Summer Girl, 1982

Acquired directly from the artist by the previous owner, circa 1982

Chichester, Otter Gallery, University of Chichester, Ingram Loan Exhibition, March – April 2012;

Woking, The Lightbox, The Ingram Collection: Colourful Lives of Artists, 30 April – 30 June 2013;

Woking, The Lightbox, Bodies! The Ingram Collection, 21 November 2015 – 31 January 2016

Ralph Brown was born in Leeds, and is the youngest of the renowned group of twentieth century Yorkshire sculptors that included Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Kenneth Armitage. Like Moore, who supported Brown and encouraged him by buying his work, his sculpture is deeply rooted in the figurative tradition. Summer Girl, conceived in 1982, shows how Brown’s work developed through the years. Compared to the visceral physicality of Meat Porters, also in the collection, this is an exploration of the human form in a much gentler and more sensual manner. Brown indulged in the female form and creates seductive and often erotic sculptures of girls and women. Although his work covers a number of subject matters they always remain true to his obsession with both the female and male human form.