Displaying items by tag: yorkshire sculpture park

Yorkshire Sculpture Park offers a fresh perspective to the work of Henry Moore (1898–1986) in a major exhibition of more than 120 works considering the artist’s profound relationship with land, something which was fundamental to his practice and fuelled his visual vocabulary. Born into a mining family in Castleford, West Yorkshire, Moore is one of the most important artists of the 20th century and was a founding patron of YSP. "Henry Moore: Back to a Land" is produced in partnership with The Henry Moore Foundation.

"Henry Moore: Back to a Land" explores the artist’s radical notion of placing sculpture in the landscape, something which forever changed British sculpture. Moore was committed to showing his work in the open air and in the rolling hills of YSP’s former Deer Park in particular. Here, it can be experienced with the resident flock of sheep, an animal described by the artist as an ideal foil for the appreciation of his work, being exactly the right size and scale.

Today, Frieze announced the 20 artists who will contribute work to its free sculpture park, on view for the run of both Frieze London and Frieze Masters from October 15 through 19. Curated by Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Director of Programs, Clare Lilley, the Regent’s Park display includes work by Yayoi Kusama, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Thomas Schütte, among others.

“Unique in the world’s art fairs, this year’s Frieze Sculpture Park is an intriguing and delightful breath of fresh air featuring artists from across three generations,” Clare Lilley said in a statement.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park was on Wednesday named UK museum of the year, winning the £100,000 Art Fund prize with judges praising it as a "truly outstanding museum with a bold artistic vision."

The museum near Wakefield, spread out among 200 hectares (500 acres) of parkland, had modest beginnings, founded by Peter Murray in 1977 when he was principal lecturer in art history at Bretton Hall College and had the idea of putting some sculpture in the grounds. Today Murray is executive director of an organization which is one of the world's most important open air museums, with 160 staff and 220 volunteers.

There are some very big guns in the running for the 2014 Museum of the Year, literally in the case of the Mary Rose Museum, and then there is a minnow: a small centre celebrating the amazing artists who were attracted to the pretty South Downs village of Ditchling.

On Thursday evening The Art Fund named a shortlist of six organisations which will be finalists in this year's award, with the winner receiving £100,000.

Although major figures in the British art world including Tate director Nicholas Serota, filmmaker Danny Boyle, and artist Jeremy Deller have voiced their opposition, the council of the Borough of Tower Hamlets in London’s East End decided on Wednesday to sell Henry Moore’s Draped Seated Woman. In addition to the big name opponents, more than 1,500 signed a petition against the sale in just a few days.

Completed in 1957, Moore sold the bronze sculpture to the London County Council in 1960 for a fraction of its worth. When the sale was made, Moore and the now defunct London Council agreed that the statue would be on view permanently near a housing project. When the project was leveled in the late 1990s, Draped Seated Woman was moved to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of the Tower Hamlets, blamed the government’s severe budget cuts for leaving him with little choice in the matter. The sculpture is expected to bring in about $32 million when it goes to auction in early 2013.