The Sculpture of Austin Wright

This is the first major illustrated monograph to be published on the work of the British sculptor Austin Wright.

Austin Wright grew up in Cardiff and trained to be a teacher. In 1939 he produced his first surviving wood-carvings. After the War, when he started teaching at York Art School, he widened his range of media to include stone, clay and lead.

In 1957, Wright won the Purchase Prize at the São Paulo Biennale, and from 1961 to 1964 he held the Gregory Fellowship in Sculpture at the University of Leeds. Here he was befriended by the Professor of Botany, Irene Manton, who stimulated his interest in plant forms and in the interior structure of plants. From this point on, two separate strands can be discerned in Wright’s work which was now, predominantly, in aluminium: sculpture derived from his study of rocks, which explores texture, mass, weight and stasis; and sculpture inspired by plants, botanical electron micrographs and his beloved and inspirational garden. These works explore growth, movement and lightness.

This monograph includes an illustrated essay, which places Wright’s achievement in the context of British sculpture in the twentieth century and focuses on its links with science, and a profusely illustrated catalogue of Wright’s complete sculpture, as well as catalogues of his prints and his sketchbooks.