All of the works in this room have been selected from the very substantial gift to Tate made by the collector Janet Wolfson de Botton in 1996.

This selection from the Janet Wolfson de Botton gift traces some of the ways in which sculpture was redefined over a twenty year period from the late 1960s. During this period many artists abandoned the plinth and began to explore different ways in which sculpture could occupy space.

Traditionally, the plinth epitomised the removal of a statue from everyday experience. The act of positioning sculpture on the floor, against the wall or finding other ways to present it had powerful repercussions. For many artists this meant recognising the sculpture as an object in itself, rather than a means of representing something else. Materials were therefore chosen not for their mimetic qualities but for their inherent properties, an approach that led away from traditional media and towards industrial, natural and found materials.

The shift away from the plinth also brought the sculpture closer to the viewer’s own space, creating a different kind of engagement with the work. Grenville Davey has suggested that it is ‘a very physical business, reading objects’, a self-conscious act of looking that in turn triggers a more subconscious, contemplative activity.

Fifteen years on, it is clear that the Janet Wolfson de Botton gift has helped to transform the public understanding of contemporary art and was crucial to the development of Tate Modern in particular. Other works from the gift can be found elsewhere within the Collection displays and at other Tate sites.

Curated by Matthew Gale