WORK OF THE WEEK: Allen Jones, Sabine, 2020

Allen Jones
Sabine, 2020
Corten steel
225 x 165 x 130 cm
88 ⅝ x 65 x 51 ⅛ in.

Striking, expressive and stylised, Allen Jones’s Sabine is charged with dynamism.

Allen Jones RA is internationally recognised as a pioneer of the Pop Art movement during the 1960s. Born in Southampton in 1937, Jones studied at Hornsey College of Art and subsequently at the Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney, Peter Phillips and R.B. Kitaj. In the 60s and 70s he resolved to establish a new way of depicting the human figure. As his practice has developed, his work embodies a sense of exuberance and dance. Jones uses sheets of cut steel, reminiscent of origami, to illustrate the energy and vitality of human life. Allen Jones was awarded the Prix des Jeunes Artistes at the 1963 Paris Biennale, and he is a Senior Academician at the Royal Academy of the Arts.

“Aside from the cast fibreglass figures, Jones’s principal sculptural achievement resides in the deployment of the cut-metal shapes. This is very much a painter’s sculpture, dealing expertly with issues of two-dimensional illusion, brought into the round. It is largely involved with the manipulation of flat planes of colour, bent and twisted through space, cut and welded rather than moulded, rhythmically bold and vibrant. Jones dextrously orchestrates a meeting of open and enclosed forms in the continuing formal dialogue of opposites – and their reconciliation – which distinguishes his work.”
- Andrew Lambirth, Allen Jones Works, 2005

Allen Jones has taught at a number of international institutions, including at the Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg, Germany; the Berlin University of the Arts, Germany; the University of California, USA and the Banff Centre School of Fine Arts, Canada. His work has been shown in many solo exhibitions, as well as major retrospectives at the Royal Academy (2014); The Barbican, London (1995); ICA, London which travelled to the Fruit Market, Edinburgh and the Arnolfini, Bristol (1978) and at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool which travelled to the Serpentine Gallery, London (1979).

Jones’ work is included in many public and private collections, including the Tate Gallery, London; the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC, USA; the Warwick Arts Centre, London and Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany.