Beyond Limits: The Landscape of British Sculpture 1950-2015

In celebration of its tenth annual exhibition of monumental outdoor sculpture at Chatsworth, Sotheby’s has invited respected art historian and commentator Tim Marlow, Artistic Director of the Royal Academy, to join forces with its specialist team in creating a stimulating and innovative show.  Bringing together works by leading pioneers in the field, Beyond Limits: The Landscape of British Sculpture 1950-2015 will providea spectacular overview of the achievements of British sculptors since the mid-twentieth century – all woven through the historic garden of one of Europe’s greatest country estates, the ancestral seat of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

The history of sculpture in Britain is rich and complex, but it was from the post-war era onwards that a serious, internationally respected but fundamentally British tradition emerged and developed into one of the great, yet understated, success stories of post-war British culture. The seeds were sown in the first decades of the twentieth century by two highly accomplished and original immigrant stone carvers – Jacob Epstein and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska – but began to flourish in the post-war period with Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. Both through their example and success, they became viewed as the presiding spirits, surrogate parents even, of a vastly expanding area of artistic practice. Successive generations of British sculptors have become increasingly influential within the Modernist and post-Modernist mainstream of Western art and this year’s Beyond Limits exhibition will explore and celebrate aspects of that ongoing story.

Over the last nine years, Sotheby’s Beyond Limits has firmly established itself as one of the most prestigious platforms for the display and sale of modern and contemporary outdoor sculpture, and a key event in the art world calendar.