"Ivor Abrahams ~ Mystery and Imagination" At the Royal Academy in London

Written by Stephen McGammon Tuesday, 26 April 2011 20:34

London.- "Ivor Abrahams: Mystery and Imagination - The ‘Edgar Allan Poe’ and ‘Edmund Burke’ Print Portfolios" at the Royal Academy from 30 March to 22 May 2011, brings together for the first time two pivotal print series by the sculptor Ivor Abrahams RA. Created more than thirty years ago in collaboration with master printers Chris Betambeau and Alan Cox respectively, the ‘Edgar Allan Poe’ (1976) and ‘Edmund Burke’ (1979) portfolios are superb examples of their kind from a period now recognised as a golden age of printmaking in Britain. The exhibition reveals in particular how Poe, the great technician of unified ‘effect’ in poetry and prose, who defined art as ‘the reproduction of what the senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul’ – and Burke, the great taxonomist of the Sublime and Beautiful, who first associated the emotive power of art with anticipations of pleasure and pain – took Abrahams on a parallel journey of discovery in relation to his own preoccupations as an artist, a journey that illuminated not only the work he had already done but, more importantly, what he had yet to do. The artist has been closely involved in the concept of this exhibition, sensing a need to re-visit these print series from his current standpoint, and to evaluate the continuity of his preoccupation with figure and ground. Until April 7th 2011, "Modern British Sculpture" at the Royal Academy allows Ivor Abrahams' works to be seen in the context of the trends in British sculpture at the time.   

Ivor Abrahams was born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1935. He studied at St Martin's School of Art (1952-1953) and at Camberwell School of Art (1954-1957). Having taken up sculpture in spite of parental opposition and supported himself through art school, Ivor Abrahams worked in London and traveled whenever he could to see painting and sculpture in galleries throughout Europe. He began to teach part-time whilst he pursued a largely figurative way of working, and had one-man shows regularly from 1962 in Europe, Scandinavia, New York and Toronto. In a continuing mission to make work that is accessible, Ivor Abrahams has rarely made sculpture that is purely abstract. First the figure, then gardens and classical landscape, then the sea entered his repertoire, only to be replaced again by the figure, until today when he is still drawing on his own environment, but in different ways. Portions of buildings, gardens, domestic interiors and people - usually active - inhabit works that are fundamentally collages. These are built of photographic images that are cut, altered, painted over and turned into three-dimensional form. Further works evolve from these assemblages in clay or resin. Some are painted; others are cast in bronze and then painted freely or patinated with great subtlety. Advertising placards have always held a fascination for Abrahams, as he once worked as a display artist for Adel Rootsteine in the late 1950s. The illusion of three dimensions that these placards convey is brought into his constructed sculptures as part of the process of developing an idea for sculpture, or even as an end in itself. Abrahams, with his French wife Evelyne, bought a house in Pézenas in 1973, but has not lived there all the year round. They kept a home in London, and have recently moved back to Britain as their primary working base. In 1989 Abrahams was elected to the Royal Academy. Ivor Abrahams’ early bronzes were shown as a group in his first solo exhibition at Gallery One in London, 1962. Some of the pieces were cast by him, others at the Fiorini Art Bronze Foundry, where he worked as an apprentice in the 1950’s. After the first one man show, IA makes a radical change in his working methods and sources. Working in the display industry he starts to work directly in plaster and latex. A growing interest in Di Chirico sees him adopt the Figure and Ground format he is to revisit periodically. The Garden theme in the sculpture of Ivor Abrahams represents the period when he gained his international reputation. Works were in many materials and on a large range of scale. He also made many prints, drawing and ceramics around this subject. Visit the artists website at ... http://www.ivorabrahams.com

The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate. The Academy was founded by King George III in 1768. The 34 founding Members were a group of prominent artists and architects including Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir William Chambers who were determined to achieve professional standing for British art and architecture. They also wanted to provide a venue for exhibitions that would be open to the public; and to establish a school of art through which their skills and knowledge could be passed to future generations of practitioners. The Academy today continues to aspire, in the words of its eighteenth-century founders, ‘to promote the arts of design’, that is: to present a broad range of visual art to the widest possible audience; to stimulate debate, understanding and creation through education; and to provide a focus for the interests of artists and art-lovers. The Academy has held an annual Summer Exhibition of works for sale since its formation and its first loan exhibition was held in 1870. The Academy now enjoys an unrivalled reputation as a venue for exhibitions of international importance. One of the founding principles of the RA was to 'mount an annual exhibition open to all artists of distinguished merit' to finance the training of young artists in the RA Schools. Now known as the Summer Exhibition and held every year without interruption since 1769, the exhibition attracts around 12,000 works, the selection being carried out by Academicians chaired by the President. The RA continues to fulfil its founders’ aims by mounting a continuous programme of internationally-acclaimed loan exhibitions, supported by extensive education programmes, seminars and debates. The Main Galleries and The Sackler Wing of Galleries host a variety of major exhibitions from all periods and art forms. The RA owns a major collection of works by Royal Academicians past and present together with the oldest and one of the best fine-art libraries in Britain. The Collection has received outstanding bequests such as the Michelangelo Tondo on display in the Sackler Wing of Galleries. Highlights from the Collection can be seen on free guided tours of the John Madejski Fine Rooms. Visit the Royal Academy website at ...  http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

---

Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~