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. ANTHONY CARO 17 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 14 FEBRUARY 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 14 FEBRUARY 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 25 APRIL 2015 APRIL 2016 6 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. A GREATER FREEDOM: HEPWORTH 1965 1975 25 APRIL 2015 April 2016 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 23 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 17 JULY 27 SEPTEMBER 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.