Press

The Henry Moore Institute's Savage Messiah exhibition opens next month and highlights the extraordinary ways in which the life of the French-born sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891-1915) entered mainstream culture.

From 16th March - 31 July 2011, in Gallery 4, Savage Messiah: The Creation of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska looks at the ways in which the life and work of the influential  twentieth-century sculptor was constructed through biographical narratives and, in turn through film.

Curated by Jon Wood, the original 1929 manuscript of H.S. Ede's biographical novel, first published in 1930 (and acquired by Leeds Museums & Galleries in 2000) will be displayed alongside Gaudier-Brzeska's graphic representation of the Ezra Pound and his portrait bust of Horace Brodzky. These will be exhibited alongside film stills and posters from Ken Russell's 1972 film adaptation.

Ken Russell will attend a rare screening of Savage Messiah at the Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, on June 22nd as part of a one-day symposium that looks at the broader historiography of the work and life of Gaudier-Brzeska. The event will focus attention on the writings and testimonies of other artists and writers, including Jacob Epstein, Roger Fry and Wyndham Lewis, who knew him and his work between 1911 and 1915.

2011 marks the centenary of Gaudier-Brzeska's arrival in London, where he lived for the last four years of his life, before being killed in the trenches in 1915.