Course 14- Summer School on Campus
Monday 29 June- Friday 3 July 2026
Dr Cathy Corbett
£695
Course Description:
Our course begins with an exploration of the work and influence of the nineteenth-century sculptor Auguste Rodin, who is widely considered a founding father of modern sculpture. He loomed large over younger sculptors at the beginning of the twentieth century – indeed Constantin Brancusi claimed to have left Rodin’s studio in 1907 saying “nothing grows in the shadow of big trees”.
Our focus then moves to the generation of Paris-based Brancusi, Amedeo Modigliani and Ossip Zadkine, and Jacob Epstein and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska in London, and on the new forms of sculpture they created in the period before the First World War. As we examine their influences, working practices and use of materials, we will also challenge accepted narratives about the emergence of ‘modern’ sculpture in this period. In particular, we will give attention to important factors such as the sculpting traditions émigré artists brought to Paris from their homelands, and to the importance of the world-wide Arts and Crafts revival to their work.
The next generation of sculptors we consider includes Gertrude Hermes and Frank Dobson; Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth in their early work; Alberto Giacometti, Germaine Richier, and Dora Gordine – all inspired by the modernist approach to materials and the modernist aesthetic. Throughout the course, we will examine what made sculpture ‘modern’ and will engage with questions about the limitations of sculpture and its renewed purpose in the twentieth century.
Classroom sessions will be complemented by visits to London galleries and public spaces to look at modern sculpture in situ.
NB this is an extended version of Dr Corbett’s online course The Emergence of Modern Sculpture in Paris and London, 1890-1930 (8 January – 5 February 2026).
Lecturer's Biography
Dr Cathy Corbett is an art historian, with a focus on the sculpture of France, Great Britain and America during the first half of the twentieth century. Her MA and PhD were both undertaken at the Courtauld under the supervision of Professor Christopher Green. She holds a degree in Theology from the University of Oxford, a degree in Art History from the University of Reading, and she taught A-level Religious Studies and History of Art in schools for many years before turning to research. Her current interests include a study of Christian iconography in the context of church history.
She has contributed essays to the exhibition catalogues for Modigliani (Tate, 2017) and Zadkine by the Sea (The Hague, 2018) and is writing an introductory guide to modern sculpture.