"the substantial, the visible, the object": Sculpture Imagined and Remembered
Howarth, Lucy (2026) "the substantial, the visible, the object": Sculpture Imagined and Remembered. In: Creating Space: The Constructivist Marlow Moss with Leonor Antunes, Tacita Dean, Florette Dijkstra and Ro Robertson. Hirmer Verlag, Berlin, pp. 53-73. ISBN 9783777447223
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This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition, curated by myself and Elisa Tamaschke, Creating Space: The Constructivist Marlow Moss with Leonor Antunes, Tacita Dean, Florette Dijkstra and Ro Robertson at Georg Kolbe Museum, in Berlin, 2 April – 26 July 2026.
My guiding principle in the curating of the exhibition was “...the substantial, the visible, the object” – Moss’s own words recorded on a scrap of paper. This describes a tripartite relationship, between sculpture, drawing and photography – thinking about sculpture, before it exists: conceiving it, imagining it – and then recording and remembering it (which is another form of ‘imagining’).
The contemporary artists we invited to show with Moss: Antunes, Dean, Dijkstra and Robertson – have practices that connect to Moss in various ways – formally – representationally – thematically – geographically – biographically – and we celebrate ‘comradeship’ as Moss might have put it – relationships, collaborations and art-making across Europe, across the last century.
In the 1930s, Moss was a founding member of the Paris avant-garde association of non-figurative artists Abstraction-Création – the only woman present in all 5 cahiers. In the second issue, dated 1933, the committee felt compelled to state their position of total opposition to oppression, especially on grounds of race or nationality. We adhere to the same principle – with the addition of opposition to oppression on grounds of gender and sexual identity. Creating Space is not only a retrospective or historical presentation of Moss, but a contemporary stand of practitioners today. This is in tribute to Moss, but also to all other artists excluded for discriminatory reasons. Moss was Jewish and queer and a woman and (potentially) trans – and was directly threatened by Fascism, as were the people she loved.
Presence and visibility is not enough – we must object – and create space.
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