Arts & Books Magazine Tate Britain Tracey Emin

Private view: The good news about sculpture

The Royal Academy’s “Modern British Sculpture” show received appalling reviews. But its courage was overlooked

By Ben Lewis

March 23, 2011

April 2011

Bill Woodrow’s “Electric Fire with Yellow Fish” (1981) paved the way for Hirst and Lucas

Modern British Sculpture Royal Academy, until 7th April

You’ve got to admire the chutzpah. The list of omissions in the Royal Academy’s show “Modern British Sculpture” was staggering. I had to go round it four times to make sure the names I missed weren’t really there. No Anish Kapoor, who had a solo exhibition at the RA in 2009; no Rachel Whiteread, who’s done the Fourth Plinth and Turbine Hall; no Tracey Emin, whose bed and tent are classics of our time; and no Antony…

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Ben Lewis

Ben Lewis is a documentary filmmaker and art critic