Mother Stone: The Vitality of Modern British Sculpture (Studies in British Art) [Hardcover]

Dr. Anne Middleton Wagner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Mother Stone Anne Middleton Wagner looks anew at the carvings of the first generation of British modernists, a group centered around Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Jacob Epstein. Wagner probes the work of these sculptors, discusses their shared avant-garde materialism, and identifies a common theme that runs through their work and that of other artists of the period: maternity.

Why were artists for three turbulent decades after the First World War seemingly preoccupied with representations of pregnant women and the mother and child? Why was this the great new subject, especially for sculpture? Why was the imagery of bodily reproduction at the core of the effort to revitalize what in Britain had become a somnolent art? Wagner finds the answers to these questions at the intersection between the politics of maternity and sculptural innovation. She situates British sculpture fully within the new reality of “bio-power”—the realm of Marie Stopes, Brave New World, and Melanie Klein. And in a series of brilliant studies of key works, she offers a radical rereading of this sculpture’s main concerns and formal language.

Book Description

Why were post World War I British artists preoccupied with the theme of maternity? How did this become the great new subject, especially for sculptors? Anne Middleton Wagner finds the answers to these questions and more in her probing study of the first generation of British modernists, including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Jacob Epstein.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Paul Mellon Centre BA (November 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300106858
• ISBN-13: 978-0300106855
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #762,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)