Presence: the Figure in British Postwar Contemporary Sculpture. : GROUP EXHIBITION
Messums West Gallery

PRESENCE: The Figure in British Postwar and Contemporary Sculpture was held in the 13th-century tithe barn at Messums West as part of Messums’ 2024 season of sculptural exhibitions. PRESENCE brought together world-class postwar and contemporary figurative sculpture to ask what gives an inanimate object the emotive presence of a living being.

The exhibition explored the many ways artists have approached the representation of the human body in sculpture since 1945, encouraging visitors to reflect on perception, communication through body language, and the implications of objectifying the human form in art. It opened a broader conversation about what constitutes figurative sculpture and why artists have continually returned to this enduring and enigmatic subject.

Showcasing some of the finest examples of postwar and contemporary figurative sculpture made in Britain, the exhibition highlighted the diverse materials, techniques, and approaches employed by artists working with the human body as a central theme. While the works varied in style, medium, and date, they were united by a shared preoccupation with the figure.

Exhibiting artists included Kenneth Armitage, Jonathan Baldock, Glenys Barton, Jacob van der Beugel, Christie Brown, Ralph Brown, Reg Butler, Lynn Chadwick, Michael Cooper, John Davies, Laurence Edwards, Abigail Fallis, Dame Elisabeth Frink, Antony Gormley, Sean Henry, Nicola Hicks, Michael Hulls, John Humphreys, Alice Kettle, Tim Lewis, Briony Marshall, Henry Moore, Tess Morley, Dame Rachel Whiteread, Yinka Shonibare, William Turnbull, Yan Wang Preston, Emily Young, and Carlos Zapata.