17 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska: Art, dance and movement in London 1911–1915
“Sculpture consists in placing planes according to a rhythm”
Gaudier-Brzeska, 1911
2015 marks 100 years since Henri Gaudier-Brzeska died aged 23 in the First World War. His sculpture and drawings reveal an artist constantly experimenting as he sought to capture through art the energy he saw in life.
New Rhythms includes sculpture, drawings and paintings by Gaudier-Brzeska and his contemporaries David Bomberg, Jacob Epstein, Percy Wyndham Lewis, William Roberts, Auguste Rodin, Helen Saunders and Alexander Archipenko. A contemporary dance and music commission completes the exhibition.
Kettle’s Yard has one of the largest collections of works by Gaudier-Brzeska including two strikingly different sculptures of dancers, from which the inspiration for this exhibition comes. New Rhythms explores the pre-war London in which Gaudier-Brzeska lived, with its burgeoning dance scene including performances of the Ballets Russes, the explosion of dance forms like Tango and the growing popularity of wrestling.
Supported by the Henry Moore Foundation
