William Turnbull

Mask I

1953

© William Turnbull. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2019

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In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1950

Free entry

Artist: William Turnbull 1922–2012
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: Object: 230 x 205 x 70 mm, 2.4 kg
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Transferred from the Victoria & Albert Museum 1983
Reference: T03773

Display caption

In the 1950s Turnbull developed an art that almost mimicked an imagined ancient civilization. The human head became a recurring subject. This is one of the first of a series of masks, a common theme in several non-western traditions. Such works were produced by pushing various objects into a clay original from which a cast was then taken.

Gallery label, September 2016

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Catalogue entry

T03773 Mask I 1953

Bronze 9 1/8 × 8 1/8 × 2 3/4 (230 × 205 × 70)

Not inscribed
Transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum 1983

Prov: Purchased by the Department of Circulation, Victoria and Albert Museum, Sotheby's, 15 April 1964, 149, as ‘Mask II, 1955’ (Circ. 194–1964)

Exh: William Turnbull, Tate Gallery, August–October 1973 (8, repr.)

The artist has confirmed the correct title and date of this sculpture (letter of 4 December 1984). There is one other cast, which belongs to the artist.

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1986