British blockbuster: Sotheby's Chatsworth sculpture show celebrates home talent

For the tenth edition of Sotheby's annual outdoor sculpture installation 'Beyond Limits: The Landscape of British Sculpture 1950-2015', the auction house has invited respected art historian and commentator Tim Marlow to curate an exhibition that celebrates the understated success of British sculpture.
Opened yesterday in the majestic grounds of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, the showcase hones in on the post-war period, from 1950 to the present day. Working together with Simon Stock, Sotheby's senior international specialist in impressionist and modern art, Tim Marlow has expertly pulled together 39 works by 30 artists and woven them into the gardens at Chatsworth, where they frame the estate's sweeping vistas. Visitors can witness how pieces from the 1960s by pioneers such as Reg Butler and Barbara Hepworth paved the way for present day artists such as Sarah Lucas, Mark Wallinger and Conrad Shawcross.
'We’ve been able to curate an exhibition that responds to the growing interest in outdoor sculpture, and also explores and celebrates the rise of British sculpture,' says Marlow, who serves as director of artistic programmes at the Royal Academy. 'The relationship of the landscape to the works on display is integral – whether they were directly inspired by or conceived in opposition to the idea of landscape. The result, I hope, will be a sparky, creative conversation between some of the best British sculpture of the last 65 years and one of the greatest of all British country houses and its surrounding landscape.'
Celebrating the understated but pivotal success of post-war British sculpture, the showcase is woven into the majestic grounds at Chatsworth, the country estate and ancestral seat of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Three Obliques (Walk In), by Barbara Hepworth, 1969
Opened yesterday, the exhibition includes 39 works by 30 artists pulled together by Marlow and Simon Stock, Sotheby’s senior international specialist in impressionist and modern art. Pictured: Sunshine, by Anthony Caro, 1964
Visitors can witness how pieces from the 1960s by pioneers such as Reg Butler and Barbara Hepworth paved the way for present day artists such as Sarah Lucas, Mark Wallinger and Conrad Shawcross.Pictured: The Family of Man: Figure 1, Ancestor 1, by Barbara Hepworth, 1970
’The relationship of the landscape to the works on display is integral – whether they were directly inspired by or conceived in opposition to the idea of landscape,’ says Marlow, who serves as director of artistic programmes at the Royal Academy. Pictured: The Dappled Light of the Sun I, II and III, by Conrad Shawcross, 2015
The 2015 showcase is the first themed edition of ’Beyond Limits’. Pictured: Dreadnought: Problems Of History – The Search For The Hidden Stone, by Stephen Cox, 1990–2015
Lynn Chadwick’s dramatically cloaked figures, Pair Of Walking Figures – Jubilee, 1977 (pictured), sit in contrast to the natural setting of the Chatsworth garden
Mark Wallinger’s The Black Horse, 2015 (pictured), is a scaled-down, life-sized version of his winning submission for the BBC’s 2009 Ebbsfleet Landmark Project
INFORMATION
Website
Courtesy of Sotheby’s. ’Beyond Limits: The Landscape of British Sculpture 1950-2015’ is on show at Chatsworth House until 25 October
ADDRESS
Chatsworth House
Bakewell
Derbyshire
DE45 1PP
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Ali Morris is a UK-based editor, writer and creative consultant specialising in design, interiors and architecture. In her 16 years as a design writer, Ali has travelled the world, crafting articles about creative projects, products, places and people for titles such as Dezeen, Wallpaper* and Kinfolk.
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