Between Dimensions: The representation of the object – Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

Vanessa Bell © Tate, London 2011 Still Life on Corner of a Mantelpiece ,1914

MIMA’s major winter exhibition Between Dimensions showcases still life works from Tate alongside selected objects from mima’s collection, to explore the concept of the still life in the last century. Important modern and contemporary artists including Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and Ben Nicholson are represented, alongside British ceramics and artworks from mima’s collection. The presentation of paintings and other wall‐based works alongside 3D objects challenges the notion of the traditional two‐dimensional still life and offers viewers new perspectives on the artworks.

Picasso, Pablo Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper, 1913 © Tate, London 2011 © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2011

Works featured in the exhibition include Picasso’s Cubist‐influenced collage Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper (1913)… Vanessa Bell’s painting Still Life on Corner of Mantlepiece (1914), featuring block shapes, pared down detail and vibrant colour influenced by Cubism and Fauvism…

Robert Colquhoun, Woman with Still Life, 1958 © Tate, London 2011

Still Life? (1955) by founding father of Pop Art Richard Hamilton, which depicts bottles from a variety of different perspectives to allow the viewer to have a 3‐ dimensional experience from a 2‐dimensional artwork… and Roy Lichtenstein’s Still Life with Portrait from ‘Six Still Lifes’ (1974), a print which is characteristic of the artist’s bold outlines, cartoon shading and primary colours while observing the still life conventions of the old masters. Objects from mima’s collection include ceramics by Julian Stair, Elizabeth Fritsch, Edmund De Waal and Bernard Leach and paintings by Duncan Grant and Samuel John Peploe.

Between Dimensions curator Alix Collingwood explains the thinking behind mima’s exhibition: “Still life has been popular since the times of the Ancient Greeks, as it presents artists with a wealth of opportunities, and gives audiences the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of everyday objects. Still lifes are traditionally regarded as a formal arrangement of objects in a 2D space. Through the introduction of 3D work, this exhibition explores what the ceramicist Elizabeth Fritsch called the ‘two and a half dimensions’, the flattening of a three dimensional object to

alter its shape and perspective and create a whole new dimension somewhere in between 2D and 3D. It has been a pleasure to work with Tate’s Collection, and we hope that mima’s visitors will enjoy the exhibition and the way in which it brings together works from some wonderful artists to create really interesting narratives around the still life.”

Hockney, David © Tate, London 2011 Four Flowers in Still Life ,1990

Between Dimensions: The representation of the object is a partnership between Tate and MIMA.

Exhibition ends: 24 February 2012

MIMA

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

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