William Tucker Skulptur
1 May—25 Jul 2015

William Tucker Skulptur

1 May—25 Jul 2015
Buchmann Galerie
Press release

The Buchmann Gallery is delighted to announce the second solo show of works by the British/American sculptor William Tucker (*1935 in Cairo, lives in Williamsburg, MA). 

 

In the 1970s, Tucker belonged to the highly influential circle of English sculptors that included Philip King and Tim Scott, who were presented as the ‘New Generation’ in the eponymous exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1965. This group had a decisive impact on the development of abstract sculpture and was largely instrumental in broadening the concept of sculpture. In 1966, William Tucker was invited to take part in the seminal exhibition Primary Structures at the Jewish Museum in New York, a decisive moment in American Minimal Art. During this period he also made a name for himself as a theoretician, critic and curator. In 1972, Tucker published The Language of Sculpture as well as reviews and essays in Studio International, the British counterpart of ARTFORUM. In 1975, he organised The Condition of Sculpture show at the Hayward Gallery in London. 

 

William Tucker’s current work, which is being presented in this solo show, references the human body. Against the background of his earlier work this may seem surprising. However, Tucker approaches the line between figuration and abstraction very openly and does not view it as a contradiction. The reference is fluid, changing, but it does always come back to the human figure. “Any sculpture is a figure in a sense, if it reads as a total, a unity.” (William Tucker, First Magazine, 1961)

 

Despite their figurative reference, the shape of the sculptures cannot immediately be deciphered and named. They do not depict a simple, clearly readable human shape or gesture. Instead, the sculptures open up a wide field of potential associations, which gives them their insistent and unique physical corporeality. William Tucker’s sculptures have a presence that puts our own body in relation to them and thus heightens our awareness of it. 

 

His engagement with the nature, structure and mass of the human body led Tucker to create a series of sculptures, for example Xanthe (1992) and Oedipus III (2014), which are determined more by their abstract shape than their immediately apparent form. 

 

The imposing sculpture Frenhofer (1995) is one of the artist’s largest torsos. Other pieces from this body of work are Pamona in the Tate London collection, Demeter in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art New York, and Eve in the Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden Wuppertal.

 

Originally modelled in plaster, Tucker cast his piece Tauromachy (2008) in bronze for the first time for this show. Tauromachy started as a fist, but it suggests a charging bull as in Goya’s Tauromachy etchings. The immediate physical presence of the sculpture also gives it a tangible muscular strength.   

 

Oedipus III (2014) sees William Tucker taking a new approach to surfaces: this piece is finished in an unusually intense red colour. 

 

“Tucker’s sculpture asks fundamental questions as to what sculpture is and what it can be.” (Joy Sleeman, The Sculpture of William Tucker, Lund Humphries, The Henry Moore Foundation, 2007)

 

Sculptures by William Tucker can be seen in several collections, including the Tate Gallery in London, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art New York, the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Nasher Sculpture Center Dallas and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. 

 

The Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao will be presenting a major show of William Tucker’s work from 9 June until 14 September 2015.

 

For additional information on the artist or for visual materials on the works in the exhibition, please do not hesitate to contact the gallery at any time.

William Tucker

Born 1935 in Cairo, Egypt

Lives and works in Massachusetts, USA

Education
1959-1960 Studies at St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, London
1955-1958 Studies at University of Oxford, England
Grants and Awards
2011 Elected as honorary National Academician, National Academy Museum, New York
2010  Lifetime Achievement Award, International Sculpture Center, Hamilton
2009  Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1995  Rodin-Moore Memorial Prize, Second Fujisankei Biennale Hakone Open-Air Museum, Japan
1991  Sculpture Center Award for Distinction in Sculpture
1980 Guggenheim Fellowship

1968-1970

Gregory Fellowship in Sculpture, University of Leeds

Solo Exhibitions

2022
2021
2020
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2010
2009
2008
2006
2005
2004
2002
2001
1998
1988
1987

Group Exhibitions

2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2002
2001
1999
1996
1979
1975
1972
1969
1968
1966
1965
1961
Selected Collections

Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland

Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Arts Council of Great Britain, London

British Council, London

The British Museum, London

City of Bilbao, Spain

Contemporary Art Society, London

Florida International University, Miami, FL

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Tokyo, Japan

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, The Netherlands

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark

The Margulies Collection, Miami

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY

Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

Tate Gallery, London

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN