Visual Arts

The real and imagined role of modern sculpture in the post-war middle-class British home is the focus of this new exhibition. It is a re-staging of the Sculpture in the Home exhibitions that took place in the 1940s and 1950s, which endeavoured to make sculpture part of everyday life.

Five exhibitions, supported by the Arts Council and the Council of Industrial Design, took place between 1945 and 1959, displaying contemporary sculptures in gallery installations suggestive of modern domestic interiors. This re-staging includes sculpture by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, John Skeaping, Reg Butler, Frank Dobson, Gertrude Hermes, Rosemary Young, Trevor Tennant, Uli Nimptsch and Dora Gordine; brought to life by Lucienne Day and Audrey Levy textiles, and with furniture by Robin Day, Ernest Race and Gordon Russell. 

Family Group (c. 1945) - Henry Moore

The exhibition imaginatively emulates the five original exhibitions which were remarkable for featuring many sculptures adopting domestic subjects and unusually high numbers of works by female sculptors. The preponderance of domestic subject matter can be seen as part of a wider post-war preoccupation with the home and family. The display includes, as far as possible, the actual sculptures and furnishings used in the original exhibitions, or similar objects by the same artists, designers and manufacturers.

Sculpture in the Home was seen by audiences around the country, from Edinburgh to Eastbourne and Cardiff to Cambridge. During the pre-war years of the Depression many sculptors, influenced by the development of the International Modern interiors style, had turned to a more domestic scale. By staging these exhibitions it was hoped to make sculpture accessible and affordable to a much wider public (most of the works were for sale). In reality, high prices and economic austerity meant comparatively few sculptures were sold, but attendance figures suggest the exhibitions aroused considerable interest amongst post-war homemakers.

These exhibitions were a key component in starting a discussion on sculpture’s domestic function that encouraged people to experience sculpture not just occasionally in the public gallery but as "something to be enjoyed in the home". While this state-backed vision of modern living didn't quite translate to everyday life, it reflected the concept of the Ideal Home, which continues to preoccupy twenty-first century audiences.

Sculpture in the Home: Re-staging a post-war initiative is showing in the Mezzanine Gallery, Henry Moore Institute, The Headrow until Sunday 4 January 2009.