William Tucker RA: Unearthing the Figure

William Tucker RA first came to prominence as one of the leading lights of the seminal “New Generation” exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1965. The show at Pangolin will explore the later development of Tucker’s robust approach to the figurative form, with a selection of maquettes, monumental bronzes and watercolours from the last four decades. The exhibition demonstrates the unique contemporary and historical importance of Tucker - a truly great and influential British artist of the generation including Sir Anthony Caro who has helped define the modern language of sculpture.

Tucker’s figurative work, of which this exhibition takes as its focus, pushes figurative sculpture to the brink of abstraction. Spanning the last four decades these organic, primordial forms betray the artist’s hand, bringing an almost sensual, tactile quality. His powerful works engage with the viewer in a way his earlier geometric forms could not; removing any idea of frontality, the viewer is forced to assess their own mass and form in relation to the large mass of Tucker’s sculpture. The exhibition includes examples of his early figurative works as well as new casts; Tucker’s aim for these sculptures is for them to be sensed internally, through the body, rather than interpreted by the eyes and mind.

Pangolin London has a historically close working relationship with the artist and the bronzes in this exhibition have all been produced with the gallery’s renowned foundry, Pangolin Editions.