptures, bronzes and drawings, 1952-1982, Serpentine Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, organised by Arts Council 1983 Begins work on a 65-figure monument for McGill College Avenue, Montreal. Joins Marlborough in London and New York 1985-86 Major retrospective Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Musée Cantini, Marseilles 1986 Installation of The Crowd 1962-65, 99-figure sculpture and culmination of a long series of street scenes installed in the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris. Installation of a second cast 527 Madison Avenue, New York (1990) 1988 Installation of two polychromed high reliefs Georgetown Plaza, Washington, D.C. 1989 Retrospective Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; Manchester City Art Gallery; City Art Centre, Edinburgh. Awarded Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 1990 Inauguration by the Queen of Forward in Centenary Square, Birmingham 1991 First exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art, London 1996 Paris Architecture works on paper, Marlborough Fine Art, London 2000 Retrospective Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Paris 2003 85th birthday exhibition of sculpture and drawings, Marlborough Fine Art, London, including Twin Towers Ablaze
MARGARET MELLIS 1914–2009
Margaret Mellis. Photo: Rod Shone, 1990
1914 1930-34 1933 1936 1938 1939 1942 1946 1948 1950
Born in Wukingfu, Swatow, China. Family returns to Scotland when she is one Edinburgh College of Art, taught by colourist Samuel Peploe and William Gillies Travel scholarship enables her to visit Paris where she studies under André Lhote Studies at Euston Road School, London, with Adrian Stokes, having first met in Paris Marries Adrian Stokes Moves to Carbis Bay, near St Ives, Cornwall, to escape London, arguably heralding the next wave of artists in the area, including Ben Nicholson, Hepworth, Naum Gabo, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and Roger Hilton. Explores collages and reliefs, former created from paper. Visitors include Victor Pasmore, Graham Sutherland, William Coldstream, Peter Lanyon. New Movements in Art, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, includes abstract, colour collages Leaves Cornwall with her son, Telfer (b.1940), following divorce from Stokes and returns to figuration. Before leaving Heron introduces her to painter Francis Davison Marries Francis Davison and lives in the Cap d’Antibes for two years Moves to Walberswick, Suffolk, later moving to Syleham, near Diss, Norfolk. Recovers interest in abstraction
1976 1978 1982 1984 1987 1990s 1997 1998 2001 2008 2009 2011
Rheumatoid arthritis forces her to move to Southwold, Suffolk. Recovers a little, continues to work and promote her husband’s art. Neither is widely exhibited in London as they are geographically and, at times, conceptually removed Begins work on driftwood reliefs, which will become central to her practice Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, constructions, paintings and reliefs Francis Davison dies from a brain tumour. Finds a new lease of working life First solo exhibition at Redfern Gallery, London Mentor to Damien Hirst Retrospective, City Art Centre, Edinburgh The Pier Gallery, Stromness Newlyn Art Gallery Margaret Mellis: A Life in Colour, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Norwich Dies age 95 Major part in Tate St Ives Summer exhibition, with Martin Creed and Agnes Martin
HENRY MOORE 1898–1986
Henry Moore. Photo: Ida Kar, 1954
1898 1917-18 1919-21 1921-24 1923 1924 1925 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931
Born in Castleford, Yorkshire After teaching in Castleford enlists to serve on Western Front and is gassed during the battle of Cambrai. Returns to the Front shortly before the Armistice Resumes teaching in Castleford and begins to study Leeds School of Art, first student in new sculpture department (1920) Scholarship to Royal College of Art, London, where he learns stone and wood carving First visit to Paris and first sale as a professional artist Teaches part time at Royal College of Art, London Travels to Italy, where he visits various cities Group exhibition at St George’s Gallery, London First solo show at the Warren Gallery, London, associated with Bloomsbury Group Marries Irina Radetsky, a Russian art student, and settle in Hampstead Joins the Seven and Five Society. Exhibits British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Buys cottage in Kent where he carves in the open-air. Subsequently assumes directorship new department of sculpture Chelsea School of Art, London (until 1940)
1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1940 1943-44 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1951 1953 1955 1956 1960 1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1968 1972 1974 1977 1981 1982 1983 1984 1986
Member of Unit One, Hepworth and Ben Nicholson are members among others Travels to France and Spain, visits prehistoric cave paintings Shows in Artists International Association exhibition Artists Against Fascism Helps organise the International Surrealist exhibition in London Visits Picasso’s studio to see Guernica in progress Official War Artist. Depicts Londoners in the Underground shelters. Studio damaged by bombing so moves to Hertfordshire where he remains First solo foreign exhibition at Buchholz Gallery, New York, owned by Curt Valentin Honorary doctorate University of Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale follow Major retrospective Museum of Modern Art, New York; tours to Chicago and San Francisco. First visit to New York, Boston, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia where he meets many leading artists. Birth of daughter Mary. Retrospective tours to five Australian cities Wins International Prize for Sculpture at XXIV Venice Biennale Retrospectives in UK and Europe Retrospective is part of Festival of Britain Wins prize at São Paulo Bienal and travels in Brazil and Mexico Appointed Companion of Honour. Exhibition in Basle, Zagreb, Belgrade, Skopje and Ljubljana. Trustee of National Gallery, London (until 1974) Commission for UNESCO headquarters, Paris Large retrospective Whitechapel Art Gallery, tours throughout western Europe First exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art, London, of early carvings Receives Order of Merit Touring exhibition in Latin America Buys a house near Forte dei Marmi, near Carrara marble quarries, to use in summer Touring exhibition in Eastern Europe Major retrospective at Tate Gallery, London, marks 70th birthday Major retrospective in and around Forte di Belvedere, Florence Opening of Henry Moore Sculpture Centre at the Art Gallery, Ontario Inauguration of The Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green, Much Hadham Major retrospective in Madrid tours to Lisbon and Barcelona Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture opens at Leeds City Art Galleries Exhibition 60 Years of his Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York President Mitterand visits Much Hadham and awards Legion of Honour Major retrospective Hong Kong and Japan. Death is followed by Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, London
EDUARDO PAOLOZZI 1924–2005
Eduardo Paolozzi. Photo: Ida Kar, 1958
1924 1940 1943 1945-47 1947 1949
Born in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. Eldest son of Italian immigrants Interned for three months in June at Slaughton prison. Serves with Pioneer Corps Edinburgh College of Art Slade School of Fine Art, Oxford and London Mayor Gallery, London, first solo exhibition, drawings and watercolours, whilst still a student. Proceeds from sales enable him to visit Paris, where he lives for two years and becomes acquainted with Giacometti, Dada and Surrealism Returns to London eventually establishing a studio in Chelsea. Tutor for Textile Design, Central School of Arts and Crafts, London (until 1955). Works on various commissions and architectural projects
1952 1953 1955 1958 1959 1960 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1968-69 1971 1974 1977 1979 1981-91 1986 1987 1989 1994 1999 2001 2005
British Pavilion, XXVI Venice Biennale (also 1954, 1960, 1964, 1968). Co-founder of the Independent Group, a splinter group within the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and precursor to mid-1950s British and late 1950s American Pop Art movements Presents ground-breaking performance lecture Bunk! projecting collages from magazine clippings Curates Parallel of Life and Art, ICA, London, creating ‘total environment’, images from scientific journals, anthropological books, technical diagrams cover walls Moves with his family to Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, where he establishes print design company with Nigel Henderson. Teaches sculpture at St Martin’s School of Art, London (until 1958). Hanover Gallery, London, sculpture Exhibits Documenta (also 1964, 1968, 1977) Visiting Professor Hoschschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg (until 1962). First solo exhibition abroad Betty Parsons Gallery, New York. Retrospective, British Pavilion, XXX Venice Biennale, award for Best Sculptor under 45. Exhibition tours to Belgrade, Paris, Bochum, Brussels, Oslo, Louisiana, Amsterdam, Baden-Baden and Tübingen Robert Fraser Gallery, London, recent sculpture and collage. Museum of Modern Art, New York, sculpture Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, sculpture, prints Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Holland Visiting Professor of Art, University of California, Berkeley. Tutor for Ceramics, Royal College of Art, London (until 1989). Print retrospective University of California, Berkeley. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, prints. Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf. Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart Retrospective Tate Gallery, London Works in Berlin as part of the German Academic Exchange Programme Lecturer for Ceramics Fachhochschule, Cologne (until 1981) Elected to Royal Academy Professor for Sculpture, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich. Many works developed in his Munich studio, including Tottenham Court Road station mosaics Appointed Her Majesty’s Sculpture in Ordinary for Scotland Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University Receives Knighthood Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, exhibition of sculpture and graphics to mark his 70th birthday. Donation of work and much of the content of his studio to Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh National Galleries of Scotland opens the Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, to display donation, and recreation of his studio from London and Munich Suffers a near-fatal stroke, which makes him a wheelchair user. Dies in a hospital in London
VICTOR PASMORE 1908–1998
Victor Pasmore. Photo: John Pasmore, c. 1965
1908 1922-26 1927-32 1932-34 1934-36 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941
Born in Chelsham, Surrey Harrow Art School Moves to London. Works for the Public Health Department, London County Hall. First solo exhibition Cooling Galleries, London (1932) Elected to London Artists’ Association, founded by Roger Fry Joins Objective Abstractions group, which includes Graham Bell, Coldstream, Rogers Co-founder (with Claude Rogers and William Coldstream) Euston Road School Kenneth Clark, new Director of the National Gallery, London, acquires a painting and provides patronage, which enables him to leave office job Outbreak of war closes down Euston Road School. Registers as conscientious objector Marries Wendy Blood also a painter Birth of son, John. Conscripted into army. Application as conscientious objector rejected but granted exemption on appeal (1942)
1942-43 1947-48 1949-53 1950 1952-53 1954 1955 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1968 1969-70 1975 1978 1980 1982 1983 1985 1988-89 1990 1991 1998
Visiting teacher Camberwell School of Art, London. First solo exhibition at Redfern Gallery, London. Birth of daughter, Mary Rejects iconic representation and explores abstract form. Visiting teacher Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, where he had formerly attended evening classes. Teachers include Paolozzi. Moves to Blackheath Mural-relief at Kingston bus station. Visits St Ives, Cornwall. Ben Nicholson invites him to join Penwith Society of Arts, which supports his abstract experiments (1951) Begins to use mechanised materials in relief constructions Retrospective, ICA, London. Master of Painting, King’s College, Durham University Invited to collaborate on development of Peterlee New Town, near Durham (until 1977). Retrospective Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle upon Tyne; ICA, London (with Richard Hamilton) Art since 1945, Documenta, Kassel, Germany. Awarded CBE XXX Biennale, British Pavilion, Venice, and tour Joins Marlborough Gallery, London, first exhibition Marlborough New London Gallery Retrospective Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover Trustee, Tate Gallery, London (until 1966). Retrospective Kunsthalle, Berne (with William Scott) Begins to work in graphics with Kelpra Studios, London; subsequently works with 2RC workshop, Rome Retrospective Tate Gallery, London, and smaller Arts Council tour. VIII São Paulo Bienal (with Patrick Heron) tours South America Acquires house and studio in Malta Ulster Museum, Belfast, Trinity College, Dublin. Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester; Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle Apollo Pavilion in reinforced concrete, Peterlee. Grade II* listed (1992) Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, Malta Musée des Beaux Arts, La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. Gentofte Radhus, Copenhagen Retrospective, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, organised by Arts Council tours England Appointed Companion of Honour Stage design for new ballet, The Young Apollo, Royal Opera House, London. Elected Senior Royal Academician Musée des Beaux Arts, Calais. Honorary doctorates from Royal College of Art, London, and University of Warwick Retrospective Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; Phillips Collection, Washington Selects 10th The Artist’s Eye exhibition, National Gallery, London. Retrospective Center for International Contemporary Arts, New York Retrospective Serpentine Gallery, London Dies in Malta. Memorial group of works shown 230th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
ROLAND PICHÉ B.1938
Roland Piché. Photographer unknown, c.1967
1938 1956-60 1960-64 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1972 1975 1977 1980 1981 1983 1992 1993 1996 2001 2003 2005 2010 2013
Born in London Hornsey College of Art, London Royal College of Art, London. Part-time assistant to Henry Moore (1963-64) Young Contemporaries gallery prize. Principal Lecturer and Head of Sculpture, Maidstone College of Art (one of numerous teaching positions) The New Generation, travelling exhibition. Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Travel Bursary. 4th Biennale de Paris, first prize Prix de la Ville de Paris (British Group) Structure 66’ exhibition, first prize awarded by the Welsh Committee, Arts Council of Great Britain. The English Eye, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York First solo exhibition Marlborough New London Gallery, sculpture and drawings Commission Prize, Moorgate Sculpture Competition First solo exhibition abroad at Gallery Ad Libitum, Antwerp B; Middleheim Biennale, Antwerp B British Sculptors, Royal Academy of Arts, London Canon Park Birmingham Arts Council of Great Britain Award Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. Minories Galleries, Colchester British Sculpture in the 20th Century, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Sabbatical to Italy, where he visits Carrara quarries Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors Kopp-Bardellini Agent Gallery, Zurich Curates exhibition and catalogue for Bronze Sculpture: Caro, Elizabeth Frink, Moore, Paolozzi, Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury Glaxo Smith Kline – Harlow Research Centre Retires from education and the Kent Institute of Art and Design Chappel Galleries, Essex Exhibits Time & Life Building, London. Marries Cherie Harvey Chapter House, Canterbury Cathedral
WILLIAM TURNBULL 1922–2012
William Turnbull. Photo: Jorge Lewinski, 1964
1922 1937 1939-41 1941 1946 1946 1948 1950 1955 1957 1960 1962-63 1964 1973 1982 1984 1995 1998 2004 2006 2012
Born in Dundee, Scotland Leaves school age 15 as father unemployed during Depression and finds odd jobs as labourer. Attends art classes two or three evenings a week Dundee University Works in illustration department of D.C. Thompson, Dundee, a periodical company Serves in the RAF, flies in Canada, India, and Ceylon Slade School of Fine Art, London. Accepted into painting department, almost immediately transfers to sculpture. Meets Paolozzi and Nigel Henderson Six weeks travelling in Italy, first visit to Paris on the way back Moves to Paris, where he meets Léger, Giacometti and Brancusi Returns to London. Joint exhibition with Eduardo Paolozzi at the Hanover Gallery, London, organised by David Sylvester, a mutual friend. Joins London Group. Included in New Aspects of British Sculpture, British Pavilion, XXV Venice Biennale First standing figure, subject represents new preoccupation with stillness and silence First visit to USA, introduced to Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman in New York Marries sculptor and printmaker, Kim Lim. They have two sons, Alex and Johnny First visits to Japan, Cambodia and Lim’s native Singapore Teaches sculpture part-time at Central School of Arts and Crafts, London (until 1972); taught experimental design part-time (1950-61). Begins working in steel Major retrospective Tate Gallery, London. Rethinks direction and moves away from more modular steel sculptures, returning to moulded, textured work of early career Symbol and Imagination 1951-1980, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, second part of major survey British sculpture in the 20th century Joint exhibition with Kim Lim at the National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore Serpentine Gallery, London Waddington Galleries, London (also 2001, 2004, 2007) Large Horse, 1990 installed at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, retrospective of works 1946-2003 following year Survey exhibition of sculpture Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain, London Dies in London
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS Kenneth Armitage © National Portrait Gallery, London Lynn Chadwick Private Collection © The Lewinski Archive at Chatsworth/Bridgeman Images Anthony Caro Private Collection © The Lewinski Archive at Chatsworth/Bridgeman Images John Davies © Jonathan Youens Barbara Hepworth © Paul Clarke, The Crispin Eurich Photographic Archive Allen Jones © Simon Thompson Third Man 1965 and Red Dancer 1982 © Allen Jones Margaret Mellis © The Margaret Mellis Estate, courtesy of the Redfern Gallery Henry Moore © National Portrait Gallery, London Eduardo Paolozzi © National Portrait Gallery, London Victor Pasmore © John Pasmore William Turnbull Private Collection © The Lewinski Archive at Chatsworth/Bridgeman Images © Estate of William Turnbull. All rights reserved, DACS 2017
London Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd 6 Albemarle Street London, W1S 4BY Telephone: +44 (0)20 7629 5161 Telefax: +44 (0)20 7629 6338 mfa@marlboroughfineart.com www.marlboroughlondon.com
New York Marlborough Gallery Inc. 40 West 57th Street New York, N.Y. 10019 Telephone: +1 212 541 4900 Telefax: +1 212 541 4948 mny@marlboroughgallery.com www.marlboroughgallery.com
Marlborough Contemporary 6 Albemarle Street London, W1S 4BY Telephone: +44 (0)20 7629 5161 Telefax: +44 (0)20 7629 6338 info@marlboroughcontemporary.com www.marlboroughcontemporary.com
Marlborough Contemporary 545 West 25th Street New York, N.Y. 10001 Telephone: +1 212 463 8634 Telefax: +1 212 463 9658 info@marlboroughcontemporary.com www.marlboroughcontemporary.com
Madrid GalerĂa Marlborough SA Orfila 5 28010 Madrid Telephone: +34 91 319 1414 Telefax: +34 91 308 4345 info@galeriamarlborough.com www.galeriamarlborough.com
Barcelona Marlborough Barcelona Enric Granados, 68 08008 Barcelona. Telephone: +34 93 467 4454 Telefax: +34 93 467 4451 infobarcelona@galeriamarlborough.com www.galeriamarlborough.com
Photography: Richard Ivey, Prudence Cuming Associates Design: Stocks Taylor Benson Print: Impress Print Services ISBN 978-1-909707-43-6 Catalogue No. 771 Š 2017 Marlborough