RA Magazine Spring 2011

Issue Number: 110

Points of view

‘Modern British Sculpture’ is a challenging show, inviting viewers to debate the nature of sculpture itself. Its co-curators Penelope Curtis and Keith Wilson intend it to be seen as an experimental rather than an authoritative reading. Richard Cork asked several sculptor RAs about their response to this provocative exhibition

Gallery 8 - The Establishment Figure. (L-R) Alfred Gilbert's 'Jubilee Memorial to Queen Victoria' (1887), Charles Wheeler's 'Adam' (1934-35), Frederic Leighton's 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python' (1877), Phillip King's 'Genghis Khan' (1963). Photo: John Bodkin/DawkinsColour ‘Before visiting the show, I felt that the idea of putting Phillip King’s Genghis Khan next to the Gilbert was too clever by half. But when I saw the room itself, I thought the King sculpture looked brilliant. It was shocking, and I was completely unprepared for it.’
ALISON WILDING

‘Alfred Gilbert’s Queen Victoria worked fantastically well with Phillip King’s Genghis Khan. The King piece is a cone with wings, its stability spread out on the floor. And it’s the same with the authority of Queen Victoria up there on her pedestal… she could never be pushed away with our eyes.’
RICHARD WILSON

‘Although the British Museum stuff had been plundered from all over the world, it was then plundered all over again by British sculptors. This room did the British sculptors a favour, and it reminded me that the British Museum was the one place I kept going back to when I was a student.’
JOHN MAINE

Gallery 6 - Hepworth and Moore. Installation view showing Barbara Hepworth's 'Single Form (Memorial)' (1961-62) in the foreground and Henry Moore's 'Reclining Figure' (1951) in the background. Photo: John Bodkin/DawkinsColour ‘Hepworth was much more classical than Moore. Her values connect with Greece, whereas Moore has links with Surrealism. Oddly enough, it seemed curious to include a virile, standing bronze piece by Hepworth (Single Form (Memorial)). Both Moore and Hepworth were most interesting when they were young carvers, so I would have preferred a major piece which she had carved by herself with tenderness. But I think her work here is absolutely stunning, and in terms of telling the story of modern British sculpture, you have got to have a trumpet-call in the show.’
JOHN MAINE

‘It was good to see Hepworth coming off better than Moore. Her huge bronze Single Form (Memorial) looked wonderful in there, and the smaller pieces, too. I didn’t pay much attention to Moore in this show – but I loved the little smiling Snake.’
ALISON WILDING

‘I felt both lifted and dropped. The room with all the loans from the British Museum was superb – especially the beautiful Indian carvings, and the ancient baboon from Egypt. But I thought the facsimile of Kurt Schwitters’ Merz Barn in the Annenberg Courtyard was a waste of time. You’re looking at a fake rather than the real thing, and then going into the show I was met with a facsimile of the Cenotaph.’ RICHARD WILSON

Gallery 9 - The Persistence of British Landscape. Installation view. Foreground: Tony Cragg, 'Stack' (1975) © DACS 2011. Background: Rasheed Araeen, 'First Structure' (1966-67/2010). Photo: John Bodkin/DawkinsColour ‘I thought Cragg’s Stack looked fantastic. I was intrigued by the strata. They had a beautiful edge and stood there like a solid cube. But they were full of flotsam and jetsam, so it was a clever, early example of using rubbish in sculpture. I also thought Richard Long’s Chalk Line looked fresh and alive, a piece which set itself apart in big chunks, really quite perfect, low-level, tight and clever. But why wasn’t Rachel Whiteread’s Ghost in one of the final rooms?’
RICHARD WILSON

‘The Caro is sublime, the Epstein ecstatic, and the Henry Moore Snake a wonderful surprise.’
CORNELIA PARKER

‘I remember Tony Cragg building Stack at the Royal College of Art, where I was teaching sculpture. I was so thrilled. When you teach the students they become part of your life. It was the culmination of a hugely creative period, when he was trying every conceivable material to work with, for example torn-up cardboard and string. One day he brought in things from a local tip and made this stack of rubbish into a perfect cube. I was so excited about it that I insisted we cart the whole thing to the main reception of the RCA, where Tony remade it for all to see.’
BRYAN KNEALE

‘The show is a little bit bloodless in some respects. It is a very particular and personal selection, which is fine, but perhaps that should have been reflected in the title. There are great moments such as Barry Flanagan’s Line 3’68, made in 1968 from rope and felt, but on the whole the range is quite limited, a tad dry and over-academic. British sculpture is in a much more vibrant place than this.’
CORNELIA PARKER

Gallery 9 - Adam. Installation view. Foreground: Jacob Epstein, 'Adam' (1938-39). Background: Henry Moore, 'Snake' (1924) © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2011 Photo: John Bodkin/DawkinsColour ‘As for Epstein’s Adam, well, great balls of fire! It was absolutely brilliant. I have used alabaster from the same mine that Epstein found his material, in Northamptonshire. English alabaster is amazing because of its streaky bacon quality – you don’t get that anywhere else.’
ALISON WILDING

‘I had never heard of an Exhibit before: it was a lovely space and the room works well. It is very period and of its time, whereas Caro’s beautiful Early One Morning is timeless. But a guard barred me from walking round it, which is so important when you experience this piece.’
RICHARD WILSON

‘The room with the reconstruction of Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore’s an Exhibit was really interesting historically, because it brought in Hamilton as a hugely influential eminence grise.’
ALISON WILDING

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