Collectors Tour & Private View: Laurence Edwards – ‘Doncaster Heads: Portrait of a Mining Community’

Join us in the gallery for the Collectors Tour and Private View of Laurence Edwards. Messums London is delighted to welcome back Laurence Edwards back for a new exhibition – The Doncaster Heads: Portraits of a Mining Community – next January.

In 2018 Laurence Edwards was awarded a commission by the City of Doncaster for a sculptural installation celebrating and remembering the lives of those who had lived and worked in the pits around Doncaster. Edwards decided to sculpt 40 portraits of former miners to be installed in the city centre. Sculpted from life in two-hour sittings, the portraits are beautifully modelled; affectionate yet sincere and as much a product of the conversations and relationship between the artist and his sitters as pure observation.

As a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Sculptures, Edwards’ mastery of modelling from life was evident, yet this exhibition offers a rare chance to see this very traditional skill at the forefront of his work. That each sculpture was completed in just two hours is a remarkable feat of observation and skill, with the speed lending a vitality that runs through the series.

The Doncaster Heads series will be shown as a preview at Messums London in January, an exciting opportunity to see this historic public sculpture before it settles in its permanent home in the heart of Doncaster.

£0 – £10