Muse Reviews: 20 April

A round-up of the week’s reviews…

Interview: Polly Bielecka discusses ‘Sculpture in the Home’ at Pangolin (Beatrice Schulz)

For ‘Sculpture in the Home’, Polly Bielecka, director of Pangolin London in King’s Cross, has reconstructed an ideal 1950s interior in the gallery space based on a series of post-war exhibitions organised by the Artists’ International Association, and then by the Arts Council in the 1940s and ‘50s. Taking its name from the original series, ‘Sculpture in the Home’ features small sculptures and prints by the British ‘Geometry of Fear’ artists, alongside iconic furniture designs, wallpapers, and textiles.

Fashion show in Sala Bianca (1955). Photo by G.M. Fadigati, © Giorgini Archive, Florence

Made in Italy, ‘The Glamour of Italian Fashion’ at the V&A (Rosalind McKever)

Milanese ready-to-wear is a relative newcomer to the fashion world, compared to Parisian haute couture and London tailoring, but how did it achieve its status? This exhibition charts the rise and rise of Italian fashion in the post-war period, explaining how it has transformed from artisanal activity to world-renowned industry while maintaining the quality of the ‘Made in Italy’ mark.

Blackened Word (2008), Ursula von Rydingsvard. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Lelong and YSP. Photo Jonty Wilde

Ursula von Rydingsvard at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (Emma Crichton-Miller)

As you turn into the Yorkshire Sculpture Park there is a spot on the left hand side, on a little rise at the top of the long hill which sweeps up from the lake, which can be seen from all over the park. It is here that Ursula von Rydingsvard, a sculptor highly regarded in America but hardly known in Britain, has chosen to place her newest work. A spectacular six metre high bronze sculpture spiralling outwards from a narrow foot, the triumph of Bronze Bowl with Lace is its crown of bronze filigree flaring from the top.

‘mermaid / pig / bro w/hat (installation view, 104 Delancey Street, New York), Urs Fischer © Urs Fischer. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery. Photography by Robert McKeever

Gagosian expands again with an Urs Fischer exhibition in New York (Michael Pepi)

The space, with its banal decor, still evokes the pedestrian rituals of branch banking. But visitors’ explorations of the urban ruin are punctuated by an almost narrative arrangement of modelled sculptures. A grand fireplace and a mermaid (mermaid, 2014) dominate the centre of the branch floor, while a massive Napoleonic bust sits behind the counter.