Synopsis

William Turnbull is one of Britain’s most distinguished sculptors and painters. In the late 1940s he studied art in London and then spent time in Paris, and ever since he has rigorously explored a limited number of archetypal forms as well as the fundamentals of art’s languages.

Over more than fifty years William Turnbull has returned again and again to the head and the mask, to the standing figure and the horse, as well as to possibilities of pared-down, often monochromatic painting. His simple objects, which draw on both primitive and classical ideas, often combine presence and poetry in unique ways.

This rare interview with the artist was filmed alongside an extensive retrospective exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2005. Works in bronze, wood and stone as well as (from a period in the 1960s) in brightly-coloured steel are seen at their very best in both light-drenched interiors and in the park’s sweeping landscapes.

theEYE is an excellent introduction to contemporary artists and their works and provides an ideal resource for a wide range of audiences, including galleries, museums and colleges, as well as individual art-lover.