Artist's Resale Right applies @ 4%

Aluminium

Unique

Date 1969

Provenance
A Private Commission


Ronald Pope 1920 – 1997
Ronald Pope started his working life at Rolls-Royce
Derby as a toolmaker, building Spitfires and learning
the skills of welding and brazing, which he was later
to employ in his work. Pope took evening classes
at the Derby School of Art, leading him in 1945 to
the Slade to study under F. E. McWilliam. In 1952 his
first public commission was a stone relief for Brook
House School, Beighton, and later in 1966 Sir Basil
Spence asked him to carve a 13 ft high Crucifix for the
Church of St. Catherine of Siena in Sheffield – these
being one of a number of commissions received from
the Church and local authorities alike. It is, however,
Pope’s singular lack of interest in self-promotion, and
his happiness to live a life in isolation in Melbourne,
Derbyshire, that is predominantly why his sculpture
is so relatively unknown. │ The work ‘Curbar 111’ is
constructed from welded aluminum and, like many
of his sculptures, is deeply inspired by his adopted
landscape of the Derbyshire High Peak and his wish to
promote, through his work, a sense of unity and peace.
Here the influence of a Derbyshire rock formation of
the same name makes use of horizontal and vertical
fissures to fuse a harmonious bond between material
and design. ‘If we are to be concerned with the veracity
of seeing – and in many cases mere knowledge presupposes
visual experience – then ‘looking’ becomes
an act of lucid simplification’. │ Selected exhibitions
include; the Zwemmer Gallery, Derby Museum and
Art Gallery, Nottingham Art Gallery and the Alwin
Gallery. Examples of his work are in the collections
of; The Henry Moore Institute, The Djanogly Gallery
Nottingham, Derby Cathedral, Watford Museum and, in
2008, Derby Museum and Art Gallery held an exhibition
of his works entitled ‘Ronald Pope, Sculpture from the
Museums’ Collection’.