IN CLOUD COUNTRY: Abstracting from nature – from John Constable to Rachel Whiteread

Friday, 11th January 2013

IN CLOUD COUNTRY: Abstracting from nature – from John Constable to Rachel Whiteread 

29 March to 30 June 2013, Harewood House, Terrace Gallery

Harewood is delighted to be opening our 2013 season with an exhibition, ‘In Cloud Country’, jointly curated by Iwona Blazwick, Director of the Whitechapel Gallery in London, who has been described as “the most influential curator in Britain today”, and artist/curator Diane Howse, Countess of Harewood.  Iwona and Diane first met when they studied art together in Exeter.

‘In Cloud Country’ brings together a diverse range of works on paper spanning four centuries and features artists such as John Constable, John Sell Cotman, Henry Moore and Rachel Whiteread.

Iwona Blazwick says: ‘In her poem Two Campers in Cloud Country Sylvia Plath notes the indifference of the natural world ‘…where trees and clouds… pay no notice.’ Generations of artists have been similarly inspired to make observations from nature which have lead them to formal or symbolic abstraction. They translate what they have seen or felt into a staggering array of different artistic strategies. The great 18th century watercolourist John Sell Cotman uses pencil to capture the dynamism of light falling on trees by a riverbank, while the fleeting volumes of cumulous clouds are trapped by John Constable in his intense oil studies. 20th century Modernist Henry Moore uses the branches of a tree to make vein-like traceries of lines while Italian sculptor Giuseppe Penone uses drawing to resurrect the tree that has been subsumed in a domestic plank of wood and Rachel Whiteread takes a symbol of the Arts & Crafts movement – the Tree of Life - and translates it into a contemporary icon. Whether it’s atmospheric phenomena, the linear or textural qualities of the botanical world or their political and metaphoric potential, artists’ studies from nature offer a breathtaking range of abstractions.’

Diane Howse adds: ‘I’ve worked with a great many artists and curators over the past 23 years here at Harewood and we’ve delivered a very wide range of exhibitions and projects in that time. I’m delighted to now be working with Iwona on ‘In Cloud Country’ - a very special project for us both.  The exhibition will explore the relationship between images in terms of a particular notion of abstraction and will I hope create a new and dynamic conversation by juxtaposing works by very different artists across four centuries.’

Harewood has enjoyed a very special relationship with contemporary artists throughout its history. For more than two decades the Terrace Gallery at Harewood has been a platform for some of the most exciting and challenging artists of our time, showing works across all art forms, often in response to or to complement or make a contrast with Harewood’s renowned historic collections.

In Cloud Country jointly curated by Iwona Blazwick and Diane Howse, Terrace Gallery at Harewood House, 29 March to 30 June 

http://www.harewood.org/cloudcountry

Artist Clare Woods’ solo exhibition ‘The Seven Eggs’ includes 3 new works inspired by the landscape surrounding Harewood House, opens 6 July to 29 September 2013.

http://www.harewood.org/seveneggs

Objectivity by David Usborne is in the Servants’ Hall, 16 February to 1 September, shows a unique collection of useful tools that have made an impact on our lives and items that in themselves are considered a work of art.

www.harewood.org/objectivity

- Ends –