A few photos taken during our visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park last Saturday.
An autumn day at the YSP
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Tag Archives: Henry Moore
New Year’s Day 2018 at the Hepworth
I’m still far from finished writing up our trip to Australia, but I’d thought I’d take a short diversion to report on our trip to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield on New Year’s Day. It’s become a bit of a tradition for us to drive over a quiet M62 to visit this excellent gallery. Last year we didn’t make a subsequent visit so it’s a while since we were last there – well, 12 months exactly!
There had quite been a few changes with new exhibitions in four of the galleries and a temporary exhibition of work by the Polish artist Alina Szapocznikow which was coming to the end of it’s run.
Gallery 1 featured a range of works from the Wakefield collection, including the beautiful elm sculpture by Henry Moore shown above and works from Barbara Hepworth, and Nuam Gabo,
The next two galleries concentrated on works by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, both born locally in Castleford and Wakefield respectively.
In the first room, works by henry Moore included this unusual (for Moore) bronze head Open Work Head No. 2 (1950)
some of his drawings of miners from local pits during WWII
and a series of lithographs of Stonehenge that he had personally donated to the Wakefield collection.
The next, large room, was a comprehensive survey of Barbara Hepworth’s work including sculpture, drawings, prints and even her library of books
We had a brief look around the next two rooms which explore Hepworth’s working methods and display examples from the Hepworth’s collection of her plasters as they’re on permanent display and we’ve seen them many times before. But the next two rooms had new displays – more works from the Hepworth’s collection
and an exhibition Daughters of Necessity by British artist Serena Korda, featuring some of her own works displayed together with ceramics from the Hepworth’s collection. The Hepworth website tells us
Working with ceramics for several years, Korda combines her experimental approach to the material with her interest in the acoustic properties of objects. For The Hepworth Wakefield, Korda has created a new work, Resonators, comprising five large, richly glazed vessels with openings at each end. Visitors are invited to interact with the work by placing their ears to each vessel to hear a range of bass-like tones.
The exhibition also features a new presentation of Korda’s ceramic sound installation Hold Fast, Stand Sure, I Scream a Revolution, which was premiered at Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art in 2016. This work is made up of 29 individual porcelain mushrooms suspended from the ceiling, which will be played as bells in public performances during the Ceramics Fair in early May 2018.
I really liked these works which were a combination of art, science and music.
There were some beautiful ceramic pieces selected by the artist too
The temporary exhibition Alina Szapocznikow: Human Landscapes was an extensive survey of the work of this Polish artist and
highlights how the artist’s work developed from classically figurative sculptures to her later ‘awkward objects’, which are politically charged and overlaid with Surrealist and Pop Art influences. (Hepworth Website)
it
features more than 100 works created between 1956 and 1972 including drawings, photography and sculpture, incorporating Szapocznikow’s characteristic use of cast body parts, many of which she transformed into everyday objects like lamps or ashtrays.
Hopefully, I’ll find some time to write up more about this.
Moore in the Landscape
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Henry Moore – Back to a Land at the YSP
The current exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is devoted to the work of local lad, Henry Moore, who was born just up the road in Castleford.
The YSP always have a good selection of Moore’s work outdoors, with one of the two main fields devoted to lsome of his large scale sculptures. But this exhibition brought a large number additional works, mainly displayed indoors in the Underground Gallery, with some located outdoors.
Many of Moore’s major works are based on abstract renderings of human figures – he is particularly noted for his reclining figures and mother and child sculptures. But, for this exhibition the YSPs website tells us that
This major exhibition, in collaboration with The Henry Moore Foundation, takes a fresh approach to Moore’s work by considering his profound relationship with land, which was fundamental to his practice and fuelled his visual vocabulary
Moore’s contemporary and fellow local (from Wakefield), Barbara Hepworth, is well known for her many works that are inspired by the landscape, but I’ve never viewed his works in that way.
No photographs were allowed indoors, unfortunately so I’ll have to rely on describing what I saw and a few pictures from the YSP website
There were sculptures and a large number of drawings, sketches, watercolours and other works on paper. Many of the drawings were land related,
Arch Rock, Ice Berg, Rocky Landscape and numerous other drawings, some rarely seen in public, along with a range of sculptures exploring scale and the interplay between internal and external spaces, emphasise the artist’s constant investigation of land, from the black coal seams of his hometown and the rich geology of Britain, to the mystical ancient forms of Stonehenge.
but the sculptures, like the following draped figure, were mainly based on the human body
Most of the works appeared to be from later in his life and from the Henry Moore Foundation’s collection.
One aspect of the exhibition I particularly liked were the poems by Simon Armitage inspired by some of the works on show. He’s from Marsden, not so far away, and has worked with the YSP on other ocassions. The poems were displayed next to the specific works which inspired them and reproduced in the exhibition catalogue. This also includes some poems by Ted Hughes, another Yorkshireman and someone whose work was very much inspired by the landscape and natural environment.
Outdoors there were a number of large scale works
A large scale fibreglass reclining figure – an unusual material for Moore
Another reclining figure, bronze this time. There was a plaster version of it on display indoors
A two piece bronze reclining figure, displayed, effectively, at the top of the stairs leading down to the lower garden
An abstract form on the upper lawn
An abstract bronze reclining figure
We also took the chance to take a look at the works that the YSP usually has on display
I enjoyed the exhibition. It was good to see some works that were new to me – the sculptures and, especially, the works on paper. I wasn’t convinced by the theme of the exhibition, though. Many of Moore’s large scale works are really best displayed outdoors in the landscape – urban as well as rural. But I couldn’t see the strong link advocated by the curators.
Posted with BlogsyHere’s looking at you!
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The Didrichsen Art Museum
Time flies and it’s a few months now since I was in Helsiinki. I’m heading back over there in a few weeks so thought it was about time I wrote up my visit to the Didrichsen Art Museum.
The Museum is located on on Kuusisaari island, a 20 minute or so bus ride from the Central Station. It holds temporary exhibitions and has permanent displays of ancient Chinese and pre-Columbian artefacts, although during my visit the indoor rooms were devoted to an exhibition of works by Edvard Munch – The Dance of Life. There’s also a sculpture garden with some excellent works including pieces by Henry Moore and Bernard Meadows.
The museum was originally a private residence owned by enthusiastic Modern Art collectors Marie-Louise and Gunnar Didrichsen. It’s a Modernist building designed by architect Viljo Revell in 1958-59. An extension was added six years later to house the owners’ art collection.
It’s an attractive house in a beautiful setting in the woods by the sea.
There’s a photo of the inside of the house here (it was too full of people on the day I visited to get a decent shot)
As a former private residence the Museum is quite small, but they have an excellent collection. Due to the Munch exhibition (which was excellent) I was only able to see the works in the sculpture garden. Here’s some of them.
Adrift (2013) by Jenni Tieaho – a Viking longship in an appropriate setting
Atom Piece (1964) by Henry Moore
Reclining Figure on a Pedestal (1960) by Henry Moore
Stele del Offerende (1960) by Mario Negri
Augustus (1962/3) by Bernard Meadows
Auringonkukkapelto (1975) by Eila Hiltunen
Mama Europa (2009) by Tilla Kekki
and its companion piece
Mama Africa (2009) by Tilla Kekki
Turoulenssi (1996) by Eila Hiltunen
Arctic Aphrodite (1972) by Laila Pullinen
Strange Rain Last Night (2008) by Matti Peltokangas
Crescendo (1982) by Eila Hiltunen
New Year’s Day at the YSP
The first day of the New Year. For the past three years we’ve driven over the Pennines to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. Although we’ve always enjoyed the day out this year we decided on a change and headed for the nearby Yorkshore Sculpture Park to try and combine some culture with a pleasant walk in the country.
It turned out to be rather wild, wet and windy, but we didn’t let the weather spoil our day.
We started off with a rather nice dinner (deep fried squid and prawns with salad and a bucket of chips)
Then we had a look around the Ursula Von Rydingsvard exhibition in the Underground Gallery. Our third visit but definitely worth another look before it closes on the 5th January.
Then we braved the wind and rain for a walk around the park to have a look at some favourite works in the grounds
Including works by Elisabeth Frink
Barbara Hepworth
and Henry Moore
Conditions continued to deteriorate so we decided to curtail our walk and retreat to the cafe for a pot of tea and some rather delicious cakes.
