Eleanor Clayton – författare

Barbara Hepworth is one of the most important artists of the 20th century, yet she has been the subject of relatively few monographs in comparison to her male counterparts. This biography moves beyond the traditional narratives of modernism, truth to materials, and the landscape to provide a penetrating insight into Hepworth’s remarkable life, work and legacy. Barbara Hepworth was reproached for single-mindedness in her lifetime, with critics and commentators framing both the artist and her work as ‘cool and restrained’. A continued focus on her modernist abstract sculpture of the 1930s and its relation to her male contemporaries has left vast swathes of her work and related passions overlooked. This fully illustrated biography reflects for the first time Hepworth’s multi-faceted, interdisciplinary and networked approach, shedding light as never before on her interests in music, dance, poetry, contemporary politics, science and technology; her engagement with these fields through friends and networks as well as her artistic practice; and the ways in which she synthesized sometimes seemingly conflicting disciplines and ideas into one coherent and inspirational philosophy of art and life.With 178 illustrations

Accompanying the exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield from 22 June to 3 November 2024, this is the first major monograph on sculptor Ronald Moody, exploring his legacy and impact through his key artistic relationships, networks and influences. Ronald Moody (1900–1984) was a leading modernist sculptor and yet, until now, there has been no comprehensive overview of his work. This biography explores the development of his sculpture, re-establishing his place within the story of 20th-century art. Contributions by those who knew him – Paul Dash, David A. Bailey, Cynthia Moody, Errol Lloyd and Val Wilmer – punctuate Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski’s biographical account. Their personal reflections and photographs, and transcripts of Moody’s BBC radio broadcasts, offer insights into his cultural influences and studio life, with his brother Harold, a campaigner for racial equality, and the Caribbean Artist Movement, at the core. Born in Jamaica, Moody arrived in Britain in 1923 and initially trained as a dentist, before switching paths to become an artist, establishing studios in London and Paris. In 1939, six of his works were shown alongside African American artists in a large survey exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art. By 1941 he had produced some forty known sculptures in bronze and wood, and was regularly exhibiting internationally. On the lead up to the Second World War his creative and cultural life was flourishing. Immersed in the art world, he formed friendships with journalists, actors and artists including Marie Seton, Wifredo Lam and Man Ray, until forced to flee the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1940. Back in London, he continued to work and exhibit for nearly half a century, accepting the prestigious Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica for his eminence as an international sculptor in 1977. Receiving little recognition in Britain during his lifetime, however, cultural institutions are now rightfully acquiring and celebrating Ronald Moody’s work.

Published to mark the centenary of Surrealism, this publication offers a new perspective on one of the most famous art movements with pioneering new research on its links with ecology and with politics. The development of Surrealism in the 1920s and 30s coincided with that of important new research and knowledge in the sciences, notably in biology. Forbidden Territories explores the unexamined interplay between Surrealism and life science, including the mutual influence of Sigmund Freud, illuminating how Surrealist strategies draw the eye to the astonishing aspects of scientific data and knowledge of the landscape, in ways that are prescient, even revelatory, in the present. The book further looks at the role of international conflict within Surreal landscapes and how these terrains became a vehicle for political statements and dissent. Finally, it expands on the Surrealist mythologization of the unconscious as a great ocean 'where the sharks of madness cruise', analysing the 'ecology of the mind', examining links between bodies of water and psycho-surreal worlds in poetry, paintings and photographs from the unique perspective of female Surrealist artists. Spanning the movement, this survey includes works by Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Lee Miller and Yves Tanguy as well as interventions by contemporary artists working within the lasting legacy of Surrealism, such as Maria Berrio and Michael Dean.

Lee Miller (1907-1977) attracts enduring fascination – a female pioneer who is often presented as a singular figure. However, she was also integrated within a creative network of artists that helped change the course of art history in the twentieth century.Miller moved to London in the late 1930s, just as a rich strand of Surrealist practice was burgeoning in Britain. Part of this artistic hub, she captured productive collisions between the artists who found themselves in Britain during the 1930s and 1940s through her photographs. Additionally, she exhibited alongside British Surrealists such as Eileen Agar and Henry Moore in often overlooked London exhibitions, while also dispersing Surrealist imagery into the worlds of fashion, commercial photography and journalism via her interdisciplinary photographic practice.Presenting for the first time Lee Miller’s photographs of, and collaborations with, important Surrealist artists working in Britain (alongside their artworks),this important book tells the story of an exciting cultural moment. Essential for all students and enthusiasts of Surrealism and those enthralled by the striking photography of Lee Miller, this book reveals the social and cultural networks in which she was embedded, offering a holistic view of her work and the life of the Surrealist movement in Britain.

Encountering the work of Alan Davie (1920-2014) at Wakefield Art Gallery in 1958, a young David Hockney (b.1937) was struck by Davie's landmark Abstract Expressionist paintings, which mirrored and stimulated his own fledgling experimentation with colourful abstraction. Juxtaposing the remarkable early work of two greats of post-war painting, this book provides an original perspective on an important aspect of two significant artistic careers.A richly illustrated text demonstrates points of convergence — such as the painterly surface, passion and poetry, and an exploration of text within the pictorial frame — while also presenting divergence, moving the discussion beyond comparison to reveal a moment when each artist  expanded the expressive potential of the painted canvas. Seeking to suggest new relationships and continuities between two generations previously segregated, this beautifully produced publication is ambitious in its intention, pushing the boundaries of traditional interpretations of British art history.

Scottish artist Caroline Walker (b.1982) is known for her accomplished paintings which offer a lens into the everyday lives of women. Bringing together work made over the past five years, exploring themes of motherhood and early-years care, this important publication reveals the evolution of Caroline Walker’s highly original artistic language.Through her large canvases, intimate panels and ink sketches, Walker portrays diverse female subjects in settings that blur the boundaries between public and private worlds, and reveal the complex social, cultural and economic experiences of women living in contemporary society. Walker's considerable skill in fusing a mastery of her medium with subjects that invite debate has ensured her standing as one of the leading painters working in Britain today.

Barbara Hepworth: Strings is the first publication dedicated to the artist’s stringed sculptures, paintings and drawings. In 1939, Hepworth (1903–1975) made her first sculpture threaded with strings. For the rest of her career, she intermittently combined string with works made from plaster, wood, metal and stone. These were some of her most personally distinctive artistic achievements. Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the artist’s death, Barbara Hepworth: Strings provides for the first time a comprehensive thematic account of string in the artist’s work, exploring the different ways that she used it and the symbolism she invested it with.This publication includes a fully-illustrated catalogue of Piano Nobile’s accompanying exhibition. It features essays by some of the leading specialists on Hepworth’s work. The exhibition co-curator Michael Regan offers a personal response to the stringed sculptures and considers their affective quality. In his essay, Dr Stephen Feeke explores fresh perspectives and previously unpublished source materials relating to Hepworth and string. A further text by Eleanor Clayton, senior curator at The Hepworth Wakefield, gives a close reading of the most significant stringed works including the artist’s celebrated commission for John Lewis’s flagship store on Oxford Street. The book also includes a comprehensive, illustrated list of Hepworth’s stringed sculptures.

This mid-career retrospective volume focuses on Viviane Sassen's fine art photography, revealing a surrealist undercurrent in her work. Sassen recognizes Surrealism as one of her earliest artistic influences, seen in the uncanny shadows, fragmented bodies, and otherworldly landscapes she captures in her work. In addition to images from the acclaimed series "Umbra," this volume draws from the series "Flamboya," in which she returned to Kenya, "Parasomnia," a dreamlike exploration of sleep, the "Roxane" series, a mutual portrait created with her muse, Roxane Danset, "Of Lotus and Mud," a study of procreation and fecundity, and "Pikin Slee," a journey to a remote village in Suriname. This book features a contextualizing essay and an insightful interview with the artist. Throughout, Sassen emerges as a poetic photographer obsessed with light and shadow and a brilliant technician, who is a master of both vibrant color and muted hues. Selected by Sassen herself from across the last ten years, the images draw on the surrealist strategies of collage and unexpected juxtapositions to give a survey of her practice.