The Third Campaign: A Project by Neal White
8 January – 27 March 2005
Exhibition in the Upper Sculpture Study Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery
In a conceptual campaign designed to re-ignite debate over Jacob Epstein’s sculptural scheme on the British Medical Association building in London’s Strand, White challenged the viewer to re-evaluate their response to public sculpture.
Installation view of The Third Campaign: A Project by Neal White, looking form outside the galleries at the bridge link between the Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery © Neal White. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones Installation view of The Third Campaign: A Project by Neal White © Neal White. Photographic material on display courtesy Leeds Museums & Galleries (Henry Moore Institute Archive). Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones
In 1908, Jacob Epstein’s suite of allegorical carvings on the British Medical Association building was unveiled to great public outcry. The Evening Standard led the charge that the sculptures were ‘extremely offensive’. The clients defended their chosen sculptor, but in 1937, the new owners of the building, the government of Southern Rhodesia, took drastic action after loose stonework fell on a passer-by. Mutilating all the figures, discarding their heads and limbs, they effectively destroyed the scheme as a whole. Any understanding of Epstein’s original sculptures must now be located in the archive, where only the photographs survive.
Invited by the Henry Moore Institute to come into the archive and study the phenomenon of architectural sculpture, White developed his own response to the 1908 and 1937 ‘campaigns’. Fired up by the particular - and unusual - history of Epstein’s scheme, White’s third campaign is one artist’s response to another, but is also an enquiry into the role of the passer-by, the audience for public sculpture.
As an exhibition The Third Campaign comprised resources from the archive of the Henry Moore Institute along with a new film by Neal White of the contested site itself. As a ‘campaign’ however, the project had wider ramifications, asking those involved to consider their response and responsibilities towards the history of this troubled work.
Venue details
Venue address
Henry Moore Institute
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AH
United Kingdom
T: 0113 246 7467
Opening times
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