Connaught Brown is delighted to present Exploring Figuration, a group exhibition examining interpretations of the body from the nineteenth to twenty-first century.    

Throughout history the human figure has been visually re-imagined and a subject of transformation and stylistic experimentation. There are artists who have followed tradition and those who have rebelled against it. However, all have shared the common desire to use the human figure as a medium to grapple with questions surrounding the universality of human experience.    

The late nineteenth century sparked a break with the old, with pioneering figures bridging the gap between the classical and the modern. Artists such as Rodin celebrated the individuality of the figure with movement and bold expression, while the Impressionists brought their surroundings into their work, used experimental techniques, and painted their friends as they saw them.   

With the rise of abstraction in the 1900s, interest in figuration was rejuvenated as a form of rebellion. Rejecting the notion that referencing the physical world was unnecessary, artists such as Archipenko and Marcoussis adapted abstract forms, using different mechanisms to interpret the figure.    

There has been a renewed focus on figuration in recent years. The power of ownership of one’s own body, image, physicality, the gaze and what characterises being human have been called to question.    

By putting together artists such as Rodin, Renoir, Archipenko, Chagall, Dubuffet, Chadwick, Moore and Gormley, the display will bring to light the similarities and contrasts in their treatment of the body. 

Perpetually reimagined, politicised, contorted, and scrutinised, the human figure is the most fascinating and enduring of subjects.