Secondary and FE Teacher Resource For teaching key stages 3–5 Sculpture in the RA Collection A sculpture student at work in the RA Schools in 1953. © Estate of Russell Westwood Contents

Introduction Illustrated key works with information, quotes, key words, questions, useful links and art activities for the classroom Glossary Further reading

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‘...we live in a world where images are in abundance and they’re moving, [...] they’re doing all kinds of things, very speedily. Whereas sculpture needs to be given time, you need to just wait with it and become the moving object that it isn’t, so this action between the still and the moving is incredibly demanding for all. ’ Phyllida Barlow RA The Council of the Royal Academy selecting Pictures for the Exhibition, 1875, Russel Cope RA (1876). Photo: John Hammond Introduction

What is the Royal Academy of Arts?

The Royal Academy (RA) was Every newly elected Royal set up in 1768 and 2018 was Academician donates a work of art, its 250th anniversary. A group of known as a ‘Diploma Work’, to the artists and architects called Royal RA Collection and in return receives Academicians (or RAs) are in charge a Diploma signed by the Queen. The of governing the Academy. artist is now an Academician, an important new voice for the future of There are a maximum of 80 RAs the Academy. at any one time, and spaces for new Members only come up when In 1769, the RA Schools was an existing RA becomes a Senior founded as a school of fine art. It still Academician aged 75, or when an exists today and offers around 17 RA dies. artists each year the opportunity to participate in an intense three-year postgraduate programme.

Read more about Watch a video about the RA how RAs are elected What is in the RA Collection? Artists putting finishing touches to a painting on Varnishing Day, before the 1934 Summer Exhibition.

The RA’s Collection is unusual compared to those of other museums or galleries because most works in it were chosen by artists rather than by curators or collectors. The Collection was formed for two main reasons:

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To help teach artists, and to provide To represent the Royal examples of great art of the past. Academicians – the RA has When the RA was founded there thousands of drawings and prints were very few museums or galleries, by the Academicians, as well as no photography, no Internet and Diploma Works in the form of international travel was very difficult, paintings, sculpture, architectural so the RA collected source materials drawings and models, and film. such as prints of works of art, plaster casts from antique sculpture and architecture, copies of important paintings such as The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci and a few original old-masters, Michelangelo’s The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John. The RA also established a library, including many books on art and other subjects such as anatomy and costume.

The RA Collection exists only because it is an artists’ academy and since every work in the Collection is there for a reason, there is an interesting story attached to each one. Sculpture in the RA Collection

This teachers resource focuses on sculpture in the RA Collection

Sculptures in the RA Collection have Sculpture is... Students modelling figures from life in the Royal Academy Schools, been created from a broad variety of 1953. © Estate of Russell Westwood ‘The art of making two- materials including marble, plaster, bronze, wax, steel, wood, cement, or three-dimensional textile, glue, resin and found objects. representative or abstract forms, especially by carving These sculptures might have taken stone or wood or by casting form through a range of different metal or plaster. ’ processes such as being: English Oxford Living Dictionaries assembled Fitting together separate parts

carved Cutting or engraving into a hard material

welded Joining together metal parts by heating the surfaces to the point of melting and then uniting them by pressing or hammering them

cast Pouring molten metal or other liquids, like plaster, into a mould. The material then hardens and the mould is removed. Casts can be made of an existing sculpture, which results in copies of the original work Aims of this resource Nudity in the RA Collection To introduce the RA Collection to your students Please note that some works in this resource contain nudity, as some of the artworks in the RA Collection To explore eight key artworks feature nude characters, often from the RA Collection, providing from Ancient Greek and Roman key information about the artists and mythology. There is a tendency artworks along with questions to ask towards nudity in Greek and Roman your students sculpture which is not so in any other cultures. To some, it was seen as shameful, but to the Greeks To support a visit to the Royal nudity was the mark of a hero, which Academy of Arts to see the real represented the mythologised world artworks (where possible) rather than the real one. In these sculptures we can see emotion, action and narrative. In a work of To link these artworks to other art, a ‘naked’ figure implies they are related artworks using the online unprotected or vulnerable, while the Collection Explorer and other word ‘nude’ is used to describe an useful links unclothed figure.

To carry out art activities in the classroom to reinforce the processes and themes used by the artists

To promote discussion around artworks, techniques and processes using analytical language

To encourage discussion around how art relates to its context, in art history and contemporary Cast of the Farnese Hercules, c. 1790, by Glycon the Athenian practice and Lysippus. On display in the Julia and Hans Rausing Hall at the RA. roy.ac/teachers

Where to see the RA Collection

Explore online Visiting the RA Tours and workshops

To look at works in our Collection, The RA Collection is located in If you would like to combine this use the RA Collection Explorer at several different areas within the with a free workshop, a free tour roy.ac/collection Royal Academy of Arts building, as or a visit to an exhibition, please see indicated nearby the image of each the Teachers and Schools section What is the RA Collection work in this resource: on our website. Explorer? The Dame Jillian Sackler A tool on our website that allows Sculpture Gallery roy.ac/teachers you to make lateral connections Level 2, Burlington House between artworks. The Julia and Hans Rausing Hall Search for an artwork in the Lower ground floor connecting Burlington Collection from this resource, and House and 6 Burlington Gardens scroll down. The RA Collection Gallery Level 1, 6 Burlington Gardens There, you will find artworks that link to the one you searched for. The Annenberg Courtyard The links could be thematic, or Outside the Burlington House entrance compositional. Your class can visit the RA The Collection is too large to Collection at any time. There is no display all of it at the RA. In order need to book. to offer a broad representation of the sculptures held in the RA Collection, we have included in this resource some artworks which are not always on display. roy.ac/ searchthecollection Photo © Justine Trickett

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

Michelangelo Buonarroti The Virgin and Child with the Infant The sculpture got its nickname from (1475–1564), better known as St John, known as the ‘Taddei Tondo’, its previous owner, the wealthy cloth Michelangelo, was an Italian is the only marble sculpture by merchant and connoisseur Taddeo artist celebrated as the greatest Michelangelo in Great Britain. It is a Taddei. ‘Tondo’ refers to its shape, as practitioner of the three visual arts of circular marble relief featuring the tondo comes from the Italian word sculpture, painting and architecture. infant St John the Baptist on the for round – rotondo, and this was a Although he considered himself left holding his baptism bowl and common term for a round painting or primarily a sculptor, he is probably the infant Christ on the right held by sculpture at the time. It was probably Michelangelo Buonarroti best known for his painted ceilings his mother, the Virgin Mary. St John originally intended for a domestic The Virgin and Child with the in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He presents a bird to Christ symbolising setting and stayed in Taddei’s home Infant St John (the ‘Taddei was one of the most famous artists his future. It is most likely a goldfinch, in Florence until the early nineteenth Tondo’) c. 1504–05 of the High Renaissance, and his which is said to have taken a thorn century. In 1822, Sir George fame during his own lifetime was from Christ’s crown just before his Beaumont, a collector and amateur Marble relief. 107 x 22 cm unprecedented. Crucifixion. painter, bought the ‘Tondo’ and he left his works of art to the nation. On display in the Michelangelo’s artwork is still The marble is thought to have been The ‘Tondo’ was given to the Royal RA Collection Gallery celebrated over 400 years since his carved between 1504 and 1505 Academy following Lady Margaret death. He became well-known in during the artist’s first period in Beaumont’s death in 1829. Britain through various collections Florence. At this time, he executed of his drawings, and the arrival of two other circular compositions, a ‘By sculpture I understand the ‘Taddei Tondo’ at the RA in the painting and a marble relief, both that which is done by nineteenth century was important of which can be seen in Florence. the sheer force of taking because it provided an example There is a great debate as to why away; that which is done of his sculpture which RA Schools the ‘Taddei Tondo’ is unfinished. It by addition is similar to students could study. could be because the artist was painting. ’ very busy at this time, there was concern of it breaking, or it was not completed due to his habit of leaving ‘Every block of stone has works unfinished, or maybe even Within a week of the artwork a statue inside it and it is from creative frustration. being at the Royal Academy, John the task of the sculptor to Constable (whose sketch of the ‘Tondo’ is above) declared it ‘one of discover it. ’ the most beautiful works of art in Michelangelo Buonarroti existence’. Key words list Questions for students Useful links

Look at the infant Christ’s position. What are the differences? Although Artworks marble What is his relationship to St John created in different mediums and Sketch of Michelangelo’s Taddei the Baptist? Do you think he is centuries apart, they both explore Tondo, 1st July 1830 relief leaning in towards his mother in fear life’s fundamental questions, asking John Constable RA (1776–1837) of John and the bird, or is he playing us to consider the thresholds tondo games with the goldfinch (which between birth, life and death. Sketch of Michelangelo’s Taddei was a common pet at this time)? tondo, c. 1823 Christ Find out about the relationship Sir David Wilkie RA (1785–1841) between St John the Baptist and St John Christ in the Bible. ‘Pitti Tondo’, c. 1504–05 Michelangelo Buonarroti virgin The ‘Taddei Tondo’ is unfinished. Look at this sculpture – either in the What other artworks in the RA ‘Doni Tondo’, c. 1505–06 goldfinch RA Collection or a photograph of it. Collection are by Michelangelo? Michelangelo Buonarroti Which parts seem smooth and which birth parts look rough? Which is the most Use the RA Collection Explorer Article unfinished figure? Why do you think as a research tool to find out How to read it: Michelangelo’s life this is the case? more Taddei Tondo death Many representations of the Virgin You can also see sketches here and Child in art signify that our of the ‘Taddei Tondo’ by John eventual death is part of our life Constable RA (previous page) and from the moment of birth. From 26 Sir David Wilkie RA (below). January – 31 March 2019 the RA presented the exhibition Bill Viola / Michelangelo: Life Death Rebirth.

Watch and find out more about Bill Viola’s video works on this theme, in particular The Messenger, 1996, and Nantes Triptych, 1992. What similarities are there in these videos and the ‘Taddei Tondo’? Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Birth, Life and Death and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design Sketchbook Create a sculptural relief whilst Michelangelo Buonarroti Using a range of techniques Pencils experimenting in different media. The Virgin and Child with the Infant and media, increasing students’ Plastic face forms / masks St John (the ‘Taddei Tondo’) proficiency in the handling of Polystyrene foam (sheets or from c. 1504–05 different materials, recording their packing materials) observations in sketchbooks, and Cardboard scraps analysing and evaluating their own Masking tape work and that of others Craft knives Plaster gauze Exam themes Pots for water Human body, messages, texture, White paint (house emulsion) relationships Paintbrushes Magazines / newspapers Scissors PVA glue Fishing line

Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

Choose one of the themes of birth, also cut key words out of magazines Inspired by Bill Viola’s Nantes Artist Bill Viola is an American life and death to inspire a relief or newspapers which match your Triptych, 1992 (below), can you contemporary video artist whose sculpture. Make a list of words theme and stick these onto your extend your work to become a work grapples with life’s fundamental associated with your theme. Sketch relief, or print out your own words if triptych representing all three of the questions, asking us to consider the out your relief in your sketchbook. you cannot find what you want. themes: birth, life and death? thresholds between birth and life, What shape will it be? Round like the and life and death. ‘Taddei Tondo’, or another shape? Once dry, cover the whole relief in a What is a triptych and where How will you make it represent layer of PVA glue to make it shiny were they originally seen? How Examples of his video work include your theme? Will it be abstract or like marble. Leave your finished are traditional triptychs different Nantes Triptych, 1992, and The figurative? relief until it is completely dry. to Viola’s triptych? How will your Messenger, 1996 triptych be presented? Use polystyrene foam, and plastic Finally, hang up your work on the face forms, cardboard scraps and classroom wall using fishing line. masking tape to create the main Ask your classmates to critique structure of your relief. Use craft your work. Can they tell whether knives to carve ridges or cut holes your chosen theme was birth, life or in the foam. Create shapes and add death? them to build up your relief. Think about how you are going to present See examples of face forms your work, perhaps by adding small and relief works by Year 9 students. holes at the top to hang it from.

Once your basic shape has been made, take the plaster gauze, cut it into strips and dip it into water before draping it across the surface of your relief. Make sure you wrap around the edges for a neat finish. You will then need to leave it to dry.

Once the plaster strips have dried, paint your sculpture white to unify the surface and fill in any small holes in the plaster of Paris. You could Bill Viola, Nantes Triptych, 1992. Video/sound installation. Courtesy Bill Viola Studio. Photo: Kira Perov

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

This is a plaster cast of the original Cast of Belvedere Torso shows a The torso in the Vatican is believed marble Belvedere Torso. The original muscular nude man sitting on a to be a copy by Apollonius of a in the Vatican is signed prominently rock with his head, arms and legs Greek bronze originally dating from on the front of the base ‘Apollonius, missing, leaving the trunk of his the second century BCE. It became son of Nestor, Athenian’. Apollonius body. This bends forwards to the an iconic object of inspiration (1st century BCE), is known only by right as if his right arm is leaning drawn by many artists, for example his signatures on this sculpture on his thigh whilst at the same time influencing Michelangelo’s figures in and the Boxer, a bronze held by twisting to the left. The identity of the Sistine Chapel. After Apollonius the Museo Nazionale Romano in this fragmented man is unknown Cast of Belvedere Torso Rome. At one time these were both but it could be Heracles due to the Cast of Belvedere Torso was c. early 19th century believed to be original artworks, but scale and inclusion of an animal presented to the Royal Academy now they appear to be copies of skin, or possibly the mythological in 1816 by the Prince Regent (later Plaster Cast. 127 x 78 x 90 cm earlier sculptures with Apollonius Greek warrior Ajax, in the act of King George IV) as part of a large being one of the most talented contemplating his suicide. group of casts of renowned classical On display in the copyists of this period. The Romans sculptures. RA Collection Gallery made a lot of copies of earlier Greek The Royal Academy’s plaster sculptures. version of the Belvedere Torso is The torso features in a number of an eighteenth century cast of the artworks in the RA Collection (see marble piece which came into the previous page) including Self-portrait Vatican collections between 1530 of Benjamin West, P.R.A. (1793), ‘A mind elevated to the and 1536. The original has an and Design (1778–80) by Angelica contemplation of excellence interesting history which includes Kauffman RA. perceives in this defaced being given up to the French under and shattered fragment [...] the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino in 1797 and not arriving back in the traces of superlative Rome until 1816. genius, the reliques of a work on which succeeding ages can only gaze with inadequate admiration. ’ Joshua Reynolds, in his ‘Tenth Discourse’ to Royal Academy students Key words list Questions for students Useful links

What is a torso? What is missing Artworks statue from this sculpture of a man? The Belvedere Torso, 1704, Imagine what the rest of his body by Francesco Faraone Aquila plaster (1676–c. 1740) would look like based on the torso’s What other artworks in the RA posture. Sketch the Belvedere Torso, Collection feature torsos or are nude Self-portrait of Benjamin West, either directly from the sculpture made of plaster? at the RA or from a photograph. P.R.A., 1793, by Benjamin West PRA torso (1738–1820) Then draw in his head, arms and Use the RA Collection Explorer

legs where you think they should as a research tool to find out Design, 1778–80 by Angelica muscular be. Apparently Pope Julius II asked more Michelangelo to complete the statue Kauffman RA (1741–1807) fragment in the Vatican but he declined as he said it was too beautiful to be The Royal Academicians in General Heracles altered. Assembly, 1795, by Henry Singleton (1766–1839) Ajax In the RA Collections Gallery, look for figures in other works of art that Further reading appear to have been influenced by The Belvedere Torso in the cast the pose of the Belvedere Torso. Vatican Museum

Ancient Greece The identity of the broken sculpture is unknown. Two theories are that it is either Heracles or Ajax. Find out about these two Ancient Greek heroes. Consider the pose of the sculpture – who do you think it is?

Who was Apollonius? How do we know that he made the torso held by the Vatican? Do we know who created the plaster cast in the RA Collection? How important do you think it is that we know who made this artwork? Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Self-portrait with Object and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design Sketchbooks Create a self-portrait featuring an After Apollonius Using a range of techniques Pencils (2B or 4B) object, using paint mixing and other Cast of Belvedere Torso, c. early and media, increasing students’ Mirrors painting techniques. nineteenth century proficiency in the handling of Photographs of students (from different materials, recording their home) observations in sketchbooks, and Cartridge or sugar paper (A3) analysing and evaluating their own Paint (poster or acrylic) work and that of others Brushes (various sizes) Palettes / paint trays Exam themes Human body, isolation, identity Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

The Cast of Belvedere Torso became Once you have sketched out your Find out about other objects Artist Sarah Lucas rose to fame an object of inspiration to many composition including your self- presented in artworks that signify as one of the YBAs (Young British artists, and it features in a number portrait and object(s) of inspiration, something in particular, such as Artists) graduating from Goldsmiths of artworks in the RA Collection map out your artwork on A3 paper. skulls and clocks included as a College in 1987. Between 1990 including Self-portrait of Benjamin This artwork will be a painting and memento mori (a reminder of and 1998 Lucas created a series West, P.R.A.,1793, (below). you will need to mix the paints mortality, that we will all die), or a of self-portraits that include photos carefully to gain your required vanitas (a still-life which includes of herself featured with objects. In your sketchbook, draw a self- colours. Think about which parts you symbolic objects to remind the Examples of these include Eating portrait of yourself using a mirror want to emphasise and use different viewer of their mortality and of the a Banana,1990, Self Portrait with or photograph of yourself to get sized brushes to achieve different worthlessness of worldly goods). Knickers, 1994, Self Portrait with a likeness of your features. Think textures. Paint a memento mori or vanitas Fried Eggs, 1996 and Self Portrait about how you will pose yourself. thinking about what object(s) you with Skull ,1997. She depicts herself Will your self-portrait be full body, Present your finished painted self- could include. in a masculine way challenging head and shoulders, or something portrait to your classmates. Can stereotypical representations of else? Interestingly, Benjamin West’s they recognise you? What do they gender and sexuality, creating an self-portrait is cut off at his waist think your pose and object(s) say image of defiant femininity. presenting his torso, not unlike the about you? Did you get the kind of Belvedere Torso. responses you were hoping for?

What ‘object of inspiration’ will you include in your self-portrait and what will it say about you? Think about where the object(s) will go in your composition and what you will include in the background.

By placing in his self-portrait the Cast of Belvedere Torso, along with books on Greek and English history, West is telling us about his artistic and intellectual influences. By presenting himself sat on the President’s throne of the Royal

Academy, he is highlighting his Sarah Lucas, Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs, 1996 from a portfolio of 12 iris Self-portrait of Benjamin West, P.R.A., 1793. 102 x 132 cm prints, Self Portraits 1990–1998, 1999 © Sarah Lucas, courtesy Sadie importance at that time. © Photograph: John Hammond. Coles HQ, London and Tate

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

William Pink (1809–1857) made This artwork is an ‘écorché’ – from In 2010, research at the Edinburgh this artwork which is a replica of the the French word for flayed – a College of Art identifiedSmugglerius original. The original cast was made painting or sculpture of a human to be James Langar, who was in 1776 by the sculptor Agostino figure with the skin removed hanged on 12 April 1776 after Carlini RA (1718–1790) and to reveal the arrangement of being convicted at the Old Bailey commissioned by Dr William Hunter muscles. Anatomical casts were as a highwayman. However, two (1718–1783). first commissioned for the teaching other people, Benjamin Harley collection at the Royal Academy and Thomas Henman were also William Pink Hunter was the first Professor of Schools by Dr William Hunter, executed around that time, with Smugglerius Anatomy at the RA Schools, and he to avoid the lengthy process of their sentences stating that they c. 1834 originally performed dissections for dissecting real bodies for students were smugglers turned murderers his students so that they could study to study. and that they were to be dissected Plaster cast. Width 76 cm and draw anatomy direct from the after execution. The real identity of human figure. Carlini made his cast Until 1832, the only bodies that Smugglerius is therefore unknown. On display at the RA in the Julia directly from the body of a smuggler, Hunter or other artists would have and Hans Rausing Hall who was hanged at Tyburn in 1776, had access to would have been The original bronze cast of near today’s Marble Arch. Tyburn those of executed criminals whose Smugglerius has been lost, but the was the primary place for the sentences specified that their plaster cast replicas made by William ‘I have seen two men execution of London criminals. bodies be given over for dissection Pink in 1834 are currently held in hanged, and one with afterwards. Other bodies would not collections at both the RA and at his breast cut open at William Pink was known for making have been legally allowed to be Edinburgh College of Art. The RA Surgeons’ Hall. The other plaster figures, first exhibiting his dissected. Collection also includes three other being a fine subject, they busts at the Royal Academy in écorché (currently on display) and took him to the Royal 1828. He was commissioned to To create a sense of high art, numerous anatomical drawings. make this replica in 1834. On the after Hunter had flayed the body Studying anatomy, including the Academy, and covered recommendation of the RA, he was (removed its skin), Carlini posed it muscle and bone structure, helps him with plaster of Paris, later hired by the British Museum to imitate the Roman statue known artists to draw the proportions of the after they had put him in as formatore, an Italian term for as the Dying Gaul. The criminal was body correctly. the position of the Dying a modelling craftsperson, and most likely a smuggler, so to elevate Gladiator. ’ remained in this role until his death its status the cast was given the in 1857. mock Latin name Smugglerius. A letter from the young art student John Deare to his father, dated 1 May 1776 Key words list Questions for students Useful links

What is an écorché? Why do you How do you think the dead body Artworks écorché think it is beneficial for art students was cast to create the écorché? Écorché figure, probably 1771 to draw from these anatomical Find out more about the casting nude casts? How do you think it process. This body was cast in Anatomical Crucifixion (James Legg), compares to drawing from a nude bronze and then later in plaster. 1801, (below) by Thomas Banks RA anatomical life model? Draw from Smugglerius – either directly from the sculpture muscular at the Royal Academy or from a photograph of it. Look closely at the flayed body’s muscular structure and where the weight is placed in the pose of What other artworks in the RA dissected the figure. Collection feature ‘muscular build’ or are ‘leaning’? plaster Do you think it was ethical to flay and cast the dead body of a person Use the RA Collection Explorer cast without their consent, or the consent as a research tool to find out of their family, so that this anatomical more cast could be made for students to study? Does the fact that they were considered a criminal influence your answer? Think about the key arguments for and against.

Why do you think this sculpture is Articles called Smugglerius? Do you think The Dying Gaul is a world it is important to know who this masterpiece about death écorché is taken from? Anatomy in the RA Collection

Further reading Old Bailey Trial of Benjamin Harley and Thomas Henman

Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Body Ethics Debate and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design Paper Critically debate the ethics of William Pink Using a range of techniques Pens using dead human bodies in the Smugglerius and media, increasing students’ Access to the Internet for research production of artwork. c. 1834 proficiency in the handling of Whiteboard different materials, recording their Cardboard boxes observations in sketchbooks, and Canes analysing and evaluating their own Gaffer tape work and that of others Paint Thick brushes English (writing) Writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences including narrative essays and scripts for talks, and summarising material and supporting ideas and arguments

English (spoken English) Giving short presentations and participating in formal debates and structured discussions

Citizenship Studying the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities, including opportunities to participate in school-based activities (ethics)

Exam themes Human body, messages, details Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

Discuss whether or not you think it Carry out research using the Internet Find out about Dr Gunther Von Artist Damien Hirst rose to fame is ethical to flay and make a cast of to gather evidence to support your Hagen, a German anatomist as part of the YBAs (Young British a dead body without the person’s argument. who invented a technique called Artists) putting on the group consent, even though they had been plastination to preserve biological exhibition Freeze in 1998 whilst a criminal. You could also make placards from tissue specimens. In 2018 he studying at Goldsmiths College. flattened cardboard boxes, tape and opened Body Worlds near In small groups list the key points canes with painted key slogans to Piccadilly Circus in London which He often uses dead animals in his for and against, and then choose to support your debate, referencing the exhibits real anatomical specimens artworks, such as the dissected present as a group for one of the work of Bob and Roberta Smith of human bodies for public display cow and calf in Mother and Child two arguments: RA. and educational purposes. Currently, (Divided), 1993, the shark in he has over 17,000 donors signed The Physical Impossibility of Death 1 Gather your evidence ready for a up worldwide, who have agreed to in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991, As this man was a criminal and was class debate with one class member donate their bodies to Body Worlds. and the numerous butterflies in his hanged for his crimes, it does not as chair of the debate. Each side Kaleidoscope Paintings, 2012. matter what happens to his body. It gets ten minutes to present its Discuss whether having a person’s is more important to allow access to argument and can use an consent makes the argument Hirst also created Hymn, 1999– the anatomical sculptures for people interactive whiteboard to show easier for supporting the creation 2005, as a 6-metre-high painted to study, which could benefit them evidence. of these anatomical specimens for bronze sculpture based on an and others in a number of ways. studying. Think about artists – such anatomical toy he bought for his son, At the end of the debate take a vote. as Damien Hirst – who use dead and Verity, 2003–2012, a divisive Or After that, discuss what it’s like being animals in their work. How does 20-metre high bronze sculpture on part of a debate, especially if you your ethical position change when public display in Devon. 2 were presenting a viewpoint which animals are being used rather than The human body should be you didn’t really agree with. humans? respected whether dead or alive. Dead bodies should only be used Further evidence from the Old where prior consent has been given Bailey supports the thinking in writing, for example when an that James Legg, whose body organ donor has specified which was used for the Anatomical parts of their body can be used to Crucifixion, (see useful links), help save the life of others. was living with dementia when he shot a man. Does this change your argument?

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

Alfred Drury (1856–1944) was a This statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds In these published lectures he British artist in the New Sculpture PRA greets visitors as they arrive positioned paintings of epic, historic movement. He became a successful at the Burlington House entrance scenes as the highest subject for art sculptor of public monuments and to the Royal Academy of Arts. The despite his portraiture not typically architectural decorations, including statue is made out of bronze and falling into that category. Reynolds a group of figures for the exterior of stands high up on a plinth within helped to bring British art training the War Office in Whitehall (1905– the Annenberg Courtyard. Reynolds into line with these theories which 1908) and figures for the original is depicted in period costume, were already prevalent in France Alfred Drury RA entrance facade of the Victoria and complete with a wig, whilst holding and Italy. Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA Albert Museum (c.1905–1908). paint brushes and a palette. 1931 Reynolds was greatly mourned Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) when he died in 1792, and his Bronze. 265 x 170 x 130 cm was the Royal Academy’s first body lay in the Royal Academy president as well as the leading before being processioned to St. On display at the RA in the portrait painter of his day. He played Paul’s Cathedral. His statue by Annenberg Courtyard a key role in gathering together Alfred Drury was erected in 1931 the 34 artists and architects who in the Academy’s Courtyard. The

signed the petition to form the Royal statue was Grade II listed in 1970, ‘A painter must not only be Academy of the Arts. Their purpose and its inscription was recarved in of necessity an imitator of was to hold annual exhibitions 2002 along with the addition of the the works of nature [...] but of works by living artists (today’s fountain and lights which reflect he must be as necessarily RA Summer Exhibition) and to the alignment of the planets, moon an imitator of the works of establish a free art school. He was and stars at midnight on Reynold’s knighted by George III in 1769, and birthdays. Each year, during the other painters: this appears his groundbreaking Discourses on Summer Exhibition a new sculpture, more humiliating, but is Drury made his name with the Art (1769–1790) influenced the or set of sculptures, is installed in the creation of Circe, 1894, for which equally true; and no man development of British Art. courtyard to interplay with the one of he was awarded the Paris Universal can be an artist, whatever Reynolds. he may suppose, upon any Exhibition gold medal in 1900. In Greek mythology, Circe was a other terms.’ sorceress who was the daughter of Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA, a nymph and the sun-god Helios. Discourses on Painting and the Fine Alfred Drury by Mildred Norris Laker, bromide print, c. 1906-1911 Arts, delivered at the Royal Academy © National Portrait Gallery, London Key words list Questions for students Useful links

What is a portrait? What is the Artworks statue relationship between the artist and Self-portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the sitter? In regard to the statue of PRA, c. 178 0 portrait Joshua Reynolds by Alfred Drury, who do you think is more important, Poster designed by Theo Ramos for bronze the artist or his subject? Reynolds the Summer Exhibition,1963 never posed for Drury in a traditional plinth artist-sitter relationship. How do you Poster for the Summer Exhibition feel this affects the portrait? 1940 (below) courtyard Do you think this statue is life-size, public art smaller or bigger? Why do you think this sculpture is placed high New Sculpture up above the visitors in the Royal Compare Alfred Drury’s statue of movement Academy’s courtyard? Joshua Reynolds with the Self- portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA, Why was Sir Joshua Reynolds c. 1780, (above) also in the RA depicted holding paint brushes and Collection. a palette? Imagine that the portrait is of you instead, what objects would What are the similarities and be included to represent you? differences? Which artwork do you think depicts the ‘real’ Joshua Why is bronze a good material for a Reynolds? sculpture located outside? What is public art? How does it differ to art placed within a gallery?

Further reading Alfred Drury at Leeds City Art Gallery

Sir Joshua Reynolds Biography Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Role Model Portrait and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design Photograph of chosen person Explore portraiture in a sculptural Alfred Drury RA Using a range of techniques (students to source) way, while experimenting with Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA and media, increasing students’ Sketchbooks different media. 1931 proficiency in the handling of Pencils different materials, recording their Clay (regular, or air-drying) observations in sketchbooks, and Boards analysing and evaluating their own Clay tools work and that of others Kiln and glazes (where possible)

Citizenship Studying the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities including opportunities to participate in school-based activities (role models)

Exam themes Messages, identity, public/private spaces Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

This sculpture is a portrait of Sir Make your sculpture out of Where would you like your sculptural British artist Gillian Wearing was Joshua Reynolds PRA by Alfred clay using modelling tools and portrait to be displayed? Where chosen to design a statue of the Drury. What is a portrait? Does a techniques. For example, if your would be the most relevant context? suffragist campaigner Millicent portrait need to look exactly like the sculpture is a head you will need to Would it be up high on a plinth like Fawcett, the first statue of a woman person or could it be more about think about how to hollow it out. Can the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds or to be erected in Parliament Square. their personality? you make your sculpture stand up at ground level? Would it be inside on its own? Will you add texture or a building or perhaps outside, as a This was unveiled in 2018, marking Think of a key person or role maybe an inscription? If you have public artwork? the centenary of the Representation model in your life. Who are they? access to a kiln and are able to fire of the People Act, which in 1918 It could be a teacher, a leader of the work, think about how to make Write a caption for your artwork, gave some women over the age of a club you attend, a relative, or your sculpture hollow and about thinking about where it will be 30 the right to vote. someone famous who inspires leaving an opening so that the work exhibited and explaining the you? Who would you choose to remains intact. Some potters sculpt significance of the person. create a sculptural portrait of? Find around a ball of newspaper that a photograph of this person as a can be pulled out before firing. If starting point or make sketches of glazing the work, think about the them from life. significance of the colours you might choose. Use your sketchbook to plan a clay sculpture of your chosen role model. ‘A portrait is a painting, drawing, Make sketches and annotate the photograph, or engraving of a drawing with notes. Think about person, especially one depicting whether it will be a whole body like only the face or head and the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds, or shoulders. ’ just a head and shoulders. Definition from the English Oxford Living Will it be realistic? Or is it more Dictionaries about their personality or how you feel about them? Will it be a frozen ‘Portraits have always been moment, or will you try to capture more than just a record. They action in your work? Will you include have been used to show the any objects that represent what they power, importance, virtue, beauty, do or why they are important to you, wealth, taste, learning or other like the paint brushes and palette in qualities of the sitter. ’ Alfred Drury’s statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA shortly Dame Millicent Fawcett (1847-1929) statue in Parliament Square by the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds? Definition from Tate, Art Term: portrait after its installation, 12 December 1931 Gillian Wearing, 2018. PjrStatues / Alamy Stock Photo

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

Bill Woodrow RA (born 1948) is a Bill Woodrow came up with the The mould was then cast in wax and British artist who in his early career idea for making this sculpture, using the traditional lost-wax method used domestic and urban objects Fingerswarm, when he held a the wax was melted away before to make sculptures and retained swarm of bees on his bare hand at a bronze version was made. The the original identity of his materials. a beekeeping course. In this artwork fingers and pot were also bronze They included items from rubbish a pear-shaped swarm of bees cast but made separately and then dumps and scrapyards, such as old is supported by three legs. Look attached. cars, fridges and washing machines. closely and you will see that they Bill Woodrow RA Since the late 1980s he has are actually fingers, which represent Woodrow’s title is a deliberate pun. Fingerswarm, 2000 expanded his choice of materials the artist’s hand coming through the It can mean ‘finger-swarm’, referring to include welded steel and cast base of the swarm. to a swarm of bees on the three Bronze, gold leaf and wax. bronze. From 1996, ‘the Beekeeper’ fingers, or ‘fingers-warm’ relating 58 x 35 x 31 cm has become a recurring theme in One finger stands in a bowl of wax, to the heat of the bees as the Woodrow’s artwork and he has even which represents honey. Woodrow swarm keeps the queen bee at an On display at the RA in the Dame had thought about using real honey, Jillian Sackler Sculpture Gallery taken up beekeeping. In 2000, he ideal temperature. Fingerswarm is was selected to make a sculpture for but it was easier to use wax as it part of a series of works including the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. is more stable, and appropriate, Celloswarm and Rockswarm. Regardless of History explored as beeswax is also made by ‘It’s to do with that symbiotic another recurring theme in his work, honeybees. Woodrow has said that relationship. We look the destruction of the planet Earth the sculpture looks ‘bizarre and after the bees, supply and the relationship between us and slightly surrealistic’. them with a shelter and the natural world. The work is a bronze cast and the support, and in return for swarm of hundreds of bees has this we farm some of their Photograph by James Hunkin been covered with gold leaf. The produce. Fingerswarm artist made the bumpy surface makes reference to this from an individual bee shape. He relationship. The hand is first created the overall form of both supporting and taking the swarm and made a mould of it, which he then lined with Plasticine. – it’s a two-way thing. ’ He carved a bee and pressed this Bill Woodrow RA in an interview repeatedly into the Plasticine, so the with Maurice Davies, RA Head of negative shape of bees covered the Collections, 6 April 2016 surface of the mould. Key words list Questions for students Useful links

Look carefully at the three Artworks bronze supporting legs. What are they and Celloswarm by Bill Woodrow who could they belong to? Why do casting Rockswarm by Bill Woodrow you think the artist has included What other artworks in the RA these in the artwork? Collection feature ‘wax’ or ‘gold gold leaf Articles leaf’? What materials were used to create Close Encounters of the Art Kind: wax Fingerswarm, by Bill Woodrow, V&A the sculpture? What stages do you Use the RA Collection Explorer think need to take place to create as a research tool to find out How to read it: Bill Woodrow RA’s beekeeping a sculpture cast in bronze? Why do more. you think the artist chose to fill the Fingerswarm swarm pot with wax rather than with honey (which had been his original plan)? Video

The Beekeeper, video of pun Find out more about why the artist is Bill Woodrow surreal interested in bees and beekeeping. Read the V&A article about the wordplay artwork going into six homes via a primary school. symbiotic Find examples of other work from Woodrow’s beekeeping series, such as Celloswarm and Rockswarm. Woodrow has said that this sculpture is ‘slightly surrealistic’. What do you think surreal means? What makes this sculpture surreal? Which other artists do you know of who have made surreal artworks, or who were Surrealist artists? Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Finger-swarm or Fingers-warm and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design Paper – various sizes (A5 to A2) Explore puns as part of word play Bill Woodrow RA Using a range of techniques Range of pencils and make a creative response. Fingerswarm and media, increasing students’ Charcoal 2000 proficiency in the handling of Coloured pencils different materials, recording their Fineliners observations in sketchbooks, and Chalks analysing and evaluating their own Pastels work and that of others

English To consolidate and build on their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary

Exam themes Habitats, texture, abstract, out of place Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

The title of the sculpture Thinking about the environment, Jenny Holzer is an American artist Fingerswarm is a pun. What is ‘A pun is a joke exploiting the devise your own pun or play on whose work focuses on the delivery a pun? Can you explain why different possible meanings of words to highlight global issues of words and ideas in public spaces. Fingerswarm is a pun? Can you think a word or the fact that there are that are important to you. Create a She often shows electronic LED of any other examples of puns? words which sound alike but drawing to depict your pun whilst (light emitting diode) displays with have different meanings. ’ incorporating your words as a scrolling text, although she has Choose one of the following Definition from the English Oxford Living message to others. Find out about used billboards, posters, painted natural-world puns as your Dictionaries other artists who have used text in signs, photographs, sound, video, inspiration for a drawing: their work as a call to action. projections and the Internet to present her messages to the public What’s the worst part about via her artworks. space travel? You have to planet.

What do sea monsters eat? Fish and ships!

What do you call a dinosaur who knows all the words? A thesaurus.

Why are fish so smart? Because they live in schools.

You can use any drawing materials you like to create your artwork. Think about the scale you’d like to work at. Think about the key words and include text in your work in some way. Map out your ideas in your sketchbook first.

From Survival (1983-85), 1985. Jenny Holzer. Electronic sign. 20 x 40 ft. / 6.1 x 12.2 m. Times Square, New York. © ARS, NY, Photo: John Marchael. Courtesy Jenny Holzer / Art Resource, NY

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

Kira Freije (born 1985) is known This sculpture is part of the series particular Patricia Highsmith (author for her welded steel sculptures Freije worked on for around eight of The Talented Mr Ripley), are able referencing the human body. Freije months, titled A Rapid Succession to create suspense or tension in graduated from the University of of Noises That You Confuse for their writing. The artist hopes that Oxford in 2011, where she studied Danger, which she presented at by reading the text in her artwork BA Fine Art at the Ruskin School her RA Schools show in 2016 (see your mind will move away to think of Drawing and Fine Art. After images from the installation on about the body in that stance or graduating, she returned to Sussex previous page). All of the sculptures action but then return its focus to Kira Freije and trained with local blacksmiths. in this series refer to the human the materiality of the stationary Standing Woman Arms Folded Here she gained the metalworking body, either as figurative pieces, heavy steel sculpture. She describes 2015 skills and techniques she uses as more surreal or mechanical the body as ‘the vessel’ with the to make her welded sculptures, sculptures, or as text-based artwork. emotions contained within. Steel. 230 x 105 x 51 cm which she began while studying at Standing Woman Arms Folded was the RA Schools. She received her the first text piece that Freije made, On display at the RA in the Julia Postgraduate Diploma from the and she has said that it marks ‘a and Hans Rausing Hall Royal Academy Schools in 2016. moment in my work where I started to really own what I was making’. Other large text-based welded works in her RA Schools show ‘All of these text pieces include the statements ‘Dead Man’, are explicit and confident ‘Conversation’ and ‘Light Sleeping’. in their sculptural form, All of these welded words refer to but they are also full the body by describing a particular of contradictions. They stance or action, which Freije intends to be ‘directional, contradictory and are firmly rooted and to slam something down’. momentary, flippant and wistful, suggestive and rigid. Standing Woman Arms Folded Standing Woman Arms They are a way of making was originally titled Q Love Stand Folded was acquired for the RA Collection thanks to the metal work with poetry. ’ In but the artist changed it later. At the time of creating her RA Keeper’s Purchase Prize. The Kira Freije in an unpublished email Schools work she was interested Keeper is allowed to choose one interview with Tania Moore RA, in the way that writers of thrillers, in work each year to add to the Curator, October 2017 Collection. Key words list Questions for students Useful links

This sculpture is called Standing Artist’s website steel Woman Arms Folded. When you Includes installation shots of Kira look at this piece what do you think Freije’s A Rapid Succession of blacksmith Noises That You Confuse for Danger of? Discuss the power of the text to What other artworks in the RA make you think of something that welding Collection are ‘sculptures’ by contradicts what you can actually women artists? see in front of you. body Use the RA Collection Explorer Freije says of her text works that as a research tool to find out figurative ‘they are a way of making metal more. work with poetry’. Think of other vessel artists who have used text in a similar way in their work? (It does not stance need to be artwork created out of metal.) action The artist describes the body as contradiction ‘the vessel’. What emotions could be contained within this vessel that text could be shown through text? Make a list. Can you think of any other artists whose sculptures reference their own body?

Freije has been influenced by thriller writers such as Patricia Highsmith. Thinking about your own recent artwork, discuss who your influences are at the moment. This could be writers, artists, musicians, sports people, your peers, your teachers or other role models. Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Text Sculpture and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design Thin wire / coat hangers Explore using text in a sculptural Kira Freije Using a range of techniques Wire cutters / pliers way, while experimenting with Standing Woman Arms Folded and media, increasing students’ Other wire tools different media. 2015 proficiency in the handling of Gloves different materials, recording their Goggles observations in sketchbooks, and Electrical tape analysing and evaluating their own Weights work and that of others Fishing line Magazines Citizenship Alternatively, you could use thin Studying the ways in which citizens metal sheets or foils and a craft knife work together to improve their communities including opportunities to participate in school-based activities (call to action)

Exam themes Messages, letters and words, identity, out of place Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

Think about the phrase Standing is an ‘action’ can you represent Think about the words you are Bob and Roberta Smith RA Woman Arms Folded. Close your the movement in some way? If it choosing. Could they be a call to is the name taken by the British eyes for one minute. What do you is a ‘stance’ will your sculpture be action? Consider the scale of the artist Patrick Brill who trained as see? Open your eyes and sketch standing up, lying down, hanging up, artwork you are making. Is there a a signwriter and uses text in his it. How does your drawing contrast or presented in another position? way that you could make it much artwork, creating colourful slogans with Kira Freije’s sculpture? larger? Think about presenting your presented on banners and placards Make your text-based sculpture out final sculpture somewhere in your that challenge elitism. His well- In her sculptures Freije refers to of wire on a small scale, thinking school or college in a place where it known artworks include Make Art the body by describing a particular about how you can connect the text will be seen by many other students, Not War, 1997, and Letter to Michael stance or action. What is a stance? up so that it is legible. You might such as in the school reception, the Gove, 2011, criticising Mr Gove for What is an action? want to add colour with electrical hall or the student common room. the ‘destruction of Britain’s ability to tape. Check your work for any sharp draw, design and sing.’ Think of a statement that describes parts. the ‘stance’ of a person (for example man lying down arms behind head) How are you going to present your or an ‘action’ (such as child kicking a work? Present your finished text football). You can also look through sculpture to your classmates and magazines to help you. carry out a critique – be prepared to justify your choices. Once you have chosen your statement:

Write it down (6 words maximum).

Sketch out your person in this ‘A stance is the way in which stance or action. someone stands, especially when deliberately adopted (as in Think about how you could present cricket, golf, and other sports); a your statement as a work made person’s posture. ’ from wire and sketch out options for laying out the words. Would all the ‘An action is the fact or process words be the same size? Do you of doing something, typically want some words to stand out more to achieve an aim; a gesture or than others? Will your text be all in a movement. ’ row or one word on each line, as in Definitions from the English Oxford Living Freije’s sculpture? If your statement Dictionaries Make Art Not War, 1997, Bob and Roberta Smith. Commercial paint on plywood, 154 x 152 x 5 cm. © Bob and Roberta Smith

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

Phyllida Barlow RA (born 1944) is The artwork untitled: female, 2018 became Barlow’s interpretation of known for her precarious-looking is Phyllida Barlow’s Diploma Work. a residential cul-de-sac, forcing structures that take over and It was created from cement panels visitors to leave through the same redefine the spaces that they inhabit. over timber framed plywood lined door through which they entered. Barlow studied at Chelsea College boxes, with a steel top part and steel The artist created a series of of Art (1960–1963) and the Slade joint. The materials she has used are perception-altering installations School of Art (1963–1966). She exposed and have a tactile quality. viewing her structures as being ‘anti- later taught at both art schools. In The five boxes of different sizes monumental’ and ‘restless objects’. Phyllida Barlow RA 2006 Barlow was invited to create seem to be precariously stacked untitled: female, 2018 (detail) an artwork, Untitled Red/Brown, in giving the illusion that the sculpture During the exhibition, the artwork the RA’s courtyard. She is probably is weightless, defying gravity, whilst untitled: stack, 2019 was located in Cement panels over timber framed plywood best known for her two more recent being anchored at the base. The the niche on the stairs to the first lined boxes, steel top part and steel joint commissions, dock in the Duveen sculpture is abstract but the title tells floor in Burlington Gardens. This 335 x 60 x 80 cm Galleries at Tate Britain in 2014 and us this is a female form, appearing to structure is tall, thin, upright and Not currently on display at the RA folly in the British Pavilion at the have a hooded element on top. authoritarian, like a column made of Venice Biennale in 2017. stacked red-orange wooden poles Barlow’s work is usually created that tower above you. The multiple Barlow makes imposing, large- thinking about the gallery spaces timber layers of the column are scale sculptural installations using she will exhibit in. She describes visible, exposing how the work is inexpensive, everyday materials her studio as a kind of rehearsal made. The application of gestural or off-cuts including cardboard, space for her work. She often colour is clearly visible. The individual fabric, wood, polystyrene, plaster finishes the works when they are posts have a giant matchstick-like and cement. Her experiments with being installed. Her relationship with quality to them, something both these materials result in giant, bold her work is a private one during its celebratory and intimidating in and colourful three-dimensional creation in the studio but once in the the strong vertical forms and the ‘My relationship with (3-D) artwork. She also does vibrant making sculpture has to gallery space she sees it as a form dynamic twists of fabric wrapped 2-D drawings, often in acrylic, as of choreography, encouraging the around each timber post. be adventurous [...] I like part of the process of creating her audience to interact with it. to use chance, to allow for 3-D sculptures. There is a sense accidents or mistakes to of urgency in the creation of her From 23 February – 23 June 2019 Previous page, from left: untitled: female, 2018. installations which appear both Construction, 335 x 60 cm. Photo: © Royal Academy become part of what I’m the RA presented the exhibition of Arts, London; untitled: stack; 2019. Cement, familiar and purposeful, despite their Phyllida Barlow RA: cul-de-sac. The Hessian scrim, paint, plywood, polycotton, spray paint, doing. ’ abstract forms. steel and timber, 324 x 107 x 90 cm. Courtesy the Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries artist and Hauser & Wirth. © Phyllida Barlow. Photo: Quote from Phyllida, 2019 DawkinsColour Key words list Questions for students Useful links

Look at the list of materials used by The artist is keen on multiple- Videos installation Phyllida Barlow to create untitled: interpretations, seeing the audience Extract from Phyllida, 2019 female, 2018 and untitled: stack, as the third protagonist (after the site-specific 2019. What is the difference exhibition space and the work Tate Britain Commission: Phyllida between plywood and timber? What itself) who choreographs their own Barlow space are scrim, polycotton and PVA? Are experience, and circumnavigates the the materials she uses precious or space and the artwork. British Council, UK at the Venice anti-monumental easily available recycled off-cuts? Biennale, British Pavilion: Phyllida Why do you think she chooses to What is a protagonist? Think about Barlow, 2017 protagonist use these more malleable materials? your viewpoint of untitled: female, What effect does their use have on 2018 in particular its scale, and how Articles timber her work? Compare and contrast the you interact with the structure. What 10 minutes with... Phyllida Barlow RA two works thinking about materials does it remind you of? How does it plywood and scale. make you feel? ‘Do you destroy your work? I do.’ – Phyllida Barlow and composer cement What is an installation? How does Barlow’s works are often named Harrison Birtwistle discuss creativity this differ from a sculpture? How ‘untitled’ followed by how she steel might an installation change the way describes them during the making you encounter a space? process. How do you think the title untitled: female, 2018 relates to Barlow’s work could also be seen as the finished artwork? What about site-specific. What does that mean? untitled: stack, 2019? Why might the artwork change from its creation in the studio to its installation in a gallery space?

Barlow’s work has been described as ‘anti-monumental.’ What is the definition of a monument? What do you think she is trying to achieve in her work by being against ‘monumental’? She also sees her work as ‘restless objects’. What do you think she means by this? Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Untitled: installation and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design Cardboard Create a site-specific installation Phyllida Barlow RA Using a range of techniques Paint to change the way the audience untitled: female, 2018 and media, increasing students’ Plaster perceives the space, whilst proficiency in the handling of Fabric experimenting with different media. different materials, recording their Polystyrene observations in sketchbooks, and Wood analysing and evaluating their work String/wool and that of others Paint Glue Exam themes Off-cuts Human body, habitats, assembled, Brushes spaces, texture Tool kit Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

Inspired by Barlow’s artworks create How will you know when your work Think about how Barlow has used Arte Povera was a radical Italian your own site-specific structure or is finished? colour in her work across her career. art movement from the late 1960s installation responding to a space How has her use of colour evolved? to 1970s whose artists explored a within your school building. It could Like Barlow, start creating your What colours are found in untitled: range of unconventional processes be a cupboard, the school reception, artwork in your classroom (or studio) stack, 2019 and what could their and non-traditional ‘everyday’ a corridor, the hall, or even the toilets. but you may need to move into the significance be? materials. The term was introduced space it will be installed in, maybe by the Italian art critic and curator, When creating your work, you will several times, to help you complete She talks about the ‘untidiness of Germano Celant, in 1967. need to consider how the chosen it. The final installation may need urban living’ with the colours and space can still be used for its to be done at a quiet time, after or shapes from places like roadworks Arte Povera was less about a lack of purpose, for example corridors before school hours. Observe how and building sites feeding into her money and more about making art will still need to be accessible the pupils and teachers encounter work. How have you used colour in without the restraints of traditional by students. Make sure that you your artwork once it is installed. You your work? practices and materials. get permission to complete your could ask for feedback. Make sure installation in your chosen location. that you document your work in situ. Find out about other artists who, like Leading Arte Povera artists included Barlow, have used non-traditional Alighiero Boetti, Jannis Kounellis, Sketch your artwork, thinking about everyday materials, including those Mario Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino its scale and how you will present it who were part of the Arte Povera Pascali, Michelangelo Pistoletto and (for example, standing on the floor, movement. Experiment with a Gilberto Zorio. connected to the walls in some way, wide range of materials to achieve or hanging from the ceiling). Think ‘Finishing a work is the hardest differing qualities ranging from the about how the audience’s perception thing. There’s always something handmade, exposing the processes of the chosen space might change more I want to do. It’s a restless and gestures, to a more pristine once your artwork is installed. activity. ’ finish. Which materials did you prefer to use and why? Think about using Barlow’s structures appear to be ‘The spaces, the silences these materials when creating your handmade and tactile. How can you in between, are as much a future artwork. recreate this in your own work? Will component of the work as the you allow your audience to touch thing itself. ’ your creation? Which of the everyday materials and off-cuts will you use to ‘Do you destroy your work? I do.’ – Phyllida Barlow and the composer Harrison create your design and how will you Birtwistle discuss creativity, interview in RA connect or disconnect them? Magazine 2018

Who is the artist? What is the artwork?

Yinka Shonibare RA (born 1962) Cheeky Little Astronomer is a playful This sculpture was commissioned is a British artist who moved from sculpture depicting a child-like figure for a display at the Royal Museums London to Lagos in Nigeria aged with a globe for its head. The figure Greenwich, where it was exhibited in three, returning later to London to is part kneeling, part crouching on the apartments of the Astronomer study Fine Art. He is well known for a chair so it can look through the Royal (the Queen’s astronomer) his exploration of colonialism and telescope towards the sky. This in Flamsteed House built in1975. post-colonialism within the current figure is dressed in brightly coloured The telescope references the context of globalisation. Shonibare patterns of Dutch wax printed cotton astronomical instruments that were Yinka Shonibare RA works in painting, sculpture, textile. This fabric symbolises West used there, and the size of the Cheeky Little Astronomer, 2013 photography, film and installation Africa where it is commonly sold, figure links to the domestic setting, with his sculptures often featuring although it is traditionally reproduced highlighting that the Astronomer’s Fibreglass life-sized mannequin, mannequins dressed in Dutch wax in Holland, challenging notions of family also lived there. The figure Dutch wax printed cotton textile, leather, printed cotton textile accompanied authenticity and origins. The globe was placed facing a window as if resin, chair, globe and telescope, 123 x 47 x 90 cm by objects. His artworks comment head represents international gazing at the stars. on race, class and cultural identity, exchange and cultural identity, and Not currently on display at the RA while questioning the complex the Victorian style of the clothing See the work online. relationship between Africa and and objects is reminiscent of British Europe. In 2010, he was invited to colonial history. make a sculpture for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, Nelson’s Shonibare has created a number Ship in a Bottle, which was his first of sculptures using dressed ‘It’s an aspirational figure in public art commission and is now mannequins, which are either the sense that you’ve got a in the National Maritime Museum headless or with globes replacing little child who is also an collection. their heads. Some of these figures astronomer [...] The work reflect poses from classical also evokes magic [...] Photographer: sculptures; others are captured Marcus Leith in action, as is Cheeky Little looking into the stars, Astronomer. The artist explains that there’s something he brings the two elements together aspirational, forward-looking because classical sculpture is iconic and magical about the in Western high culture whereas the piece. ’ globe is a universal object so more inclusive of everyone. Yinka Shonibare in an interview with Tania Moore, 6 September 2017 Key words list Questions for students Useful links

Thinking about where his sculpture Further reading colonialism was first exhibited, why do you think Press release for Yinka Shonibare’s Shonibare titled this artwork Cheeky Royal Museums Greenwich post-colonialism exhibition Little Astronomer? What other artworks in the RA Collection are themed ‘crouching’ globalisation Artwork What do you know about or feature a ‘telescope’? ‘colonialism’, ‘post-colonialism’ and The British Library, by mannequin Yinka Shonibare RA ‘globalisation’? Research these Use the RA Collection Explorer terms and discuss their relevance to as a research tool to find out textile you today. more. cultural identity The production of the patterned textile used in the sculpture has a multiculturalism hidden multicultural history. Find other examples where the history Dutch wax print of a contemporary object has been changed from its original cultural roots.

Discuss the contrast between the chair anchoring the sculpture to the floor with the limitless space suggested by the telescope. How can an artwork make you think beyond the actual space that it physically takes up? Art activities for the classroom

Title Related exam themes Resources and materials Learning outcomes Cultural Identity Collage and curriculum links

Work of art Art & Design A3 paper Explore your own cultural identity Yinka Shonibare RA Using a range of techniques Coloured paper scraps and make a creative response. Cheeky Little Astronomer and media, increasing students’ Material scraps 2013 proficiency in the handling of Magazines different materials, recording their Images printed from the Internet observations in sketchbooks, and Scissors analysing and evaluating their own Pencils work and that of others Range of other drawing materials

Citizenship Studying the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities, including opportunities to participate in school-based activities (identity)

Exam themes Messages, isolation, identity, the elements Activity outline Extension for KS4/5 Further research

Yinka Shonibare’s artwork, including ‘Multiculturalism is the presence How can your artwork make more British documentary photographer the Cheeky Little Astronomer, of, or support for the presence of an impact like Shonibare’s Martin Parr makes wry observations explores ‘multiculturalism’ and of, several distinct cultural or sculptures? For example, could your about social hierarchy, human ‘cultural identity’. What do these ethnic groups within a society. ’ collage include a call for action, or relationships, mass consumption and terms mean? Definition from the English Oxford Living be larger in scale or include a 3-D globalisation. dictionaries element? What makes up your ‘cultural Parr explores the theme of national identity’ and why is it important to ‘Cultural identity is the identity Find out more about other artists and cultural identity in his work, you? Discuss how it can give you a or feeling of belonging to a whose work is about cultural identity. both within the UK and abroad. sense of belonging or alienation. group. It is part of a person’s For example, in 2018 he was self-conception and self- commissioned by Manchester Art Create a collage to explore your own perception and is related to Gallery to create a portrait of the city cultural identity, thinking about your: nationality, ethnicity, religion, and its people. social class, generation, locality nationality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. In ethnicity this way, cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual religion but also of the culturally identical group of members sharing social class the same cultural identity or upbringing. ’ neighbourhood Definition from Wikipedia social groups interests

You can use any drawing or collage materials to create your artwork. Think carefully about how you could avoid stereotypes. Be prepared to present your work to your classmates, explaining how it represents your own cultural identity. flayed nude statue Stripped the skin off (a corpse or carcass). A figure wearing no clothes; naked. A carved or cast figure of a person or Glossary animal, especially one that is life-size or fragment plaster larger. anatomical A small part of some whole thing. A hard white substance made by the Relating to bodily structure and to the study addition of water to powdered and partly steel of anatomy. globalisation dehydrated gypsum, used for making A hard, strong grey or bluish-grey alloy of The process by which businesses or sculptures and casts. iron with carbon and usually other elements, blacksmith other organisations develop international used as a structural and fabricating material. A person who works with iron to make or influence or start operating on an plinth repair things. international scale. A heavy base supporting a statue. surreal Having the qualities of surrealism; used to bronze gold leaf portrait describe bizarre dreamlike images or ideas.. A yellowish-brown alloy of copper with up Gold that has been beaten into a very thin A painting, drawing, photograph, or to one-third tin; a sculpture or other object sheet, used in gilding. engraving of a person, especially one swarm made of bronze. depicting only the face or head and A large number of honeybees that leave a identity shoulders. hive en masse with a newly fertilised queen casting A unique set of characteristics and history bee in order to establish a new colony. The process of making an object by pouring by which each individual is recognised. post-colonialism molten metal or plaster into a mould. The political or cultural condition of a former symbiotic installation colony. Involving interaction between two cement Often a composite work of art that includes different organisms living in close physical A powdery substance made with calcined a number of elements installed together in a public art association. lime and clay, mixed with water to form gallery or other venue. Refers to art that is in the public realm, mortar or mixed with sand, gravel, and water regardless of whether it is situated on public textile to make concrete. marble or private property or whether it has been Any type of cloth or woven fabric. A hard, crystalline metamorphic form of purchased with public or private money. colonialism limestone, typically white with coloured tondo The policy or practice of acquiring full or mottlings or streaks, which can be polished pun A circular painting or relief or sculpture, from partial political control over another country, and is used in sculpture and architecture. A joke exploiting the different possible the Italian rotondo. occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it meanings of a word or the fact that there economically. multiculturalism are words which sound alike but have torso The presence of, or support for the different meanings. The trunk of a statue without, or considered dissected presence of, several distinct cultural or independently of, its head and limbs. Having been cut up for anatomical study. ethnic groups within a society. relief A method of moulding, carving, or stamping welding écorché New Sculpture movement in which the design stands out from the Join together (metal parts) by heating the A painting or sculpture of a body that has A group of artists working in the second half surface. surfaces to the point of melting and then had its skin removed (flayed) to reveal its of the nineteenth century, whose sculptures uniting them by pressing or hammering. underlying muscle structure. were distinguished by physical realism, site-specific mythological subject matter and use of Refers to a work of art designed specifically figurative symbolism. for a particular location and that has an Definitions taken from or based on those in the English Representing forms that are recognisably interrelationship with the location Oxford Living Dictionaries or Tate Art Terms derived from life. en.oxforddictionaries.com/ www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms Design, 1778–80 by Angelica Kauffman RA Poster designed by Theo Ramos for the Summer Kira Freije (1741–1807) Exhibition 1963 Standing Woman Arms Folded, 2015 Useful links www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- shop.royalacademy.org.uk/poster-summer- art/design exhibition-1963 Artist website Michelangelo Buonarroti Includes installation shots of Kira Freije’s A Rapid The Virgin and Child with the Infant St The Royal Academicians in General Assembly, Poster for the Summer Exhibition 1940 Succession of Noises That You Confuse for John (the ‘Taddei Tondo’), c. 1504–05 1795, by Henry Singleton (1766–1839) shop.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/ Danger. kirafreije.com www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work- reproductions/posters-prints/poster-summer- Related artworks of-art/the-royal-academicians-in-general- exhibition-1940 Sketch of Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo, 1830, by assembly-1 Further reading Phyllida Barlow RA John Constable RA untitled: stack, 2019 www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- Further reading Alfred Drury at Leeds City Art Gallery The in the Vatican Museum www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/ art/sketch-of-michelangelos-taddei-tondo-1 Belvedere Torso Videos www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/ art54995 Extract from Phyllida, 2019. Produced by Hauser en/collezioni/musei/museo-pio-clementino/ Sketch of Michelangelo’s Taddei tondo, & Wirth in association with Peacock Pictures and sala-delle-muse/torso-del-belvedere.ht Sir Joshua Reynolds biography c. 1823, by Sir David Wilkie RA Third Channel. Artwork: © Phyllida Barlow www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- www.britannica.com/biography/Joshua- Reynolds www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/phyllida- art/sketch-of-michelangelos-taddei-tondo barlow#video William Pink ‘Pitti Tondo’, c. 1504–05, by Michelangelo Smugglerius, c. 1834 Tate Britain Commission: Phyllida Barlow Buonarroti Bill Woodrow RA www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/tate- www.michelangeloexperience.com/2010/09/ Related artworks Fingerswarm, 2000 britain-commission-phyllida-barlow tondo-pitti/ Écorché figure, probably 1771 www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- Related artworks British Council, UK at the Venice Biennale, ‘Doni Tondo’, c. 1505–06, by Michelangelo art/ecorche-figure Celloswarm by Bill Woodrow British Pavilion: Phyllida Barlow, 2017 Buonarroti www.billwoodrow.com/dev/sculpture_by_letter. venicebiennale.britishcouncil.org/2017- www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/holy-family-known-as- Anatomical Crucifixion (James Legg), 1801 by php?page=2&i=20&sel_letter=c% exhibition/phyllida-barlow the-doni-tondo Thomas Banks RA www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- Rockswarm by Bill Woodrow Articles Article art/anatomical-crucifixion-james-legg www.billwoodrow.com/dev/sculpture_by_letter. 10 minutes with... Phyllida Barlow RA How to read it: Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo php?page=2&i=24&sel_letter=r% www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/10-minutes- www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-to-read-it- Articles with-phyllida-barlow-ra michelangelo-taddei-tondo The Dying Gaul is a world masterpiece about Articles death Close Encounters of the Art Kind: Fingerswarm, ‘Do you destroy your work? I do.’ www.vulture.com/2016/07/dying-gaul-is-a- by Bill Woodrow, V&A www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/magazine- After Apollonius world-masterpiece-about-death.html www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/close- phyllida-barlow-conversation-harrison-birtwistle Cast of Belvedere Torso, c. early encounter-fingerswarm-bill-woodrow/ nineteenth century Anatomy in the RA Collection www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/ra-collection- How to Read it: Bill Woodrow RA’s Fingerswarm Yinka Shonibare RA Related artworks 250-objects-anatomy www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-to-read-it- Cheeky Little Astronomer, 2013 The Belvedere Torso, 1704, by Francesco bill-woodrow-fingerswarm Faraone Aquila Video Further reading www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- Alfred Drury RA The Beekeeper, video of Bill Woodrow Press release for Yinka Shonibare’s Royal art/the-belvedere-torso Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA, 1931 www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-to-read-it- Museums Greenwich exhibition bill-woodrow-fingerswarm www.rmg.co.uk/work-services/news-press/ ., 1793, by Related artworks Self-portrait of Benjamin West, P.R.A press-release/yinka-shonibare-mbe- Benjamin West PRA Self-portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA, www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- c. 1780, by Joshua Reynolds greenwich www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of- art/self-portrait-of-benjamin-west-p-r-a Artwork art/self-portrait-of-sir-joshua-reynolds-p-r-a The British Library, by Yinka Shonibare RA https://thebritishlibraryinstallation.com/ Writer Rachel Moss

Editor Unless otherwise stated, copyright of all RA Collection artworks Zoë Smith is owned by the Royal Academy of Arts, London roy.ac/teachers