Affirmative action: British Sculptors and Sculpture and the monographic form in twentieth-century sculpture studies

Abstract

The British Sculptors and Sculpture (BSS) series published by the Henry Moore Foundation and Lund Humphries stands out as one of the most substantive collections of monographs on British art. With the final title due in 2014, this article evaluates the investment embodied in the series, and weighs up its scholarly returns. The essay takes Henry Moore's unique standing as its starting point for an exploration of the monograph's role in forming artists' reputations considered through the careers of the sculptors covered by the series: Robert Adams, Kenneth Armitage, Reg Butler, Stephen Cox, Hubert Dalwood, Frank Dobson, George Fullard, Gertrude Hermes, Charles Sargeant Jagger, Eric Kennington, Phillip King, Maurice Lambert, Gilbert Ledward, Bernard Meadows, David Nash, Michael Sandle, John Skeaping, William Tucker, William Turnbull, Leon Underwood, Charles Wheeler, Francis Derwent Wood (forthcoming), and Austin Wright. By looking backwards and forwards across the literature, the article situates the methodo...