Catalogue of the British Pavilion XXVI Venice Biennale 1952

Rare catalogue of the British Pavilion presentation for the XXVI Venice Biennale, 1952. Three panel folding sheet. 154 item catalogue. Introductions by Kenneth Clark, Philip Hendy and Herbert Read. The catalogue was not for sale at the time of the exhibition. Near Fine.

Herbert Read’s text includes the first use of “the term ‘geometry of fear’ to describe the collective anxieties of the post-war period. The phrase subsequently became associated with the work of the artists in the exhibition and has since been used to describe a 'school' of sculpture. The exhibition New Aspects of British Sculpture, held alongside shows by Graham Sutherland (1903-80) and Edward Wadsworth (1889-1949), was commissioned by Herbert Read for the British Pavilion in 1952. Eight sculptors, Robert Adams 1917-84), Kenneth Armitage (1916-2002), Reg Butler (1913-81), Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003), Geoffrey Clarke (1924-2014), Bernard Meadows (1915-2005), Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) and William Turnbull (1922-2012) were brought together to represent a regeneration of British art after the Second World War. With Henry Moore (1898-1986) as mentor, the group was presented as a younger generation of sculptors who worked with forged and welded iron to produce spiky, linear forms. The exhibition launched the careers of several sculptors who went on to have international success.” – Ref: Henry Moore Institute

Title: The British Pavilion. Exhibition of works by Sutherland, Wadsworth. New Aspects of British Sculpture: Adams, Armitage, Butler, Chadwick, Clarke, Meadows, Moore, Paolozzi, Turnbull. Organised by the British Council for the XXVI Biennale, Venice 1952.
Author: Kenneth Clark, Philip Hendy, Herbert Read
Publisher: The British Council
Date: 1952
Format: Three panel folding sheet
Condition: Near fine. a small stain to the edge of one panel otherwise remarkably well preserved
Provenance: The library of art historian Alastair Grieve
Stock Number: RB02052