Sarah Lucas' nude figures explores 'Power in Woman

Sculptures of female legs with golden framed images on wall

Sir John Soane's Museum in London has launched a new exhibition, 'Power in Woman', featuring a trio of sculptures by British artist Sarah Lucas. © Sarah Lucas. Courtesy of Sir John Soane's Museum and Sadie Coles HQ. Photography: Graeme Robertson

(Image credit: Graeme Robertson)

By Jessica Klingelfuss

last updated 11 August 2022

Complex and ever provocative, British artist Sarah Lucas is a woman of many parts. So too, is her corps of discombobulated female figure studies, which are now on show in a new London exhibition at Sir John Soane’s Museum, supported by the Art Fund.

‘Power in Woman’ sees Lucas’ commission from last year’s Venice Biennale return to the custard-yellow setting that in part inspired her installation for the British Pavilion. The trio of sculptures on show – Yoko, Pauline, and Michele – make themselves at home in the North Drawing Room, casually slumped and explicitly splayed atop furniture among the storied museum’s antiques and paintings.

‘Sir John was continually, over a lifetime, collecting and extending his house to accommodate his collection. The whole edifice is his work of art,’ says Lucas. ‘Strange then to intervene in his picture, temporarily.’ Lucas’ sculptures form part of a series of ten cast plaster bodies, collectively titled the Muses, and for which the artist used friends as models.

The ‘topless’ figures, each one embellished with a cigarette, form a startling counterpoint to the classical sculptures in the museum’s collection. ‘Soane’s plasters are cast from the marble originals. Mine, on the other hand, are cast direct from the woman in question using the rough and ready method of making a waste mould by applying plaster bandage directly onto the body,’ the artist explains.

She adds: ‘The mould doesn’t survive. There’s very little room in the process for refining the figure or otherwise idealising it.’ Lucas makes a compelling case for how much perfection there is in imperfection.

Sculpture of female legs with one leg through the chair back — *Pauline*, 2015. The show sees Lucas’ commission from last year’s Venice Biennale return to the custard-yellow setting that in part inspired her installation for the British Pavilion. *© Sarah Lucas. Courtesy of Sir John Soane's Museum and Sadie Coles HQ. Photography: Graeme Robertson*

Female sculpture of crossed legs sitting on a chair — *Yoko*, 2015. The works make themselves at home in the North Drawing Room, casually slumped and explicitly splayed atop furniture among the storied museum’s antiques and paintings. *© Sarah Lucas. Courtesy of Sir John Soane's Museum and Sadie Coles HQ. Photography: Graeme Robertson*

INFORMATION

‘Power in Woman’ runs until 21 May. For more information, visit the Sir John Soane’s Museum website (opens in new tab)

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