exhibitions programme 2015

EXHIBITIONS PROGRAMME 2015
LYNDA BENGLIS
6 FEBRUARY – 1 JULY 2015
•
First ever UK museum exhibition of work by acclaimed artist Lynda Benglis.
•
•
Feminist icon, one of the most important living American artists, she influenced many artists including Cindy Sherman and Paul McCarthy.
40th anniversary of controversial work Centrefold.
•
Exhibition spans 50 years of Benglis’ radical practice.
The UK’s first major exhibition of the work by one of America’s most influential
artists, Lynda Benglis, spans fifty years of her prolific career. A radical artist who
in the 1960s and 70s redefined the languages of painting and sculpture, she used
brightly coloured and unconventional materials such as latex, polyurethane and
glitter in ways that challenged the purist, masculine nature of the work of peers
including Richard Serra and Robert Morris.
Benglis is perhaps most well known for her infamous work Centrefold (1974)
which appeared in Artforum magazine, in which she posed naked with a large
dildo. It caused major controversy and was highly influential, prompting Cindy
Sherman, a former student of Benglis, to exclaim: “She (Benglis) kicked ass!” Benglis works across studios in New York, Santa Fe, Ahmedabad in India and
Kastelorizo in Greece. Exploring the influences of these locations on her practice,
the exhibition examines Benglis’ early iconic process-based works, such as her
latex ‘fallen paintings’ and dramatic cast metal pours, through to her moulded
‘torsos’, glitter-encrusted ‘knots’, and most recent ceramic and moulded paper
works, which continue to challenge notions of taste and materiality.
CARO IN YORKSHIRE
18 JULY – 1 NOVEMBER 2015
•
First joint exhibition with Yorkshire Sculpture Park, a Yorkshire Sculpture
Triangle initiative. •
First major exhibition in the UK since Caro’s death in 2013.
•
Major summer exhibitions in outdoor and indoor settings.
•
Featuring key works from the 1960s to present day, including collaborative
projects with architects and work which the visitors can enter.
•
UK premier of a number of Caro’s Last Sculptures.
Anthony Caro is long recognized internationally as one of Britain’s most significant sculptors. This summer as part of a Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle initiative, visitors have the unique opportunity to experience Caro’s work in the
indoor and outdoor settings of the David Chipperfield-designed galleries of The Hepworth Wakefield and the landscape of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Anthony Caro has constantly innovated and pushed the boundaries of sculpture. He noted, ‘Sculpture hovers between painting and architecture’, writing in 1985, ‘I begin to grasp how close in thinking are the worlds of the painter, sculptor and
architect’. While Yorkshire Sculpture Park will showcase the rich relationship Caro had to painting, The Hepworth Wakefield will take Caro’s thoughts on architecture as a starting point, exploring his interest in scale and the use of architectural features within his work. It will also focus on his collaborations with architects within the urban environment, such as the Millenium Bridge in London with Norman Foster.
The Hepworth Wakefield’s exhibition contextualises the artist’s work, beginning
with the era in which he emerged alongside the then dominant figures of Barbara
Hepworth and Henry Moore, shocking the art world with vividly coloured steel
constructions. It will offer a unique opportunity to discover and celebrate one of
the world’s great sculptors in Yorkshire, including the UK premier of a number of
Caro’s Last Sculptures.
GERTUDE HERMES
13 NOVEMBER – 24 JANUARY 2016
•
First exhibition of ‘forgotten’ modernist artist, Gertrude Hermes in 30 years.
•
Bringing together all aspects of her graphic and sculptural work in one exhibition. Gertrude Hermes (1901 -1983) was one of the most highly acclaimed British
print-makers of her generation. However, while her exquisite wood engravings won
her awards, titles and recognition, her first love was sculpture, much of which has
remained unseen by a wider public. This retrospective, the first British survey of
sculptures, prints, preparatory drawings, sketchbooks and private press books in
30 years, addresses this imbalance. The display offers a compelling insight into
Hermes’ audacious draughtsmanship and its relationship to her sculpture,
bringing to light her networks of creativity, influence and friendship that included
the writers Frieda Lawrence and P.L. Travers and the artists Henry Moore and
Leon Underwood.
ENRICO DAVID
13 NOVEMBER – 24 JANUARY 2016
•
The first solo presentation in the UK since his Turner Prize nomination in
2009.
•
Featuring newly-commissioned work.
Enrico David works across a wide range of media including painting, sculpture,
textiles and installation yet his work is nearly always rooted in the immediacy
of drawing. Using craft techniques such as embroidery and tapestry, alongside
installations that nod towards the field of interior design, David works often
assert a gendered or sexualized dimension, paired with an exploration of psychological states that have often led him to be characterized as a
‘contemporary surrealist’. The exhibition will bring together newly-commissioned work, conceived for
the gallery spaces at The Hepworth Wakefield. The exhibition has been
programmed alongside the Gertrude Hermes exhibition, drawing out the
critical dialogue between drawing and sculpture that runs throughout both
artists’ work. COLLECTIONS PROGRAMME 2015
PLASTERS: CASTS AND COPIES
2 MAY 2015 – APRIL 2016
2015
:
OPIES
PRIL 2016
A GREATER FREEDOM:
HEPWORTH 1965 – 1975
18 APRIL 2015 – April 2016
•
Exploring the history of plaster from 18th-19th century teaching casts, to Modernist use of the material, through to the work of contemporary artists. •
Featuring key loans from the Royal Academy, Tate and the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London.
Taking the permanent display of Barbara Hepworth’s 44 plasters and prototypes as
a starting point, The Hepworth Wakefield presents an exhibition re-examining this
often overlooked medium. The display will explore the shifting status of plaster:
from its use in 18th-19th century teaching casts of classical sculpture, to its perception as a modern material prized for its ready availability, through to contemporary artists’ responses to the material. In addition to works from the
Wakefield Art Collection, key loans from the Royal Academy and the Victoria and
Albert Museum will be on display, showcasing the use of plaster by Hepworth and
her contemporaries including Jean Arp, Ben Nicholson and Kurt Schwitters.
•
Complementing the major Tate Britain exhibition, this show will take up Hepworth’s story from 1965, focussing on the last 10 years of Hepworth’s life.
A Greater Freedom follows the artistic developments seen in Barbara Hepworth’s
later years, focusing on the last decade of her life from 1965 – 1975.
Hepworth was extremely prolific during her later years: former Tate Director Sir
Alan Bowness, Hepworth’s son-in-law and biographer, noted that nearly as many
works were made during the 1960s as between 1925 and 1960. By this point,
Hepworth had achieved international recognition, having represented Britain at
the Venice Biennale in 1952, winning the Grand Prix at the Sao Paulo Biennial of
1959, and having had Single Form commissioned for the United Nations Building,
New York, in the early 1960s. This display looks at the new ideas and processes
that these successes afforded her opportunity to explore.
HEPWORTH IN YORKSHIRE
16 MAY – 6 SEPTEMBER 2015
•
An insight into Hepworth’s early years in Yorkshire.
•
Featuring previously unseen archival material.
•
Highlighting the continued influence her upbringing in Yorkshire had
on Hepworth throughout her life.
This display explores Barbara Hepworth’s early years in Wakefield and the
ongoing inspiration of the Yorkshire landscape in her artistic development.
The display will feature archival material and work relating to her family
and childhood, accompanied by early drawings, paintings and sculptures.
Photographic images of Yorkshire commissioned by Hepworth will also
be included, reflecting her assertions that the experience of growing up in
this area was hugely influential. For the first time, The Hepworth Wakefield
will display a newly-acquired portrait of Hepworth, painted by Dame Ethel
Walker, R.A, when Hepworth was 18 years old.
DES HUGHES
12 SEPTEMBER 2015 – SPRING 2016
•
Examining the removal of Henry Moore’s public sculpture Reclining Figure.
•
Two new public sculptures by Hughes to be unveiled.
Working with The Hepworth Wakefield archives, Des Hughes uncovers the journey
of Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure after it was removed from its public installation
outside the civic centre in Castleford, a close neighbour of Wakefield, following
fears that the sculpture would be stolen. Combining narratives of British Modernism, histories of public sculpture, and the engagement of local audiences with
contemporary art, Hughes will be creating a new pair of public sculptures, to be
situated outside Castleford Academy and The Hepworth Wakefield respectively.
The unveiling of the sculptures will be accompanied by an exhibition of Hughes’
research and creative processes, and an intervention by Hughes into the Hepworth
Wakefield Art Collection.
THE CALDER: THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD’S
NEW CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE
EXHIBITIONS PROGRAMME 2015
MAGALI REUS
18 JULY – 11 OCTOBER 2015
•
First touring museum show by Dutch London-based artist Magali Reus.
•
Specially commissioned for The Hepworth Wakefield’s new 600sqm exhibition
space, The Calder.
•
Reus’ largest exhibition to date.
Dutch artist Magali Reus will create a new body of work to be exhibited at The
Hepworth Wakefield’s new 600sqm space The Calder. This will be Reus’ first UK
institutional exhibition, following recent presentations at the Kestnergesellschaft
in Hannover and Fridericianum in Kassel. In recent works Reus has used
recognisable everyday objects as frameworks for exploring the languages of
material and colour. Reus marries these forms with art historical references,
to the industrial seriality of Minimalism and the modernist ‘assemblage’.
In this new series of works, Reus focuses on the curb as an architectural motif,
using elements such as manhole covers, pavement cracks and graffiti as starting
points for new sculptural forms. Reus’ emerging practice focuses on material form
and presence, offering an exciting new take on these key tenets of sculpture.
Opening alongside the major collaborative Anthony Caro exhibitions at The
Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Reus’ exhibition provides
a dialogue with the eminent British sculptor’s work, which has been hugely
inspirational to her practice.