Art historian Natalie Rudd will consider how women emerging in London’s fledgling art scene harnessed the lessons of postminimalism to unleash new possibilities for sculpture. Working from a position of considerable marginalisation and occupying a developing city on the cusp of significant change, a generation of sculptors, including Phyllida Barlow, Shelagh Cluett and Veronica Ryan, drew inspiration from their predecessors to make something out of nothing, scavenging unorthodox materials and embracing tactile, transformative processes.
The discussion begins in May 1979, when the Whitechapel Gallery opened a major exhibition of sculpture by Eva Hesse, on the same day Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister. This moment sets the scene for exploring the cultural and political shifts that shaped the decade ahead. Rudd will illuminate the entangled relationship between the liberated freedoms associated with the 1960s and the rise of neoliberal entrepreneurialism during the 1980s. She will trace the agile ways in which artists negotiated this complex terrain, creating fluid, restless sculptures and establishing visible platforms within London’s developing contemporary art world.
Drawing on her PhD research, Rudd will reveal a rich, interconnected scene in which women secured leading positions, forging change in testing times. A range of creative situations will be introduced, from open studio programmes in abandoned Dockland warehouses to new commercial galleries on Cork Street. Crosscurrents with fashion appear in glossy features in Harpers & Queen and Vogue, and in flowing sculptural forms fabricated from sheet materials and lustrous surfaces.
In revisiting this overlooked history, Rudd dislodges the dominant narratives of the period, making space for a more inclusive account that foregrounds the creativity and tenacity of women engaged in expanding the field of sculpture and reshaping London’s art scene. Her research also offers a fresh perspective on the legacies of New York postminimalism, extending the material conversations explored in the Courtauld Gallery exhibition, Abstract Erotic: Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Alice Adams.
Natalie Rudd is a curator, writer and art historian specialising in modern and contemporary British art, with a focus on sculpture. As Senior Curator of the Arts Council Collection, Natalie managed the centre for sculpture at Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2003-21) and produced many touring exhibitions, including Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945. Natalie has published widely on art and artists including Peter Blake, Tess Jaray and Veronica Ryan. Natalie recently submitted her PhD thesis, On the Brink: Precariousness in Sculpture by Women 1978–1993, funded by Midlands4Cities, to the University of Birmingham.
Organised by Dr Stephanie Dieckvoss, Senior Lecturer in Art History and co-convenor of the MA in Art and Business at The Courtauld.
