Robert Adams (1917 – 1984)
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COLLAGE 1953 Robert Adams (1917 – 1984) P209 © Robert Adams Estate courtesy Gimpel Fils
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ORPHEUS 1949 Robert Adams (1917 – 1984) P3030 © Robert Adams Estate courtesy Gimpel Fils
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RECTANGULAR BRONZE FORMS NO. 8 1955 1955 Robert Adams (1917 – 1984) P400 © Robert Adams Estate courtesy Gimpel Fils
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RECTANGULAR BRONZE FORMS NO. 4 1955 Robert Adams (1917 – 1984) P399 © Robert Adams Estate courtesy Gimpel Fils
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DIVIDED FORM 1951 Robert Adams (1917 – 1984) P358 © The Artist's Estate
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TRIANGULAR FORMS 1960 Robert Adams (1917 – 1984) P401 © Robert Adams Estate courtesy Gimpel Fils
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CONSTRUCTION 1949 Robert Adams (1917 – 1984) P3033 © Robert Adams Estate courtesy Gimpel Fils
Robert Adams was born in Northampton and studied life drawing at the local art school. In the late 1940s he visited Paris where he met Brancusi and Laurens amongst others, before taking up a teaching post at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. He had his first solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils, London in 1947 and his work was shown at the XXVI Venice Biennale in 1952 and again in 1962 as a retrospective exhibition. He undertook a number of large commissions throughout his working life in Europe and the United States for schools, banks, churches and the P&O liner SS Canberra; in 1951 he was commissioned to produce a 3m high carving for the Festival of Britain.
It was whilst teaching industrial design at the Central School of Arts and Crafts that he began to work with metal and learnt to weld. He was grouped with artists such as Kenneth Armitage, Lynn Chadwick and Reg Butler, whose work was memorably described by Herbert Read as belonging to the "iconography of despair. Here are images of flight, of ragged claws, ‘scuttling across floors of silent seas’, of excoriated flesh, frustrated sex, the geometry of fear." But his work was more representative of an art in which intuition is controlled by clarity and formal discipline. Although his sculptures were abstract, they were based on the interplay of angular or circular forms found in nature rather than on the calculations of geometry.
Glossary
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Design
The arrangement of elements or details in an artefact or a work of art.
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Drawing
The depiction of shapes and forms on a flat surface chiefly by means of lines although colour and shading may also be included. Materials most commonly used are pencil, ink, crayon, charcoal, chalk and pastel, although other materials, including paint, can be used in combination.
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Metal
Metal is a medium frequently used by artists to make art works - from sculpture to printmaking. Surfaces can display an array of colours and textures, and are capable of being polished to a high gloss; metal can be melted, cast, or fused, hammered into thin sheets, or drawn into wire.
See in
- Lebanon, Beirut, Dar El Fan
- Turkey, Ankara, British Council -Turco-British Association
- Egypt, Cairo, British Council Office - Cairo
- France, Amiens, Musee Des Beaux Arts
- France, Rouen, Musee Des Beaux-Arts
- France, Lille, Palais Des Beaux-Arts
- France, Forcalquier, Festival Des Quatre Reines
- France, Toulouse, Musee Des Augustins
- Norway, Tromso, Kunstforening
- Norway, Trondheim, Kunstforening
- Norway, Bergen, Kunstforeningen
- Norway, Stavanger, Stavanger Museum
- Ireland, Belfast, Belfast Museum And Art Gallery
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/eight-british-sculptors-1969">EIGHT BRITISH SCULPTORS- Turkey, Istanbul, Opera House
- Lebanon, Beirut, Dar El Fan
- Turkey, Ankara, State Fine Arts Gallery
- Egypt, Cairo, Andalous Gardens
- United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/nine-living-british-sculptors-1965">NINE LIVING BRITISH SCULPTORS- India, Bombay, Jehangir Nicholson Museum of Modern Art, NCPA
- India, Madras, Rajaji Hall
- India, Calcutta, Lalit Kala Akademi
- India, New Delhi, Lalit Kala Akademi
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/r-adams-skulptur-7-junge-englishe-maler-1963">R ADAMS SKULPTUR 7 JUNGE ENGLISHE MALER- Switzerland, Basel, Kunsthalle
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/robert-adams-1962-16163">Robert Adams- Germany, Berlin, Kunstamt Berlin Wilmersdorf
- Belgium, Brussels, Palais Des Beaux-Arts De Bruxelles
- Switzerland, Basel, Kunsthalle
- Germany, Gelsenkirchen, Stadttheatre
- Germany, Baden Baden, Kunsthalle
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/xxxi-venice-biennale-1962">XXXI VENICE BIENNALE- France, Paris, Musee National D'art Moderne
- Netherlands, Delft, Museum Prisenhof
- Italy, Venice, British Pavilion
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/recent-british-sculpture-1962">RECENT BRITISH SCULPTURE- Hong Kong, Hong Kong City Hall Art Gallery
- Hong Kong, Hong Kong City Museum And Art Gallery
- Japan, Kyoto, British Council Office - Kyoto
- Japan, Kyoto, The National Museum Of Modern Art
- Japan, Tokyo, Bridgestone Gallery
- Australia, Canberra, National Gallery
- Australia, Newcastle, Newcastle Region Art Gallery
- Australia, Brisbane, Queensland Art Gallery
- Australia, Sydney, Art Gallery Of New South Wales
- Australia, Melbourne, National Gallery Of Victoria
- Australia, Launceston, Queen Victoria Art Gallery
- Australia, Hobart, Tasmanian Museum And Art Gallery
- Australia, Adelaide, Adelaide Festival
- Australia, Perth, Art Gallery Of Western Australia
- Australia, Canberra, Australian National Museum
- Australia, Adelaide, Art Gallery Of South Australia
- New Zealand, Christchurch, Canterbury Museum
- New Zealand, Dunedin, Otago Museum
- New Zealand, Wellington, Dominion Gallery
- New Zealand, Auckland, Aukland City Art Gallery
- Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, Vancouver Art Gallery
- Canada, London, Ontario, Regional Art And Historical Museum
- Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Art Gallery Of Ontario
- Canada, Regina, Saskatchewan, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina
- Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Winnipeg Art Gallery
- Canada, Québec, Montreal Museum Of Fine Arts
- Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, National Gallery Of Canada
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/contemporary-artists-lithographs-1949">CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS' LITHOGRAPHS- Kenya, Nairobi, Sorsbie Gallery
- India, Mumbai, Jehangir Nicholson Gallery
- Cyprus, Nicosia, British Council Office - Nicosia
- Cyprus, Not known
- Pakistan, Lahore, Alhamra Art Gallery
- Turkey, Turkey
- Spain, Gijon, Salon De Exposiciones Del Real Instituto Jovellanos
- Spain, Oviedo, Galeria De Exposiciones De La Obra Social Y Sultural
- Spain, Madrid, Ateneo De Madrid
- Spain, Salon De Exposiciones De La Sociedad De Amigos Del Arte
- Portugal, Lisbon, Palacio Foz
- Portugal, Porto, Escola Superior De Belas Artes Do Porto
- Ceylon, Colombo, Ceylon Art Gallery
- Switzerland, Fribourg, Musee d'art et d'histoire
- Germany, Berlin, Kunst Templehof
- Canada, Québec, Montreal Museum Of Fine Arts
- Austria, Alpbach, Summer School
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/modern-english-lithographs-and-prints-1959">Modern English Lithographs and Prints- Germany, Staatliche Berufsschule
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/gravures-et-lithographies-anglaises-contemporaines-1957">GRAVURES ET LITHOGRAPHIES ANGLAISES CONTEMPORAINES- Norway, Norway Tour
- France, Tour
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/british-art-1900-1955-1956">BRITISH ART 1900-1955- Norway, Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus
- Denmark, Copenhagen, Kunstforeningen
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/aguarelas-e-desenhos-inglses-do-seculo-vinte-1955">AGUARELAS E DESENHOS INGLSES DO SECULO VINTE- Portugal, Lisbon, Secretariado Nacional Da Informacao
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/british-drawings-and-watercolours-of-the-20th-century-from-the-collection-of-the-british-council-1951">BRITISH DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS OF THE 20TH CENTURY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE BRITISH COUNCIL- Germany, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Stadtische Kunstammlungen
- Germany, Weimar, Kunstammlungen
- Germany, Leipzig, Altes Rathaus
- Germany, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
- Czechoslovakia, Prague, Kinsky Palace
- Czechoslovakia, Ceske Budejovice, Ceske Budejovice
- Czechoslovakia, Bratislava, Slovak National Gallery
- Slovakia, Bratislava, Slovak National Gallery
- Romania, Bucharest, National Gallery
- Germany, Berlin, Neue Berliner Galerie
- Hungary, Budapest, National Gallery
- Bulgaria, Sofia, National Gallery
- Korea, Seoul, National Museum Of Contemporary Art
- Japan, Tokyo, Tokyo
- Japan, Sendai, Sendai
- Japan, Yokohama, Yokohama
- Japan, Nagano, Nagano
- Chile, Chile
- Argentina, Buenos Aires, British Council Office - Buenos Aires
- Algeria, Algiers, British Council Office - Algiers
- Tunisia, Tunis, Municipal Gallery
- Hong Kong, Hong Kong City Hall Art Gallery
- Lebanon, Sursock Museum
- Lebanon, Beirut, The Sursock Museum
- Gibraltar, Calpe Institute
- Malta, Valletta, Society of the Arts
- Malta, Valletta, Malta Society Of Arts
- Greece, Athens, Centre of Letters and Fine Arts, Ministry of Education
- Greece, Athens, Centre Of Letters And Fine Arts Of The Ministry Of Education
- Finland, Finland
- Austria, Vienna, British Council Office - Vienna
- Belgium, Belgium
- Canada, Canada
- Portugal, Coimbra, Museu Da Nacional Machado De Castro
- Portugal, Porto, Museu Nacional Soares Dos Reis
- Portugal, Lisbon, Lisbon
- France, Bourges, Maison De La Culture
- Israel, Haifa, Museum Of Modern Art
- Israel, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum
- New Zealand, Palmerston, The Science Centre And Manawatu Museum
- New Zealand, Wanganni
- New Zealand, Nelson, Suter Art Gallery
- New Zealand, Auckland, Aukland City Art Gallery
- New Zealand, Wellington, Wellington City Art Gallery
- New Zealand, Napier, Napier
- New Zealand, Christchurch, Robert Mcdougall Art Gallery
- New Zealand, Dunedin, Dunedin Public Art Gallery
- Spain, Madrid, British Institute
- Spain, Barcelona, British Institute
- Germany, Konstanz, Europahaus
- Germany, Mannheim, Kunsthalle
- Germany, Dortmund, Museum Am Ostwall
- Germany, Mönchengladbach, Kunstverein
- Germany, Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle
- Germany, Munich, Amerika Haus
- Germany, Wiesbaden, Landesmuseum
- Germany, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie
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http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibition/meisterwerke-der-graphik-und-zeichnung-1954">Meisterwerke der Graphik und Zeichnung- Switzerland, Arbon, Landenberg-Gesellschaft