Curated by Virginia Damtsa

Alon Zakaim Fine Art presents Carved & Cast: Sculpture Through the Ages – a captivating exhibition that brings together a museum-quality selection of privately owned sculptures, spanning over two millennia. Across two floors, the exhibition aims to highlight the divergent attitudes and approaches towards sculptural practice, and present a compelling survey of how some of the greatest masters of the last two centuries have shaped and redefined the medium.

The exhibition features more than fifteen artists, with highlights including a magnificent hand-carved marble statue by Auguste Rodin, widely regarded as “the father of modern sculpture”, and a seminal unique granite by Jacques Lipchitz that was exhibited in the inaugural Guggenheim Museum show in New York.

From masterpieces of the ancient world including a c.3rd-1st century BC limestone mask and Roman bronze lion head dating to c.1st-2nd century AD, to contemporary works by Damien Hirst and Emily Young, the show provides an extraordinary glimpse into how sculptors have engaged with the human form and condition throughout history.

Two bronze sculptures by Edgar Degas are a testament to his lifelong fascination with movement and the human form. Best known for his portrayals of ballet dancers, Degas masterfully captured the grace and dynamism of the human body in motion against the coarse roughness of bronze that reveals the intense labour and effort involved in ballet.

Alongside these works, two glass cabinets exhibit portrait heads and busts: the left containing models from antiquity and the right from the past century. Although the subject remained relevant and consistent, the artist’s working methods evolved drastically as technological advancements and refined tastes presented new possibilities. This shift is notably evident in Jacob Epstein’s Self-Portrait and Damien Hirst’s Abacus, produced around fifty years apart, wherein the more traditional bronze bust precedes a contemporary silver skull. These works are juxtaposed with a monumental alabaster portrait head by Jaume Plensa that demonstrates an entirely separate treatment of the theme, infused with personal spirituality.

In the lower gallery, visitors are initially immersed in a dark room of monumental, vertical forms by Sorel Etrog, Emily Young, and Giacomo Manzú. Towards the back of the room, La Grande Chiave by Manzú dominates the space and is flanked by two of his smaller cardinal sculptures. The origin of the cardinal in his oeuvre stems from a long-held fascination with liturgical vestments, their almost conical forms, and a resulting sense of monumentality and, indeed, serenity that they emanated. The setting and treatment of this space intends to frame these works and enhance the connotations that Manzú associated with them.

A selection of smaller sculptures by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Man Ray conclude the show. These works are paired together for their intricate detailing and delicate handling of forms. Moore and Hepworth, renowned for their pioneering visions in British art of the twentieth century, established common ground in their experimentation with abstract forms, comprised of a balance between concavities and convexities.

While Moore’s practice remained rooted in his study of the human body, Hepworth became intimately connected with the Cornish coast, the crashing of the sea waves, and natural forms of the landscape’s rocks. Man Ray’s Les Mains Libres originate from a set of drawings that he produced in the 1930s, capturing the essence of his Surrealist interests in the irrational, desire, and freedom.

Curated by Virginia Damtsa, who remarked, “this exhibition is not just a showcase of some of sculpture’s greatest masters, but a dialogue of how the medium has been utilised to explore the complexities and depth of human existence, letting every part of the body speak for the whole.”