Naum Gabo

A pioneer of the constructivist movement, Gabo had to flee Russia in 1922 because of his opposition to Tatlin. First he moved to Berlin and lectured at Bauhaus, then he spent a brief period in Paris before arriving in England in 1935, where for seven years he lived in Cornwall socialising with artists like Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Peter Lanyon. Known for his geometric sculptures made in Perspex and metal, here, Gabo concentrates on the solid organic forms rendered in grey and cream marble. Reminiscent of fossils or pebbles he might have picked up on the Cornish coast, these works appear in a pre-stage of transformation, the marble’s surface is part dappled with chisel marks and also polished smooth.