London Sculpture Week 2008

Nine London dealers will participate in the fifth staging of London Sculpture Week that takes place from 13 to 20 June 2008 and is once again generously sponsored by the Heath Lambert Group. Sculptures spanning 4,500 years from ancient Greece to Egypt, 14th century Tibet to Renaissance Florence, and 19th century Rome to 21st century London will highlight the extraordinary range of expertise to be found amongst London dealers and the wealth of works of art they offer. The ranks of this 2008 event are swelled by the addition of two new prestigious galleries - Alexia Goethe Gallery and Daniella Luxembourg Art - and the return of The Fine Art Society in conjunction with the Robert Bowman Gallery. The participating dealers are The Fine Art Society in conjunction with Robert Bowman (19th and 20th century British), Sam Fogg (Medieval), Alexia Goethe Gallery (Contemporary), Daniel Katz (European Sculpture), Robin Katz Fine Art (Modern British and Contemporary), Daniella Luxembourg Art (German Expressionist and 1950s Italian), Rossi & Rossi (Himalayan art), Trinity Fine Art (15th to 19th century European Sculpture and Works of Art) and Rupert Wace Ancient Art (Egyptian, Classical and Near Eastern), each of whom will stage a special exhibition for London Sculpture Week. The Alexia Goethe Gallery, participating for the first time in London Sculpture Week, is featuring the first London solo show for Jodie Carey (b. 1981) whose work focuses on the traditions of ritual, artifice and mortality in contemporary Western society. For the exhibition Still, Life Carey has created three large-scale sculptures and one wall hanging piece. They are all arrangements made from a combination of found and hand-crafted material such as candle wax, newspaper dyed with blood, tea and coffee, lard, feathers, antique furniture and casts of over 3,000 human bones. Modern and Contemporary British art is also being shown by Robin Katz. All the works are by artists who have experimented with different ways of breaking traditional boundaries in sculpture, such as Eduardo Paolozzi, Conrad Shawcross, Anthony Caro, Robert Adams, Brian Robins, George Henry Longly, John Latham, and the young London-based Piers Secunda who has developed a technique of creating sculptural works made entirely out of paint. Another newcomer to London Sculpture Week is Daniella Luxembourg Art, who will be presenting an exhibition of 20th century German sculpture in her new gallery at 13 Old Bond Street. Following a career in the international auction world, Daniella Luxembourg has been working as a private dealer and consultant for private collectors and institutions in both Europe and America since 2004, and last year held her first successful exhibition at Agnew’s. The Fine Art Society in conjunction with the Robert Bowman Gallery will stage a joint exhibition Sir Alfred Gilbert and ‘The New Sculpture’ – British Sculpture 1850-1930 which will include works by Sir Alfred Gilbert MVO RA, Sir Hamo Thornycroft RA, Frederick Lord Leighton PRA and George Frederick Watts OM. Among these will be a bronze cast of Gilbert’s Perseus Arming, 1881, in which the sculptor depicts the mythical hero checking his winged feet in preparation for one of his heroic deeds. Trinity Fine Art will be exhibiting a fine and varied selection of European works of art including an extremely rare signed rectangular bronze plaquette of a Battle Scene by Andrea Briosco called Ricco (1470-1532), a pair of early 16th century glazed terracotta reliefs of putti by Andrea della Robbia and a hitherto unpublished terracotta sketch of the head of Morgante in the guise of Silenus by Giambologna (1529-1608). Daniel Katz will exhibit work from five centuries of European sculpture which demonstrate the variety of materials and techniques used through the ages. In Cast, Carved and Modelled: The Sculptor’s Art, 1400-1900, the earliest work is a Bohemian wood sculpture of a Madonna and Child characteristic of the late Gothic period. In contrast, there is a vigorously modelled terracotta of a battle scene by Gianfrancesco Rustici, a Florentine artist inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. A charming collection of bronze statuettes by Francesco Fanelli, sculptor to Charles I, illustrate mythological scenes and were made in London for English collectors, while a spectacular plaster Achilles Wounded by the French artist Jean Baptiste Giraud is a striking example of the heroic style. Medieval sculpture will be the focus of Sam Fogg’s exhibition with pieces in stone, wood and terracotta dating from the 12th to the early 16th centuries. One of the highlights will be a wood figure of a Holy Knight, possibly Saint Florian, carved by Erasmus Grasser (c. 1450-1515), one of the most celebrated German sculptors of the late Middle Ages. In the exhibition In our own Image: Gods and Mortals in Antiquity Rupert Wace Ancient Art explores the question: is man made in God’s image or has man made God in his own image? The oldest sculpture is a delicate marble head of a female figure dating from c. 2600-2500 BC. These figures made on the Greek Cycladic islands were so stylized that such abstraction was not seen again until the 20th century. Other ancient masterpieces include an Egyptian life-size limestone head of king Tutankhamun, 1336-1327 BC, and a Hellenistic marble figure of Aphrodite, the naked goddess of love, 2nd/1st century BC. The arts of Asia will be represented by Rossi & Rossi, leading dealers in Himalayan art both old and new. Among their fine pieces is a Central Tibetan bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni, c. 14th century. It depicts the Historical Buddha at the moment he reaches enlightenment and calls the earth to witness, seated wearing an elaborately-draped monk’s robe. The refinement of the fine nose and gentle curves of eyebrows, eyes and mouth reflect the artistic influence of Pala sculpture from Eastern India. London Sculpture Week is a significant contribution to the wide variety of major exhibitions, fairs and auctions that draw thousands of art lovers to London in June and make the city one of the most important art market centres of the world. All the participating galleries are based in the Mayfair and St James’s area of London enabling visitors to easily walk from one to another.