New Sculpture
Description
New Sculpture was a movement in late 19th-century British sculpture with an emphasis on naturalistic poses and spiritual subjects. The movement was characterised by the production of free-standing statues and statuettes of 'ideal' figures from poetry or mythology. These figures were usually in bronze but a mixture of materials, such as ivory and gem stones, to give a polychromic effect, were also used. "New Sculpture" is most closely associated with the period from 1880 to 1910, although some artists continued to work in the style much further into the 20th-century. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Frederic, Lord Leighton
Catalyst of the New Sculpture movement whose landmark 1877 bronze 'An Athlete Wrestling with a Python' broke with stiff neoclassicism to introduce dynamic muscular struggle and naturalistic anatomy.
Alfred Gilbert
Preeminent virtuoso of the New Sculpture famous for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain ('Eros') in Piccadilly Circus, pioneering complex lost-wax bronze casting and composite materials.
Hamo Thornycroft
Central leader of the movement whose statue 'The Mower' introduced working-class, everyday agricultural laborers into dignified, large-scale bronze sculpture.
Edward Onslow Ford
Influential master noted for sensual, poetic statuettes like 'The Singer' and 'Folly' that integrated fine bronze sculpture with decorative arts, enamel, and semi-precious stones.
Harry Bates
Prominent sculptor of the New Sculpture generation whose mythological reliefs and figures like 'Pandora' and 'Hounds in Leash' emphasized physical weight, actuality, and surface texture.
George Frampton
Leading exponent of polychrome 'composite sculpture' who combined bronze, ivory, marble, and jewels in works like 'Lamia' and designed the beloved Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens.
Famous Artworks
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Fun Facts
The name 'New Sculpture' was coined in 1894 by critic Edmund Gosse in a four-part essay for 'The Art Journal', celebrating how sculptors like Leighton and Gilbert had suddenly rescued British sculpture from decades of frozen, lifeless neoclassical marble.
↗ Source: tate.org.uk
Alfred Gilbert's famous 'Eros' statue in Piccadilly Circus does not actually depict the Greek god of love Eros, but rather his twin brother Anteros, the god of selfless, philanthropic love, chosen to honor the charitable Lord Shaftesbury.
↗ Source: tate.org.uk