'The Botanical World of Mary Delany' at Beningbrough Hall
10 September 2024 -
23 March 2025
My new commission 'Mary, Maria, Marianne' is now on display as part of this exhibition celebrating Mary Delany's extraordinary life and career.
At the age of 72, using just paper, paint and scissors, Mary Delany began creating her unique ‘paper mosaiks’ , intricate and scientifically accurate botanical collages, now in the collection of the British Museum
Beningbrough is the first UK venue for this touring exhibition, which uses high quality photographic reproductions to show the fine detail of her work. Also featured is a display of fascinating works by female artists in the National Trust's collections, curated by Rachel Conroy.
My commission focusses on three of these inspirational artists: Mary Delany, Maria Sibylle Merian and Marianne North. Using their biographies, writing and artworks as source material, my three monumental portraits are an exploration and celebration of the challenges and achievements of women artists across three centuries.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/beningbrough/art-at-beningbrough
'Mary, Maria, Marianne' Installation views at Beningbrough Hall
photos: National Trust/Gareth Buddo
Homo Faber Guide
I'm honoured to become part of this global community of artists and makers, curated by the Michelangelo Foundation.
Check out my profile - and while you're there, browse some of the most exceptional artists and makers working today:
https://www.homofaber.com/en/discover/rebecca-stevenson-owfway
'Mary, Maria, Marianne':
a major new commission for the National Trust
I'm delighted to share news of my commission for Beningbrough Hall, York: a large scale sculptural installation in response to the exhibition 'The Botanical World of Mary Delany'
'The Botanical World of Mary Delany' highlights the work of this pioneering eighteenth-century artist alongside a selection of fascinating works by women artists from the National Trust's collections.
My commission celebrates three of the extraordinary artists featured in the exhibition: Mary Delany (1700-1788), Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), and Marianne North (1830-1890). Responding to the (often hidden) history of female craft and its ingenuity, this project also draws on my interest in historical enquiry, botanical art and figurative sculpture
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/beningbrough/art-at-beningbrough
Above: Rebecca Stevenson in the studio with work in progress, July 2024
Below: Work in progress, detail
Photos; Marianne Wie
Homo Faber 2024:
The Journey of Life
I'm honoured to be part of Homo Faber 2024, the global contemporary craft biennale curated by the Michelangelo Foundation.
This edition is art directed by acclaimed film director Luca Guadagnino ('I am Love', 'Suspiria', 'Call Me by Your Name', 'Bones and All') and architect Nicolò Rosmarini. A series of immersive exhibitions, staged across the Fondazione Giorgio Cini's magnifcent spaces, will use the international language of craft and making to take the visitor on a journey through a human life.
https://2024.homofaber.com/
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'Object for a Wunderkammer no.6'
bronze, part gilded, 2021
photo: Marianne Wie
V&A Acquisition
I am delighted to announce the acquisition of my work 'Miracle' by the Victoria & Albert Museum.
'Miracle' was inspired by a bronze plaquette depicting the Madonna and child in the V&A's collection made by/after Donatello.
In my work, the gilded child in the womb offers an alternative image of pregnancy and birth to the beatific Madonnas of Renaissance art. The object is secular and universal, yet retains a votive quality.
Laura Chase, the V&A's Curator of Sculpture 1800- Now, says:
'We are absolutely delighted to have acquired 'Miracle' as a lasting testament to Rebecca's outstanding residency display in the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries earlier this year. 'Miracle' resonates deeply with the V&A's historic collections in both style and meaning, and we are thrilled to welcome Rebecca into the expanding group of pioneering contemporary sculptors represented in the Museum's permanent collection.'
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'Miracle', bronze, part gilded, 11cm x 9cm x 0.8cm, 2023
photo: V&A/Kevin Percevali
'Forbidden Fruit'
Online Solo Exhibition
James Freeman Gallery
25 October - 24 November 2023
James Freeman Gallery presents Forbidden Fruit, an online exhibition of works that explore the Baroque traditions of Vanitas and Memento Mori from a contemporary perspective.
Wax sculptures in pinks, blues, and reds echo anatomical
sculpture and its cold examination of death whilst also referencing Dutch still life artists such as Jan Weenix in 21st century technicolour.
Works in bronze create a solid, timeless contrast to the
lightness of the wax. Skulls gleam like precious jewellery while a pair of rabbit's heads dance amidst Rococo flourishes rendered in metal. The fascination with mortality continues in these works, and yet there is an ethereal quality that eschews morbidity.
https://www.artsy.net/show/james-freeman-gallery-forbidden-fruit
Red Monkey, resin, wax and mixed media, 2023
V&A Residency Film
My residency film is now live on the V&A YouTube channel - and I have to admit I really love it!
Watch it now at:
At work in the V&A Residency studio - video still by Marco Carini
Young Masters Art Prize
London, October 2023
I am delighted to be shortlisted for this year's Young Masters Art Prize.
My work will be exhibited, alongside that of the 15 other shortlisted artists, during Frieze week in Central London.
Young Masters is a not for profit, international art prize for emerging global talent, judged by an independent panel of art professionals.
Further details at:
'Two Vessels (Splendour in Darkness)", Bronze, part gilded, 2022
photo: Marianne Wie.
'Symptom: Barock'
Schloss Eutin, Germany
9 June - 8 October 2023
Simone Demandt, Margret Eicher, Rebecca Stevenson, Myriam Thyes
Eutin Castle, a jewel on the Baltic Sea coast, is one of the most important cultural monuments in northern Germany. For summer 2023, this magnificent baroque residence will be transformed by four contemporary artists, creating interventions in response to the castle's architecture and interiors. Reflecting the artists' ongoing preoccupations with the themes and aethestics of the Baroque, this project will explore the dreams and realities that this era holds in common with the present day.
Further details at:
'In Transformation'
V&A, London
6 February - 14 July 2023
A changing display of works in progress made in response to the V&A exhibition: 'Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance'.
Works addressing themes of material and bodily presence, absence and transformation will be on display in the museum's Medieval and Renaissance galleries as they progress through different stages of making and unmaking.
Further details at:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/bV2yZrWYEw/in-transformation-rebecca-stevenson-residency-display
Photo by Peter Kelleher
'Truffelsuche'
Kunstverein Wilhelmshohe
5 May - 18 June 2023
'Truffle Hunt' is an ongoing exhibition project across Germany. Ten curated artists invite ten other artists, whose work has a correspondence with their own. I'm exhibiting my cast aluminium hare sculptures alongside the digital tapestry of Margret Eicher, exploring shared references to still life painting and the idea of the feast.
Further details at:
'Dead Nature', cast aluminium, 2012
Photo by Marianne Wie
V&A Artist-in-Residence:
'Shifting Perspectives'
October 2022 - July 2023
I am delighted to announce my residency at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The 'Shifting Perspectives' Residency coincides with the major exhibition Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance (opening February 2023) Over a nine-month period, I will be creating and exhibiting new works in response to this exhibition and to the Medieval and Renaissance Collections.
Addressing themes of material and bodily presence, absence and transformation. I will be working in the V&A's residency studio to develop and produce new sculptural works. I will be presenting and re-presenting evolving and ongoing pieces in the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries as they transition through different stages of making and unmaking, shifting my own and the viewer's perspectives via a dialogue between my practice and the V&A's collections.
I will also develop and lead a series of workshops for the V&A Young Peoples programme and host a number of public Open Studio days throughout the residency
Further details at:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/rebecca-stevenson-our-shifting-perspectives-resident
Studio portrait by Nick Manser
'Delicate Pleasures / Zarte Freuden'
Fasanenschloessen / Little Pheasant Castle
Moritzburg, Germany
30/04/2022 - 30/10/2022
A solo exhibition by Rebecca Stevenson in the unique setting of the Moritzburg Fasanenschloessen. The Rococo fascination with novelty and the exotic, exemplified in the palace’s unusual wall coverings (feathers, straw, marquetry and silk) finds a contemporary correspondence in Stevenson’s practice. Objects reminiscent of those found in courtly wunderkammers and cabinets play on the idea of exoticism in contemporary visual culture, resulting in objects that are both serious and absurd, grotesque and beautiful.
'Object for a Wunderkammer #5' installation view
'Modern Baroque'
James Freeman Gallery, London
09/06/2022 - 09/07/2022
‘Modern Baroque’ is a contemporary take on the Baroque, its drama and its exuberance, explored through the work of two London-based artists: Daniel Hosego and Rebecca Stevenson.
For further details and a video introduction to this exhibition, visit
https://www.jamesfreemangallery.com/exhibitions/modern-baroque/
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'Object or a Wunderkammer #6', bronze 2021 photo: Marianne Wie
Grinling Gibbons: Centuries in the Making
Bonhams, New Bond St, London
03/08/2021 - 27/08/2021
Compton Verney, Warwickshire
25/09/2021 - 30/01/2022
The remarkable life and legacy of Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) is celebrated in this exhbition, part of a year-long series of events to commemorate the tercentenary of the most renowned British woodcarver of the 17th century, .’ The exhibition, created in partnership with the Grinling Gibbons Society, reveals the genius of this legendary sculptor and craftsman.
https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/thing-to-do/grinling-gibbons-centuries-in-the-making/
Rebecca Stevenson, Heathen (detail), 2019 photo: Marianne Wie
Schloss Pillnitz & Museum of Applied Arts / State Art Collections, Dresden
14/08/21 - 30/10/21
'Artists' Conquest': Interventions by Margret Eicher, Luzia Simons, Rebecca Stevenson and Myriam Thyes.
Four contemporary artists respond to the historic interiors of Pillnitz Palace, renowned for its playful combination of baroque and chinoiserie style, as well as in the collections of the Museum of Applied Arts. Taking an approach that is at once affectionate, ironic, provocative and thoughtful, 'Artists’ Conquest’ aims to open up new ways of seeing and thinking and to challenge preconceptions about historic spaces. The artists’ interventions sharpen the mind and re-focus the vision, generating a new perspective on familiar forms.
Rebecca Stevenson, 'Dreamers', installation view photo: Ben Walther
Rebecca Stevenson, Fete Galante, 2019 photo: Marianne Wie
50 Years of the Kraft Collection
KUNST ist immer eine Behauptung. SAMMELN auch. 50 Jahre Sammlung Kraft
14.09.19 – 24.11.19 Kunstmuseum Villa Sanders, Cologne
Contemporary, modern, outsider and non-western art from the collection of Hartmut & Maria Kraft.
Rebecca Stevenson, 'Sweet Shell', 2004, wax, Kraft Collection.