Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945

29 May 2021 - 12 March 2023

An Arts Council Collection Touring Exhibition

 

This major new touring exhibition challenges the male-dominated narratives of post-war British sculpture by presenting a diverse and significant range of ambitious work by women. Offering a radical recalibration, Breaking the Mould  not only celebrates the strengths of sculpture made by women but also seeks to guard against the threat of slipping out of view. Through this deliberately restorative act, the exhibition seeks to inspire future generations, supporting the maxim ‘if she can see it she can be it’. 

Breaking the Mould represents the work of over forty-five sculptors including Barbara Hepworth, Elisabeth Frink, Kim Lim, Cornelia Parker, Veronica Ryan, Rachel Whiteread and Anthea Hamilton. 

After the first presentation at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Breaking the Mould will tour to New Art Gallery Walsall, Djanogly Art Gallery, The Levinsky Gallery at the University of Plymouth, Nottingham Lakeside Arts and Ferens Art Gallery, Hull.

Breaking the Mould is an Arts Council Collection Touring Exhibition initiated in response to Women Working in Sculpture from 1960 to the Present Day: Towards a New Lexicon, a research project led by Catherine George (University of Coventry) and Hilary Gresty (independent). 

 

Venue: Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
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A major new touring exhibition challenging the male-dominated narratives of post-war British sculpture by presenting a diverse and significant range of ambitious work by women.

TOUR DATES & VENUES

Spring 2021
Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
29 May – 5 September 2021 (Open Thursdays to Sundays and bank holidays, 11am - 4pm​. Pre-booking essential. Book tickets at ysp.org.uk)

Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham
18 September 2021–9 January 2022

The Levinsky Gallery, The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth
2 April - 19 June 2022

Ferens Art Gallery, Hull 
2 July–2 October 2022

The New Art Gallery Walsall
Oct 2022 - March 2023

 

 

Arts Council Collection: Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945

The timeline below plots some of the key events shaping the production of sculpture by women in Britain since the formation of the Arts Council Collection in 1946.  These include art world moments and developments of social and political importance.

The definitions in the timeline are sourced from the Oxford English Dictionary as of March 2020. Language around some of these terms changes frequently.

 

Timeline content created by Laura Biddle and Angelica Vanasse

Arts Council Collection: Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945

Breaking the Mould is accompanied by a fully-illustrated publication produced by Hayward Gallery Publishing, featuring an essay on the subject by Natalie Rudd, Senior Curator of the Arts Council Collection, and curator of the exhibition, alongside complementary texts from artists, writers and curators exploring the practices of over forty British sculptors, presenting fresh critical thinking on the subject. The book also features a timeline, highlighting key events and developments over the last seventy years.

 

Full list of participating artists:

Anthea Alley, Phyllida Barlow, Rana Begum, Helen Chadwick, Alice Channer, Lygia Clark, Shelagh Cluett, Susan Collis, Jane Coyle, Katie Cuddon, Sokari Douglas Camp, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Jessie Flood-Paddock, Elisabeth Frink, Anya Gallaccio, Katherine Gili, Anthea Hamilton, Mona Hatoum, Jann Haworth, Holly Hendry, Barbara Hepworth, Shirazeh Houshiary, Karin Jonzen, Permindar Kaur, Mary Kelly, Liliane Lijn, Kim Lim, Gillian Lowndes, Sarah Lucas, Helen Marten, Mary Martin, Cathy De Monchaux, Lucia Nogueira, Margaret Organ, Emma Park, Cornelia Parker, Amalia Pica, Kathy Prendergast, Eva Rothschild, Meg Rutherford, Veronica Ryan, Grace Schwindt, Wendy Taylor, Hayley Tompkins, Shelagh Wakely, Rebecca Warren, Rachel Whiteread, Alison Wilding and Rosemary Young.

Arts Council Collection: Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945

Featured Artworks

Leg Chair (Jane Birkin), 2011

Leg Chair (Jane Birkin) by Anthea Hamilton is one of a series of 10 chairs, which she began making in 2009...
Gut Feelings (Stromatolith), 2016

Holly Hendry is interested in defining the architecture of spaces by exploring the possibilities of surface, colour and density, which is inherent in the wide range of materials she uses in her installations.
Untitled (6 Spaces), 1994

Rachel Whiteread’s sculptures are often constructed from 'negative spaces'... Lim
No. 429 SFold, 2013

For her series titled Fold, Rana Begum works with industrial materials, including powder-coated aluminium and steel...

Related Content

Artist Profile: Rose Finn-Kelcey

Amy Tobin, Lecturer in History of Art, University of Cambridge and Curator, Kettle’s Yard, explores the work of Rose Finn-Kelcey
Artist Profile: Margaret Organ

Artist Anne Hardy explores the work of Collection artist Margaret Organ, with archive material from the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds
Breaking the Mould with Gomersal Primary

Find out about the Arts Council Collection’s ongoing partnership with Gomersal Primary School in West Yorkshire, as part of the learning programme at our centre for sculpture at Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
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The Arts Council Collection is the UK's most widely seen collection of modern and contemporary art.

With more than 8,000 works by over 2,000 artists, it can be seen in exhibitions and public displays across the country and beyond. This website offers unprecedented access to the Collection, and information about each work can be found on this site.