Ann christopher

Ann Christopher

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 2

02/02/2016 15:18

Contents

7 Ann Christopher: A Sense of Wonder Richard Cork

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 5

41 67 87 111 147

Works 1968–79 1980–89 1990–99 2000–09 2010–14

170 171 172 172 173 173 174

Chronology Solo Exhibitions Commissions Collections Further Reading Photographic Acknowledgements Index

02/02/2016 15:18

16

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 16

02/02/2016 15:18

Jacob Epstein Rock Drill 1913–15 Reconstruction by Ken Cook and Ann Christopher, after the dismantled original, 1973–74 Polyester resin, metal and wood, 205 × 141.5 cm Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Jacob Epstein The Tomb of Oscar Wilde 1912 Hopton Wood stone Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

and marvelled at my old school friend Tim Curry excelling himself as Dr Frank N. Furter. After the show, Christopher and Cook were introduced to me. At that time, I was curating the exhibition ‘Vorticism and Its Allies’, which was to be held at the Hayward Gallery in London the following year.9 Fortuitously, I told them about my determination to re-create the original version of Jacob Epstein’s Rock Drill, a revolutionary sculpture which daringly incorporated a real machine. It was exhibited only once, in March 1915, and dismissed with vituperation by most reviewers. Epstein dismantled the sculpture and sold the machine. But Rock Drill, which showed a full-length robotic figure straddling his phallic drill, was never forgotten: it became a landmark in the history of modern sculpture.10 I wanted a reconstruction to be the climax of the Hayward Gallery show, and to my delight Christopher and Cook warmed to the idea immediately. With impressive confidence and professionalism, they told me straight away that they were fully prepared to take it on.

This exciting idea seemed more practicable when I discovered that Holman Brothers Ltd, for many decades a leading rock-drill manufacturer, had preserved an example of this type of drill in their museum at Camborne in Cornwall. So we travelled down there in the winter of 1973 and found a drill uncannily like the machine Epstein had used. When I asked Holman Brothers if this remarkable survivor could be borrowed, they agreed at once; the Hayward Gallery’s directorial team, Joanna Drew and Norbert Lynton, responded with an equal amount of enthusiasm to the idea of commissioning a reconstruction.

By that time, the deadline had become alarming: only four months were left before the Vorticism exhibition was scheduled to open in March 1974. But Christopher and Cook remained undaunted by this enormous challenge, and they wasted no time in making a cardboard replica of the monumental driller.

In Bristol, where Cook had a spacious studio at the Polytechnic, this replica was transferred to clay and afterwards plaster. He recalls that the project enabled them to get ‘right inside Epstein’s head’. As a result, they had no trouble making it: ‘We were so confident, and everything

seemed to fit into place – including the missing drill rod, which we made in wood.’ Both he and Christopher felt very apprehensive when they drove up to London with the newly completed pieces of Rock Drill – the machine and the white plaster driller – all packed up in their little car. They became more nervous carrying the sculpture up to the Hayward Gallery and meeting Lynton. ‘But once we put Rock Drill in the gallery’, remembers Cook, ‘everyone went: “Wow!”’11 I was absolutely delighted when it became the dramatic, compelling centrepiece of my show. The Observer’s art critic described Rock Drill as ‘stunning’,12 and John Russell in the Sunday Times wrote that the reconstruction ‘deserves to draw the town, so vividly does it augment the impact of what was always a key work of the period’.13 Rock Drill proved a revelation to many visitors, including the sculptor Anthony Caro,14 and after the exhibition Holman Brothers were so impressed that the company very generously agreed to let their drill stay permanently in the reconstruction. After Christopher and Cook cast the plaster

17

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 17

02/02/2016 15:18

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 32

02/02/2016 15:18

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 33

02/02/2016 15:18

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 46

02/02/2016 15:19

Round Pyramid 1971 Aluminium and wood, 16 × 14 × 14 cm Edition of 8

House of the Magician 1971 Bronze, 20 × 32 × 25.5 cm Edition of 8

47

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 47

02/02/2016 15:19

Round Pyramid 1973 Pencil, 51 × 65 cm (framed) Private collection Split Brick Hill 1974 Pencil, 51 × 65 cm (framed) Private collection

54

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 54

02/02/2016 15:19

Hills + Bricks 1974 Pencil, 51 × 65 cm (framed) Purchased by the Royal Academy of Arts, London (Harrison Weir Fund)

55

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 55

02/02/2016 15:19

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 70

02/02/2016 15:19

Black Line 1982 Bronze, wall mounted, 10 × 33 × 21.5 cm Edition of 9

Through Reflection 1982 Bronze, 36 × 12.5 × 5 cm Edition of 9

71

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 71

02/02/2016 15:19

100

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 100

02/02/2016 15:21

Opposite Shadow Line 8 1996 Conté, charcoal and graphite on paper, 76 × 55 cm (framed) Private collection

Shadow Line 3 1996 Conté, charcoal and graphite on paper, 51 × 36.5 cm (framed)

Shadow Line 10 1996 Conté, charcoal and graphite on paper, 51 × 36.5 cm (framed)

From a series of 15

101

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 101

02/02/2016 15:21

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 108

02/02/2016 15:21

Held Shadow 1999 Corten, 277 × 100 × 46 cm Edition of 3 Still Lines 1999 Stone and stainless steel, 230 × 45 × 15 cm Edition of 5 Sited at St Peter’s Hospice, Bristol

109

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 109

02/02/2016 15:21

Shadow of Light 2002 Sterling silver, 16 × 8 × 2 cm Edition of 9 A cast is in the Silver Collection of the Royal Academy of Arts, London

Broken Silence 2007 Bronze and polymer, wall mounted, 25 × 7 × 17.5 cm Edition of 9

120

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 120

02/02/2016 15:21

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 121

02/02/2016 15:22

The Power of Place 8 2006 Collage, photo and drawing on paper, mounted on card, 38 × 39.5 cm Private collection From a series of 22

122

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 122

02/02/2016 15:22

The Power of Place 9 2006 Collage, photo and drawing on paper, mounted on card, 38 × 39.5 cm Private collection

The Power of Place 10 2006 Collage, photo and drawing on paper, mounted on card, 38 × 39.5 cm Private collection

123

NEW_AC_v30__25-1-2015.indd 123

02/02/2016 15:22