Gaudier-Brzeska

by Evelyn Silber

After a short, turbulent life in France, Germany and Britain, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was killed in the trenches in 1915 at the age of twenty-three. A protege of Ezra Pound and a fellow champion of Vorticism, he was a member of the legendary pre-war London circle that included Wyndham Lewis, Jacob Epstein and Roger Fry, and by the time of his death he had already produced a body of work that established him as one of the key figures of twentieth-century sculpture. A pioneering direct carver, his bold use of semi-abstract sculptural forms and organic dynamism were an acknowledged influence on Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. He was also a brilliant draughtsman and his succinct, candid drawings have been as sought after as his sculpture. Gaudier-Brzeska: Life and Art is the first major study of his life and work. Based on extensive research and incorporating the first catalogue raisonne of his sculpture, it is accompanied by over 100 photographs taken specially for the book by David Finn.