In the Design House, Bridget McCrum, Torso IV, 1997

'There is the simplified form that allows the eye to comprehend the piece as a single coherent whole, like a passage in a Bach Cello Suite. Less is more, no fuss. Balance is all. A sweeping line fades and then reappears as you move around the piece, invoking the optical effects the artist experienced among the dunes of the Arabian deserts. And with this comes a sense of rhythm and dynamism, of an object in motion, as light and shadow and perspective generate a kinetic energy. Such things are in the DNA of a Bridget McCrum sculpture or painting or drawing.' -Bridget McCrum by Will Gompertz, 2020

Bridget McCrum
Torso IV
1997
Clipsham
69 x 23 x 28 cm
2ft 3 x 9 x 11 in.

Having trained as a painter at Farnham College of Art in the 1950s, Bridget McCrum (1934 -) only came to sculpture in her forties, and from 1980 began to work primarily in stone. Her sculpture draws inspiration from artists such as Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, yet she has always been captivated by the landscape and archaic monuments within in. Bridging ancient remains with dynamic and organic forms; the art of Bridget McCrum is imbued with a timeless aesthetic, and a quiet grace that never fails to move us.

Since the 1990s, McCrum has mainly focused on abstracting the flight of birds, as seen from her garden in South Devon that overlooks the Dart Estuary. Torso IV is a late example of her bodily works, carved from Clipsham Stone- a Jurassic limestone from Clipsham Quarry, Lincolnshire. It was in sculpting the human form that McCrum first received a wider recognition for her work, having entered Bottom (1984) into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. McCrum was away at the time, exploring the landscapes of Somalia. On returning, she had the encouragement of her life-long friend, the sculptor Elizabeth Frink, who had seen it displayed at the RA. She hence commissioned McCrum to carve her a version of the nude for her own garden, with only one alteration: 'Make it bigger!'.

Bridget McCrum's work is included in many international collections including: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Rolls Royce Aero Engines, Bristol, Lismore Castle, Co Cork, HSBC, Malta, Spencer Stuart, London, and the Golden Door Foundation, San Diego. Her work is held in private collections in the USA, Canada, the Middle and Far East, Europe and the UK. Recent solo exhibitions include The Conference of the birds, Messums, with whom she has exhibited since 1997.

Bridget lives and works in Devon and Gozo in Malta.

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