"Josephsohn"

With its singular fixation on the human figure, the work of Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn (1920–2012) seems both contemporary and atavistic, evoking such modern masters as Brancusi, Giacometti, Matisse and Henry Moore, while also recalling ancient Cycladic totems or Stone Age effigies. Like Richard Serra, Josephsohn emphasized the weightiness of his sculpture, which can take shape as massive busts, plaques and upright stele-like forms, complemented by surface textures created by alternately modeling and chiseling plaster.