In the 20th century there was a revival of the art of carving. This happened in reaction to the casting of the 19th century and a view that this was somehow a ‘replica’ rather than the real thing. It was also connected with the desire for authenticity and crafting skill of the Arts and Craft movement. At the same time a whole generation, including Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, was becoming acquainted with the different varieties of wood and stone they could carve in and in the relationship between the material and the landscape.  Artists including Jacob Epstein, Frank Dobson and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska were interested in both techniques, while most of the artists in this exhibition practised modelling and casting.

The artist makes a model, either in clay or plaster. A mould is made from the model, usually in plaster. At a foundry molten liquid metal, usually bronze, is poured into the mould. When the bronze cools and solidifies the hollow cast is ready.

A wax model is made, and a mould of plaster and broken pottery surrounds it. The mould is fired and the wax is ‘lost’.

Hot-shaping takes place with molten metal on an anvil using tools such as a hammer. Reg Butler had trained as a blacksmith and was highly skilled at this technique, as well as welding.

Welding applies naked heat to metal sections to fuse them together. This was a technique that Picasso learnt from Julio Gonzales, and Lynn Chadwick learnt at Cricklewood.

Today we describe museum collections of historic art from beyond Europe as World Cultures. These include the kinds of sculptures that Jacob Epstein, and nearly all the modernist artists in the exhibition, viewed and admired in the British Museum and elsewhere. Epstein was a voracious collector and after his death left some 1000 pieces, many of which are now in museums themselves. In Epstein’s time these works were described as ‘primitive’ or even ‘savage’. This reflects the overtly racist attitudes of the time and it’s interesting to note the harsh criticism that Epstein received for his work that was based on concerns about Epstein’s use of the forms of non-Western cultures in connection with the frank nudity of his figures.

Today we would also ask questions about exoticism and appropriation. That is even before we consider consider the colonial history that led such objects to be in our museums and private collections at all.

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