Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life, Eileen Agar Retrospective, ACS artists at Victoria Miro and more!

 

© Craigie Aitchison, Small Yellow Bird, 2001, oil on canvas.                                                                   19 Mar 2021 Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life Barbara Hepworth at work on the plaster for Single Form, January 1962, at the Morris Singer foundry Photograph by Morgan-Wells. © Bowness, Hepworth Estate To celebrate the Hepworth Wakefield’s ten year anniversary, the gallery is hosting the largest exhibition of ACS member Barbara Hepworth’s work since the artist’s death in 1975. Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life will bring together a selection of Hepworth’s most celebrated sculptures including the modern abstract carving that launched her career in the early twentieth century, her iconic strung sculptures of the 1940s and 1950s, and large-scale bronze and carved sculptures from the latter stages of her career. 21 May - 27 Feb 2022 Find out more on The Hepworth Wakefield website. The Sky was Blue the Sea was Blue and the Boy was Blue at Victoria Miro  Left to Right: Detail of Steve in his Rowing Boat, Austria (2019) © Celia Paul, Detail of Soft Peaks (2021) © Flora Yukhnovich⁣, Detail of The Sky was Blue the Sea was Blue and the Boy was Blue (2017) © Paula Rego.  Images courtesy of the artists and Victoria Miro gallery The Sky was Blue the Sea was Blue and the Boy was Blue is an online exhibition at Victoria Miro gallery, named after the eponymous work by ACS member Paula Rego. The exhibition features nineteen of Victoria Miro's artists, including ACS members Celia Paul, Paula Rego and ACS x City & Guilds of London Art School Studio Residency alumnus, Flora Yukhnovich.⁣ The Sky was Blue the Sea was Blue and the Boy was Blue explores the use of blue, not merely as a colour, but as an essential element to a work's meaning and interpretation, as a compositional device, or to suggest a particular mood or atmosphere. Until 31 Mar Find out more on the Victoria Miro website. ACS Artists at Browse & Darby Eileen Cooper's Nights At The Circus Browse & Darby are currently hosting their online Contemporary Gallery Artists exhibition. The show features a selection of recent works by a number of the gallery's artists including ACS members Susan Wilson, Anthony Eyton, Eileen Hogan and Thomas Lamb. Contemporary Gallery Artists will then be followed by A Century of Painting, a retrospective of ACS member Diana Armfield, in celebration of the artist's one hundredth birthday. The exhibition will also mark the publication of a new book, Diana Armfield: A Lyrical Eye, written by Andrew Lambirth and published by Paul Holberton Publishing. More information is available on the Browse & Darby website. ACS artist Eileen Cooper's current exhibition, Nights at the Circus, is taking place online at Sims Reed Gallery.  ⁣ Nights at the Circus is Cooper's second exhibition with Sims Reed Gallery and draws on inspiration from Angela Carter’s seminal novel of the same name. The show features over twenty unique works on paper and prints created specifically for the exhibition. The new works weave elements of fairy tales and magical realism, treading a line between realism and fantasy.⁣ ⁣ Until 2 April⁣ Find the virtual tour of the exhibition on the gallery's website. Eileen Agar Retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery

Erotic Landscape (1942) © The Estate of Eileen Agar. Photograph courtesy Pallant House Gallery, Chichester © Doug Atfield⁣ Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy is an upcoming retrospective of ACS member Eileen Agar's works, due to open later this year at Whitechapel Gallery⁣. ⁣ The show charts Agar's ground-breaking career from 1920 to 1990 and features over 150 works, including early pieces influenced by her teachings at The Slade, experiments with Cubism and inclusion in the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition and later compositions of lyrical abstraction.⁣ More information is available on the Whitechapel Gallery website. New Art Centre's Roche Court Sculpture Park Richard Cartwright at John Martin Gallery The New Art Centre's Roche Court Sculpture Park outdoor space is open to visitors during the current lockdown.⁣ Members based in the Wiltshire area will be treated to sculptural works by ACS artists including Michael Craig-Martin, Barbara Hepworth, Kenneth Armitage, Edmund de Waal, Barry Flanagan, Laura Ford and Gavin Turk. Find out more about the New Art Centre's Roche Court Sculpture Park website. An exhibition of work by ACS member Richard Cartwright opens at John Martin gallery in April. ⁣ The show, titled Toll the Bells Softly will feature a number of new large scale pastel artworks characterised by Cartwright's intense use of colour and atmosphere.⁣ ⁣ 12 - 30 Apr⁣ Find out more details on the John Martin Gallery website Michael Ayrton's Centenary Daedalus/Icarus Matrix by Michael Ayrton © The Artist’s Estate 2021 marks the centenary of ACS member Michael Aryton’s birth. To celebrate this milestone, the Ayrton Estate are delighted to announce the publication of Michael Ayrton Centenary: Ideas, Images, Reflections, an illustrated volume of works accompanied by essays from a range of eminent contributors.  A new website with information about Ayrton's life and career has also been launched and there are several major exhibitions due to take place in May. These shows will include a selection of works last exhibited in his lifetime, or in some cases exhibited for the first time.  29 May - 8 Aug Michael Ayrton: Retrospective at The Lightbox Gallery 29 May - 31 Dec Michael Ayrton online exhibition at Keith Chapman Modern Sculpture May 31 - Oct 31 A Singular Obsession – Celebrating The Centenary of Michael Ayrton at The Fry Gallery Find more details about the upcoming projects on the Michael Ayrton website. Sir Alan Bowness 1928 -2021 Having worked closely for many years with Sir Alan Bowness in his role as executor of the Barbara Hepworth estate, the ACS team were saddened to hear the recent news of his death. As many of our members will know, Alan Bowness was a leading and innovative figure in the art world and the wider creative community.  Over a career that spanned more than 50 years, Bowness enjoyed the roles of celebrated writer, curator, lecturer, director, and philanthropist.  It was Bowness who, in line with Barbara Hepworth's wishes, arranged for the gift of twenty-six sculptures to be given to the Tate. It was also Bowness who oversaw the opening of the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, at the artist's former house and garden in St Ives.  During his tenure as director of the Tate, Bowness modernised the gallery, introduced the illustrious Turner Prize and established the Tate Liverpool - the gallery's first permanent collection outside London.  Following his retirement from the Tate, Bowness became the director of the Henry Moore Foundation and set up the Henry Moore Institute. More recently he worked with his daughter Sophie Bowness to establish the acclaimed Hepworth Wakefield, bringing the artist's work back to her hometown. Sir Alan Bowness (11 Jan 1928 - 1 Mar 2021)