Essence
16 March - 24 May 2024
Opening this spring, ‘Essence’; a group of works inspired by our history, space, light and sloping landscape surrounding us. Showing Barbara Hepworth, John Hubbard, Ian Stephenson and Edmund de Waal.
John Hubbard, 'Atlas Landscape', (1972), Oil on canvas, 190.5 x 182.9 cm
Barbara Hepworth, 'Aegean', (1956) Bronze, 27.9 x 22.9 x 27.9 cm, Edition 6 of 6
Ian Stephenson, 'Blue Shadow: Giusti I', (1960), Oil on canvas, Artwork: 101.6 x 76.2 cm, Frame: 108.5 x 83 x 4.5 cm
Edmund de Waal 'their bright traces', (2021), Aluminium, glass, wood, gold leaf, liquid china clay, charcoal, graphite, 73 x 72 x 222 cm
John Hubbard, 'Black & White Double Landscape', (1964) Oil on canvas, 139.5 x 177.5 cm
Barbara Hepworth, 'Four Forms', (1974), Brass, 34 x 21 x 21 cm, Cast 0 from an edition of 9
Edmund de Waal, 'heimkehr', (2012) 32 thrown porcelain vessels in celadon and cream glazes three black lacquer shelves with curved lead lining, Overall: 57 x 80 x 16 cm, Each shelf: 17 x 80 x 16 cm
Edmund de Waal, 'late work', (2023), Porcelain, lead, gold, yellow ochre and aluminium, 50 x 20 x 16.2 cm
Barbara Hepworth, 'Bird Form', (1963) Bronze, 36 x 26 x 27 cm, Edition 7 of 9
Edmund de Waal, 'music, late', (2019) 5 porcelain vessels (1 with gilding), 3 porcelain tiles with gilding and 4 steel blocks in 3 aluminium vitrines with TruVue museum glass., 28 x 28 x 10 cm each
Edmund de Waal, 'Last Things', (2006) 59 porcelain vessels, with 6 celadon glazes and 6 grey glazes, on a steel plinth. Tallest vessel: 19.5 cm, overall: 180 cm long
Edmund de Waal, 'out of this same light III', (2021), porcelain, gold, alabaster and wood, 43.6 x 38 x 16 cm
Ian Stephenson, 'Progressive plane: blue 59', (1959) Painted collage on board, 60.5 x 60 x 2 cm
The work in the gallery is changed by light in the same way as sculpture in the park. The interplay between light, landscape and sculpture is the true essence of Roche Court.
Exhibited in the Gallery and Orangery, ‘Essence’ ultimately represents relationships; between landscape and art, artist and artwork, and the longstanding connection between artist and gallery.
These works are not only beautiful but have the capacity to leave a mark on us all.
Barbara Hepworth
1903 - 1975
For over two decades the New Art Centre has represented the Barbara Hepworth Estate and has worked closely with the family on a global exhibitions and sales programme. Hepworth’s desire to bring the physicality and vitality of the landscape into her work makes her presence at Roche Court Sculpture Park particularly poignant. Light, form, and space play an iconic role in both the essence of Hepworth’s practice, and the Sculpture Park.
Moving to St Ives at the outbreak of the Second World War, Hepworth developed a fascination with wave power, tidal movement, and the relationship between land, sea, form and sculpture.
John Hubbard
1931 - 2017
Born in Connecticut, USA, John Hubbard settled in Dorset in 1961 and, in the same year, exhibited for the first time with the New Art Centre in London. Hubbard’s lifelong balance between abstraction and figuration gives his landscapes volume, density and movement, without making concession to traditional representation.
John Hubbard was deeply inspired by the landscapes that surrounded him. From Dorset to Morocco, Hubbard captured light, tangled foliage and flowing streams.
Ian Stephenson
1934 - 2000
Ian Stephenson’s work is mesmerising and immersive. He experimented with scale, depth, form and function, painting thousands of tiny dots in constellations that float over mixed media surfaces such as boards and palettes. The New Art Centre gave Ian Stephenson his first solo show in London in 1962 and has continued to exhibit his work since.
“All of painting is camouflage, not least of all by means of subject matter whatever the sentiment. It is within the freaked skin of camouflage that the art resides. […] Overlapping and obliterated. Oblivion. Such is the practice of palimpsestial painting”.
-Ian Stephenson (April 1974)
Edmund de Waal
b. 1964
Ceramicist Edmund de Waal has exhibited regularly with the New Art Centre for almost thirty years.
De Waal’s ceramics are suspended on the walls of the Gallery and Orangery. Delicate porcelain vessels, hand thrown by the artist, are accompanied by thin fragments wrapped in gold and small blocks of alabaster. The lightness of the vessels is echoed in the way de Waal’s shelf structures seem to float weightlessly above the ground.
General enquiries: nac@sculpture.uk.com
+44 (0) 1980 862 244
Press enquiries: camilla@sculpture.uk.com
+44 (0) 1980 862 244