Surface, Light and Colour
In partnership with Leeds Art Gallery the Henry Moore Institute provides the city with ongoing sculpture exhibitions in its recently refurbished gallery space. Since 21st November 2012 and lasting only until May of this year, the exhibition Polychromies: Surface, Light and Colour has been curated in this space. The exhibition focuses on bronze, marble and stone sculptures from artists who also explore the use of colour such as Antonio Canova, Auguste Rodin, Alfred Gilbert, John Skeaping, Barry Hart and Elisabeth Frink. Through the use of works by these infamous artists the exhibition allows the viewer to experience a narration of the development of figure sculpture from the early 19th century to the present. From the Leeds Art Gallery Website one can read the inspiration behind the collection, that “sculpture has often been considered in opposition to painting, as concerned with form and not with tone and colour. However, all sculpture is coloured in some way, whether it is inherent to the material or applied over the top and has surface effects, revealed by light, which are integral to the perception of the work.”
In the second gallery space one can see an exploration between colour and abstraction through the use of simplistic tones, lines and planes. The works curated in this space include both two and three dimensional structures; ranging from flat images by Bridget Riley, Richard Smith and Ron Wilman, to kinetic constructions produced by Marcel Duchamp, Naum Gabo, Victor Pasmore, Barry Martin, Francis Morland and George Meyrick.
In the third and final area of the exhibition three, early nineteenth century minature wax portraits by George Bullock, Samuel Percy and Richard Cockle Lucas are displayed. When talking about these artists it has been said that “their place within the artistic canon lies somewhere between sculpture and painting and fine art and collectable curiosity”, suggesting that they are representative of the border between the two medium. The fact that these portraits have been created out of coloured wax provides yet another link with the exhibition in which they are included in. Other works on display include sculptures by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Helen Chadwick, Eileen Agar, John Davies and Anya Gallaccio and a film by Jennifer West.
I would highly recommend this exhibition to all those interested in the areas of art and sculpture as we are extremely fortunate to have such an outstanding collection of works practically on our doorstep. I would also say that the gallery itself is a fantastic place to start if you are becoming increasingly interested in the subject as its combination of local and international artists would provide a strong starting point for research and exploration.
Image Source:
1) http://www.henry-moore.org/hmi/collections/collections-displays1/current…
Meg Vincent