WORK OF THE WEEK: Hubert Dalwood, Second Place, 1970

Hubert Dalwood
Second Place, 1970
Aluminium
173.7 x 165.1 x 143.5 cm
5ft 8 x 5ft 5 x 4ft 8 in.

Indicative of a landscape embedded within a landscape, Hubert Dalwood’s Second Place utilises extreme disparity in scale, interrupting the large composition with miniature internal spaces. Steps surrounding the perimeter of the work act as an invitation for the spectator to move back and forth, and step into this constructed dimension.

Hubert Dalwood was one of the first sculptors of his generation to recognise the beauty and possibilities of using aluminium as a material for sculpture – its gleaming surface and malleability suiting his often poetic and unconventional imagery. In Second Place, the texture, materials and reflective surface suggest an industrial influence, prompted by his pivotal years spent as an engineer in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Hubert Dalwood (1924 – 1976) was a prominent British sculptor known for his innovative contributions to modern sculpture during the mid-20th century. Between 1946 and 1949, he studied at the Bath Academy of Art. After a trip to Sicily and Milan on an Italian Government Scholarship, he was awarded the Gregory Fellowship at Leeds University. He was commissioned to create several public sculptures, including Three Uprights (1959) for Liverpool University, and Fountain (1962) for Nuffield College, Oxford. In 1962, he showed at the Venice Biennale, alongside Ceri Richards and Robert Adams. Here, he was awarded the David E. Bright Sculpture Prize. In 1974, Dalwood was appointed Head of Sculpture at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and a major retrospective of his work was shown by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1979.

The New Art Centre represents the Estate of Hubert Dalwood, and, over the years, has held several major exhibitions of his work at the Sculpture Park.

"A single tree developed into a variety of more complex object environments and from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, his catalogue of works abounds with ‘places’, ‘countries’, ‘gardens’, ‘slopes’ and ‘landscapes’." – Jon Wood on Hubert Dalwood's practice, July 2009

Left: Ian Stephenson
Diorama SS.4.67, 1967
Oil and enamel on two canvases
167.8 x 335.6 cm
5ft 6 x 11ft

Right: Hubert Dalwood
Second Place, 1970
Aluminium
173.7 x 165.1 x 143.5 cm
5ft 8 x 5ft 5 x 4ft 8 in.