Fruitmarket and Hauser & Wirth Publishers launch Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023 by Frances Morris—the definitive publication on the work of British sculptor Phyllida Barlow’. To be released 24th October 2024 (UK / EU), 1st February 2025 (US / ROW).
This major monograph is a comprehensive survey to the work of Phyllida Barlow (1944 – 2023), charting the progression of the artist’s extraordinary and influential career. Lauded and loved by audiences, artists and critics, Barlow’s restless invented forms stretch the limits of mass, volume and height to challenge audiences into a new relationship with the sculptural object, the gallery environment, and the world beyond.
‘Sculpture, 1963–2023’ has its origins in a 2015 book that traced the development of Barlow’s sculptural
language from its beginnings in the 1960s through to its expression in several major projects, including dock, the 2014 Duveen Galleries Commission for Tate Britain, and set, an exhibition of new work for Fruitmarket in Edinburgh in 2015. Authored by curator Frances Morris, who has made extensive additions to her original text, this new expanded edition features three new chapters by Morris, as well as a new introduction by Fruitmarket director Fiona Bradley. Documenting all six decades of the artist’s astonishing sculptures and expansive installations, it includes Barlow’s most recent important exhibitions: the British Pavilion for the Venice Biennale (2017), her Schwitters-Prize-winning exhibition at the Sprengel Museum in Hannover (2022) and her work for New York’s City Hall Park (2023).
Bradley commented: ‘Making books with and for artists is a key part of Fruitmarket’s vision and purpose. When Phyllida Barlow made her exhibition with us in 2015 it was clear she needed a book that celebrated her work and influence since 1963 and illustrated key recent projects as well as our own. It is a privilege now to produce this updated and expanded edition, ensuring it continues to serve Phyllida’s enduring legacy.’ Constructed from simple materials such as plywood, cardboard, fabric, plaster, paint, and plastic, Barlow’s physically impressive and materially insistent works ask questions about our relationships with objects and about objects’ relationships with us, inspired by the experience of living and looking. With illustrations of over 130 of her enduringly brilliant works, ‘Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023’ is the indispensable resource on this important British sculptor.
‘Phyllida Barlow. unscripted,’ curated by Frances Morris, is on view at Hauser & Wirth Somerset through 5th January 2025.
About the Artist
Over a career that spanned six decades, Phyllida Barlow (1944 – 2023) took inspiration from her surroundings to create imposing installations that can be at once menacing and playful. Barlow’s restless invented forms stretch the limits of mass, volume and height as they block, straddle and balance precariously. Barlow exhibited across institutions internationally, including: Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada (2023); Public Art Fund, New York NY (2023); Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany (2022); ARTIST ROOMS, Tate Modern, London, UK (2021); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2021); The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2019); La Biennale di Venezia, British Pavilion, Venice, Italy (2017); Duveen Commission at Tate Britain, London, UK (2014). In 2022, Barlow was awarded the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung’s Kurt Schwitters Prize.
Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023 Text by Frances Morris. Introduction by Fiona Bradley
English Hardcover 25 x 23 cm, 304 pages ISBN: 978-3-906915-93-7 £52 / $60 / €58 BUY
