Where function ends: the Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens

To mark the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944), Hestercombe Gallery presents new work by three artists that responds to the legacy of the man whose designs transformed the Hestercombe site.

Through a sculptural intervention in the galleries, incorporating new works from his ongoing series The Houses, Alex Hartley will explore the contested relationship between Lutyens’ architecture and Modernism.

Liz Nicols’ new photographs will examine the ways in which Lutyens developed his ‘elemental mode’ of architecture to articulate private and public acts of remembrance in his designs for war cemeteries along the Western Front; and artist in residence Oliver Sutherland’s research into the sculptural and poetic relationship between Lutyens’ landscaping and Gertrude Jekyll’s planting in the Formal Garden at Hestercombe will be presented in a moving image work that layers performance, sound and written narratives.

Image: Liz Nicol, Thiepval (detail), 2019, silver gelatin print

Where function ends: Symposium | 11.10.19

Taking its theme from the current exhibition in Hestercombe Gallery, this one-day symposium will explore in more detail the life and work of Sir Edwin Lutyens and the contemporary art works made in response to Lutyens and Hestercombe in the Portman-era. Speakers will include Lutyens expert Charles Hind, Chief Curator of Drawings at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Niall Hobhouse of Drawing Matter, exhibiting artists Alex Hartley, Liz Nicol and Oliver Sutherland, and special guest Neville Gabie who will present his research into sport and class at Hestercombe in the early 20th century.