Modern British Sculpture
Royal Academy, London, January 22nd to April 7th.
In a world full of questions, the Royal Academy is about to pose three more. What is modern? What is British? And what is sculpture? The answer is a blockbuster exhibition—the first in 30 years to examine the peaks (and troughs) of 20th-century British sculpture, with a distinguished line-up including Damien Hirst, Richard Long, Anthony Caro and Jacob Epstein.
The exhibition will be urging us to compare and contrast with some strongly themed galleries. The pairing of Henry Moore’s “Festival Figure” with Barbara Hepworth’s “Single Form” (pictured) is a case in point. Moore’s work is figurative while Hepworth’s is abstract; Moore’s was commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain, Hepworth’s for the United Nations Plaza in New York ten years later.
Sculpture is a language riddled with opposites. Its most successful practitioners create forms that are both solid and fluid, manifesting boldness and fragility at the same time. In response, the curators have produced a show which encourages us to uncover new connections through innovative comparisons. Phillip King’s “Genghis Khan” is simple and stylised; Alfred Gilbert’s “Queen Victoria” is highly decorative. Yet here they are together, exchanging regal glances.
The work on show is not all British. The classical Annenberg Courtyard will be filled with a barn originally created by the German artist Kurt Schwitters and reconstructed here by Cumbrian dry-stone-wall builders. The underlying influence of Native American, Indian and African art will be shown in a series of loans from the British Museum and the V&A. “Modern British Sculpture” looks like being a lively exhibition which raises more questions than it answers. For instance: why is Antony Gormley missing?
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