The textured surfaces are testament to the unmediated relationship between Josephsohn’s hands and the materials of the forms he sculpted, and often, traces of the artist’s fingermarks are visibly embedded in the works. Crafted from plaster and then cast in brass or bronze, his sculptures are raw, with roughly finished, haptic surfaces. Despite the ‘humanness’ inherent in all of his sculptures, at times the work’s surfaces are reminiscent of the natural world, evoking rugged rock formations. His fellow sculptor William Tucker has written: ‘What moves me most with Josephsohn is his persistence, his patient devotion to the everyday task of building sculpture with the humblest of materials – with small amounts of plaster added over time, hourly, daily, every month and every year of his life. […] In Josephsohn’s sculpture, both material and image merge.’
Hans Josephsohn
Untitled, 2005
Brass
76 x 224 x 67 cm (29.92 x 88.19 x 26.38 in)
Hans Josephsohn
Untitled (Angela), 2001-03
Brass
154 x 84 x 71 cm (60.63 x 33.07 x 27.95 in)
Hans Josephsohn
Untitled (Ruth), 1975-78
Brass
117 x 65 x 45 cm (46.06 x 25.59 x 17.72 in)
From the 1980s to the 2000s, the primary focus of the exhibition, Josephsohn’s images of human beings allude to the body with increasing subtlety. The distinction between heads and half-length figures becomes increasingly fluid and the surface of these works from his late period is more porous; the natural proportions increasingly distorted. The abstracted volumes are defined by a powerful corporeality that emphasises the very substance of the human form, resounding with a timeless quality. Udo Kittelmann has stated: ‘Hans Josephsohn does not seek contemporaneity, but rather permanence.’ On the subject of his continual move towards abstraction the artist has remarked: ‘I simply wanted to get to the heart of the matter and didn’t want to be held back by the external impressions of nature.’
Hans Josephsohn
Untitled, 1987
Brass
135 x 64 x 42 cm (53.15 x 25.2 x 16.54 in)
Hans Josephsohn
Untitled, 1994
Brass
107 x 80 x 36 cm (42.13 x 31.5 x 14.17 in)
This is art that will endure, for it recapitulates sculpture’s ancient function to memorialise, to console, and to celebrate human resilience. — Jackie Wullschläger, art critic