Hubert Dalwood was born in Bristol. He was apprenticed for a time to the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and later joined the Royal Navy as an engineer. From 1946 to 1949 he studied at Bath Academy of Art. After visiting Sicily and Milan on an Italian Government Scholarship, he was awarded the Gregory Fellowship at Leeds University. He taught at a number of art schools, including the Royal College of Art and in 1974 was appointed Head of Sculpture at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. He had his first solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils, London in 1954. His work was shown at the XXXI Venice Biennale in 1962 and a retrospective exhibition of his work was shown by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1979.

Until 1956 Dalwood was a sculptor of figures - figures that were boldly, even brutally, re-formed to coincide with artist’s intention, but later adopted an abstract imagery, shedding gradually such reminiscences of the human body as remained in his sculptures. He worked in clay, modelling the surface by hand and leaving tell tale finger prints and marks, and casting pieces in bronze or aluminium. He tended to combine geometric shapes with surprising free forms, to juxtapose extreme differences of scale, and to ignore the then conventions of organic form relationships.


British Pavilion XXXI Venice Biennale 1962, Norbert Lynton

Glossary

  • Bronze

    A metal alloy made from copper with up to two-thirds tin, often with other small amounts of other metals. Commonly used in casting. A work cast in bronze is sometimes referred to as 'a bronze'.

  • Sculpture

    A three-dimensional work of art. Such works may be carved, modelled, constructed, or cast. Sculptures can also be described as assemblage, in the round, relief, and made in a huge variety of media. Contemporary practice also includes live elements, as in Gilbert & George 'Living Sculpture' as well as broadcast work, radio or sound sculpture.

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