Book Launch and Talk: ‘Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023’

Join us for a conversation with curator Frances Morris and Fruitmarket Gallery Director Fiona Bradley to celebrate the book launch of ‘’ (2024) at .

This major monograph was first written by Frances Morris in 2015 to trace the development of Phyllida Barlow’s sculptural language from the 1960s to document six decades of the artist’s astonishing sculptures and expansive installations. Featuring illustrations of over 130 works, Morris has made extensive additions to her original text, making the 2024 edition the indispensable resource on the important British sculptor. The book launch coincides with our exhibition, ‘Phyllida Barlow. unscripted,’ which is curated by Frances Morris.

Please note that the talk will start promptly at 5.30 pm in our bookshop, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Tickets cost £7 per person, with all proceeds supporting our 2024 – 2025 charity partner, Good Company Bruton. Tickets include a glass of wine or soft drink on arrival. Advance booking is essential and seats will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

Da Costa and Roth Bar are open for dinner and drinks before and after the event. Please note that the gallery and garden will be closed.

About ‘Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023’
‘Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023’ is a comprehensive guide to Barlow’s sculptural language, charting the progression of the artist’s extraordinary and influential career. Barlow’s restless invented forms stretch the limits of mass, volume and height, challenging her audience into a new relationship with the sculptural object, the gallery environment and the world beyond.

Originally published by Fruitmarket and Hatje Cantz in 2015, this major monograph written by Frances Morris, begins in the 1960s and documents six decades of Barlow’s astonishing sculptures and expansive installations. This includes ‘dock,’ the Duveen Commission for Tate Britain, London, UK (2014) and her 2015 Fruitmarket exhibition, ‘Phyllida Barlow. set’ in Edinburgh, UK. It has now been updated to include Barlow’s important exhibitions in the years that followed, among them the British Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, Italy (2017); her work for The High Line, New York NY (2018); and her Schwitters-Prize-winning exhibition, ‘BREACH,’ Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany (2022).

About Frances Morris
Frances Morris is a curator, writer and broadcaster. She was the Director at Tate Modern, London, UK, until 2023. Morris has curated many exhibitions, publications and public programmes at Tate, including acclaimed retrospectives of Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama and Agnes Martin, and most recently co-curating ‘Hilma Af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life’ (2023). As Director of Collections, International Art, from 2006 – 2016, Morris led the transformation of Tate’s International Collection, strategically broadening and diversifying its international reach and representation, as well as bringing photography, moving image and live art into the institution for the first time through acquisitions, displays and exhibitions.

Morris is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ewha University, Seoul, South Korea, and her exhibition ‘Agnes Martin: Moments of Perfection’ opened at The Sorol Museum, Gangwon, South Korea in May 2024.

About Fiona Bradley
Since 2003, Fiona Bradley has been Director of Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, UK. Bradley’s programming at Fruitmarket has included exhibitions by major Scottish and international artists including: Leonor Antunes, Lousie Bourgeois, Martin Boyce, Martin Creed, Ellen Gallagher, Eva Hesse, William Kentridge, Lee Lozano, Ibrahim Mahama, Dieter Roth and Roman Signer. In 2015, she curated the exhibition, ‘Phyllida Barlow. set,’ working with the artist to completely reconfigure the gallery, and worked on the book, ‘Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023’, originally published to accompany the exhibition.

Bradley was a member of the Imperial War Museum Contemporary Commissioning Committee from 2015 – 2024. She was awarded an OBE for services to the arts in 2018, and is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Professor in the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester.

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Images: Frances Morris, 2022. Photo: Samia Meah; ‘Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture, 1963–2023’ (2024). Photo: Billy Tuttle; ⁠Fiona Bradley

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