Accessibility statement

Monument, Object, Fetish, Artefact: Contesting ‘Modern’ Sculpture

Of all forms of western artistic expression of the twentieth century, arguably sculpture changed most dramatically. The appearance in the space of just a few years in the 1910s of Cubist constructions, Duchamp’s ready-mades and Dada assemblages is an obvious manifestation of this phenomenon. Similarly, it was in connection to sculpture that some of the greatest public debates about ‘modern’ art took place, such as over the censorship of Jacob Epstein’s Tomb of Oscar Wilde, the scandal of the ‘Richard Mutt Case,’ the Brancusi trial and Carl André’s ‘pile of bricks.’ What is apparent in these debates is conflict between forms of sculpture making and what has been termed the ‘sculptural imaginary.’ Much of what counts today as ‘modern’ sculpture was as much ‘anti-sculpture’ in the sense of its denial or rejection of what was commonly taken to define it, whether that be its memorial or commemorative function, its connection to the decorative arts or its material qualities. At the same time new objects not previously considered sculpture in a fine art sense were drawn into the debate through colonial collecting practices and cultural appropriation, and were used to justify certain of ‘modern’ sculpture’s characteristics. 

The aim of this module is, then, to examine the emergence of new forms of sculptural practice in the twentieth century in connection to the new critical frameworks its troublesome status stimulated. If many of the artworks themselves seem to have paradoxical ambitions, such as attempting to be simultaneously monumental and insubstantial or utopian and useful, contemporary writings on sculpture are also frequently conflicted, sometimes proposing it as the most vital art form, sometimes as completely redundant or defeated.

Four thematic concerns typify the contested character of ‘modern’ sculpture as found in such texts and in the public discourse on sculpture, and they guide the content of the module. They are:

  • Sculpture as the public site of memory.
  • The object-hood of sculpture and its relation to the world of commodities.
  • Anthropological and psychological understandings of sculpture making and use.
  • The nature of material practices, craft, skill and labour in the machine age.

The module will be organised according to these themes, with seminars focussed on case studies. Where possible these case studies will take advantage of the rich resources for the study of sculpture in the region – Leeds City Art Gallery, Henry Moore Institute, The Hepworth Wakefield and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park – but the module is not limited to those collections and is intended to consider ‘modern’ sculpture in the widest possible sense

Angel of the North, Antony Gormley

Module information

  • Module title
    Monument, Object, Fetish, Artefact: Contesting ‘Modern’ Sculpture
  • Module number
    HOA00082M
  • Convenor
    Michael White

For postgraduates