Rachel Kneebone (born 1973) is an English artist who lives and works in London. [1]
Kneebone was born in Oxfordshire. She graduated in 1997 with a First Class BA (Hons) degree from the University of the West of England, Bristol and in 2004 with an MA in sculpture [2] from the Royal College of Art, London.
In 2005 she was nominated for the MaxMara Art Prize for Women with Anne Hardy, Anj Smith, Margaret Salmon and Donna Huddleston. [1] That year, she contributed work to a show, The Way We Work, at the Camden Arts Centre, London. [3]
In 2005, she was commissioned to do a wall sculpture [1] by Mario Testino for the Diana, Princess of Wales exhibition at Kensington Palace. [4]
In July – August 2006, Kneebone had her first solo exhibition in London at Madder Rose gallery, which included a number of sculptures such as Loves all-worshipped tomb, where all love's pilgrims come (2005). [5] All the show's works sold out on opening night. [4] Reviewer Katarina Horrox commented that Kneebone's "carefully crafted sculptures witness various organic forms merging ambiguously into human body-parts as they climb elegantly up walls. Suggestive yet sensitive, her creations harp back to Ovid's Metamorphoses, whilst their fixed immobility implies a transgression of time and motion." [5]
In 2007, The Evening Standard highlighted Kneebone as "one to watch" thanks to her "beautiful and sexy hand-moulded porcelain sculptures". [2] In September 2007, Kneebone's work was included in the opening group exhibition An Archaeology [6] at Project Space 176 in London's Chalk Farm area. [7]
In 2008, Kneebone began to be represented by Jay Jopling and the White Cube gallery in London. Her first solo show with White Cube, The Descent, was in February 2009. [8]
In 2008, Tracey Emin selected a work by Kneebone to include in her room at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. [9] Emin said: "Her work is exciting for me – porcelain figurines, vulnerable and with an eighteenth-century look. I like Georgian things – my house was built in 1729, and I like simplicity and straight lines." [9]
Kneebone is known for finely sculpted white porcelain works [10] of organic forms merging ambiguously into human body parts. [5] Her work has been described as depicting an "erotic state of flux" and "celebrating forms of transgression, beauty and seduction", [11] and said to be influenced by ancient Greek and Roman myths in Ovid's poem Metamorphoses [1] and the "seductive, mythological paintings" of 18th-century artist François Boucher. [12]
Kneebone's Raft of Medusa installation is an example of the white porcelain sculptures depicting a tumultuous confusion of limbs and shapes. The series of five porcelain sculptures were displayed in The Foundling Museum from 29 September 2017 to 7 January 2018. They expressed the Foundling Hospital's suppressed narrative of sexual desire, emotional damage and female strength, [13] creating a resonant component to the Museum's exhibition, Basic Instincts. [14]
In January 2009, Kneebone spoke to the Tate Etc. magazine about William Blake's work The Primaeval Giants Sunk in the Soil (1824–1827), from Illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy , "Eighth Circle of Hell". [15]
A 2012 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, Rachel Kneebone: Regarding Rodin, showcased eight of her original works next to fifteen from Auguste Rodin that Kneebone personally selected. The pairing brought to light themes of "sexuality, death, and sin." [16]
From 2017 through 2019 the Victoria and Albert Museum displayed Kneebone's sculpture 399 Days, a 5-metre-high porcelain tower. [17]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
