Leeds Art Gallery - Rock, Pebble, Quarry

Leeds Art Gallery

When making the decision to visit Leeds Central Library - on the last day of August in 2018 - I was partly influenced by the fact that “The Sculpture Collections” – jointly curated by Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute - was going to end on this weekend. 

Maternity by Jacob Epstein in Hopton Wood stone

Waking up very early on another hot sunny day, I discovered that my intended travel on the Saturday would be disrupted by the seemingly interminable strikes on the Northern Rail train service, and so I set out to catch the first train that I could to get to Leeds. 

Reclining Figure by Henry Moore in Horton stone

Not having the time for my usual preparation, I arrived to find that the Henry Moore Institute had terminated their part of the event early; however, also unknown to me was that Leeds Art Gallery had dedicated the Henry Moore Sculpture space to an exhibition entitled “Rock, Pebble, Quarry: The Sculptural Lives of Stone. 

Hieroglyph by Barbara Hepworth in Ancaster stone

Exploring the use of stone over the years, the exhibition included several paintings – including depictions of a tin mine and a quarry amongst other subjects – but, as a geologist, it was the stone sculptures that were of most interest to me. 

Red Fruit by Peter Randall-Page in red marble

All works on display were from the Leeds Museums and Galleries collection and included examples of various igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks – as well as other materials that were designed to imitate stone. 

Man with Child by Maurice Lambert in Verde di Prato

Materials familiar to me included Ancaster stone, Hopton Wood stone and Hornton stone, used by Barbara Hepworth (1953), Jacob Epstein (1910) and Henry Moore (1929) respectively; however, there were others, including the red marble by Peter Randall-Page (1987) and green Verde de Prato marble by Maurice Lambert (1931) – which is actually serpentinite - that I had never seen before. 

A detail of an unknown sculpture in alabaster

There were other sculptures in alabaster, white marble and basalt, whose details I didn't record and, although I generally appreciated the craftsmanship involved and the materials used, not all of them were to my taste.

A general view of various sculptures