“The Figure in Modern Sculpture” curated by Kenneth Wayne, Ph.D.

New York – An exhibition of sculpture by Alexander Archipenko, Chaim Gross, Gaston Lachaise, Jacques Lipchitz, Elie Nadelman and John Storrs will be presented by Forum Gallery from May 10 to June 22, 2012. Curated by Kenneth Wayne, Ph.D., the exhibition, The Figure in Modern Sculpture, will include twenty-five works that represent the collective inspiration these artists found in the visual art, music, dance, architecture and machine-age industry of the early twentieth century.

In this exhibition, Dr. Wayne posits that, beginning with the second decade of the twentieth century, artists on both sides of the Atlantic broke with academic tradition to depict modern man in original ways, infusing their work with a sense of mystery, mirth and movement, creating a new and dynamic vision of the human figure.

The sculpture in the Forum Gallery exhibition begins chronologically with the swirling plaster figure, Kauernde, 1912, by Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964) and includes dancing, standing, kneeling, reclining and performing figures, ending with Chaim Gross’ (1904-1991) Circus Girl of 1957. The Archipenko works are advanced in their modernity, the Gross sculptures are animated forms that crystallize their period, and the curvilinear bronzes of Gaston Lachaise (1882-1935), cubist figures in stone by Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973), original pieces in five different media by Elie Nadelman (1882-1946), and streamlined interpretations by John Storrs (1885-1956) all collaborate to inform the new vision of their time.

Working independently when the Forum Gallery exhibition came into being, Dr. Kenneth Wayne has since been appointed Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City. His past positions include being Curator of Modern Art at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo and the Joan Whitney Payson Curator at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine.