1913: The Shape of Time 22 November 2012 – 17 February 2013
1913 was an extraordinary year in the histories of modern European art. Artists explored increasingly experimental ways of representing the complex life of the ever-quickening modern world. Opening on the eve of the centenary of this year, 1913: The Shape of Time explores the ways changing perceptions of time and space were explored by Cubists, Futurists and other European artists.
1913 was the year of collage, construction and the ready-made. The dominant theoretical concept of 1913 was simultaneity, an idea used by many artists to test assumptions and perceptions. The sheer speed of change in this period was unprecedented – discernible in terms of weeks and months – taking place against a backdrop where the clouds of future conflict were gathering on the horizon. Guillaume Apollinaire’s Cubist Painters, the beginnings of Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, Sergei Diaghilev’s The Rite of Spring, Roger Fry’s Omega Workshops and the Armory Show in New York burst into the public realm, while the very nature of understanding and measuring time changed. 1913 witnessed international discussion of the 24-hour clock, the noisy impact of international wireless transmissions and the resulting division of the globe into sequential and simultaneous time zones.
Through twenty-three works and associated archival material, 1913: The Shape of Time looks from 1913 forward into the present, tracking the complex lives sculptures lead after their production. All of the works on display were first produced in 1913, however many have been cast or replicated at a later date.
Across the exhibition the full length figure, the human head and the objects of still life are used as ways to address the radical experimentation of the time. Painting, drawing, photography and design sit alongside sculpture. Each work has been selected for its demonstration of the unique position of
sculpture to give shape to temporal thinking, be that through its ancient figurative traditions, or its ability to challenge the rendering of the object and body in space.
1913: The Shape of Time is accompanied by issue 66 of our journal Essays on Sculpture, available from the Bookshop.
List of works:
Gallery 1
Jacques-Ernest Bulloz (1858–1942) Plinth trial for Rodin’s ‘The Burghers of Calais’ 1913 Reproduction photograph (2012) Musée Rodin, Paris
Eugène Druet (1868–1917) Plinth trial for Rodin’s ‘The Burghers of Calais’ 1913 Two reproduction photographs (2012) Musée Rodin, Paris
Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) Caryatid 1913-14 Pencil and blue crayon on paper The Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall
Sir Jacob Epstein (1880–1959) Flenite Relief 1913 Serpentine stone Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery)
Anonymous photographer Jacob Epstein’s unfinished ‘Rock Drill’ (1913-15) in the artist’s studio c. 1915 Vintage print Leeds Museums and Galleries (Henry Moore Institute Archive)
Eric Gill (1882–1940) Christ on the Cross 1913 Hoptonwood stone, partially painted Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh: bequeathed by Sir David Young Cameron, 1945
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Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978) The Tower 1913 Oil on canvas Kunsthaus Zürich, Vereinigung Zürcher Kunstfreunde
Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1881–1919) Head of a Girl looking over her Shoulder 1913-14, posthumous cast Terracotta Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh: purchased 1993
Alexander Archipenko (1887–1964) The Dance 1912–13, cast c. 1959 Bronze Saarland Cultural Heritage Foundation, Saarland Museum
Léon Bakst (1866–1924) Costume design 1913 Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper V&A Theatre and Performance Department
Valentine Gross (1887–1968) Two drawings for The Rite of Spring 1913 Pencil on paper V&A Theatre and Performance Department
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891–1915) Wrestlers 1913, cast 1965 Herculite The Sherwin Collection
Gallery 2
Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné (1888–1944) Rhythm 1913 Zinc, oil, gouache on wood Private Collection
Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) 3 Standard Stoppages 1913–14, replica 1964 Mixed media Tate: Purchased 1999
Alexander Archipenko (1887–1964)
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Head: Construction with Crossed Planes 1913, cast 1957 Bronze Saarland Cultural Heritage Foundation, Saarland Museum
Otto Gutfreund (1889–1927) Cubist Bust 1912–13, cast 1962–3 Bronze Tate: Purchased 1970
Otto Gutfreund Viki 1913 Bronze Private Collection, London
Emil Filla (1882–1953) Cubist Head 1913–14 Bronze Private Collection, London
Attributed to Frederick Etchells (1886–1973) / Omega Workshops (founded 1913, closed 1919) Daily Mail’s Ideal Home Exhibition Rug 1913 Hand-knotted wool CHELSEA space, University of the Arts, London
Gallery 3
Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916) Development of a Bottle in Space 1913, cast 2004–5 Bronze Private collection
Ardengo Soffici (1879–1964) Deconstruction of the Planes of a Lamp 1912–13 Oil on panel Estorick Collection, London
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, and Newspaper 1913 Collage, charcoal and oil on canvas Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
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Roger Fry (1886–1934) /Omega workshops (founded 1913, closed 1919) Three lamp stands 1913–1919 Painted wood Victoria and Albert Museum
Guillaume Apollinaire and Jean Cérusse, ed.s Les Soirées de Paris 1913 Bound journal, open at Pablo Picasso’s (1881–1973) ‘Nature Morte’ (no. 18, 15 November 1913, p.28-29) The John Rylands Library, University of Manchester
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This article has been downloaded from the Henry Moore Institute: www.henry-moore.org/hmi