The latest exhibition at Two Temple Place in London called Sussex Modernism – retreat and rebellion is in its last week. The exhibition explores new artistic expressions in the field of art, design, architecture and craft in Sussex during the first half of the 20th century.

This major showcase examines why radical artists and writers were drawn to the villages of Sussex and how, in the communities they created, artistic innovation ran hand in hand with political and domestic experimentation. The exhibition is curated by Dr Hope Wolf, Lecturer in British Modernist Literature and co-Director of the Centre for Modernist Studies at the University of Sussex.

 
Through over 120 works, the exhibition discovers connections between these enclaves of artists and the modernisms they represented. The work of Eric Gill and David Jones in the community in Ditchling is compared with the paintings and interiors of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant at Charleston and the surrealist collaborations of Edward James and Salvador Dali. Unexpected networks of Serge Chermayeff, Eric Ravilious, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Henry Moore is revealed. Despite sharing socialist ideas they produced very different artistic output from architecture and sculpture to photography and film.

The exhibitions hosted by the Bulldog Trust at Two Temple Place take place each year from January till April and support regional collections and museums across the UK and give first time curators the chance to work on an exhibition. Sussex Modernism was created in partnership with 9 Sussex museums and galleries including Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery and Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne.

For more information click here.