New Sculpture in Britain

In his 1982 essay, at a time of disillusionment with the idea of progress, Michael Newman discusses how British sculptors employed a variety of means--from recycling discarded objects to synthesising cultural archetypes--in what amounts to a rejection of the linear view of history, concluding with Tony Carter's, 'By Bread Only' - for the 'Demise of Icons' (1978-9), recently acquired for the Leeds Museums and Galleries Sculpture Collections. Jon Wood and Michael Newman discuss the place of Carter and his work in the field of sculpture in the early 1980s and consider this work's inclusion in Whitechapel Art Gallery's British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century catalogue, but not, in the end, in the actual exhibition. Newman also gives his thoughts on his 1982 essay today. The essays also examine the work of other important British artists including Tony Cragg, Bill Woodrow, Jean-Luc Vilmouth, Kate Blacker, Alison Wilding, Antony Gormley, Richard Deacon, Shirazeh Houshiary and Anish Kapoor