Born in Northampton in 1917, Robert Adams was positioned at the forefront of New Generation British sculpture. A keen sense of experimentation can therefore be felt across his work; Adams did not limit himself to a single style or medium, producing sculptures in stone, wood, various metals and concrete in the course of his career.
Equally, Adams pioneered a sculptural departure from the figurative, enlivening British sculpture with a vocabulary that was both abstract and constructivist. In fact, his work was notable for its apparent apoliticism, privileging a timeless investigation of shape and form – especially the curve – above the ephemeral concerns of post-war Europe.
Particularly striking is that, for all their abstraction, Adams’ works are imbued with a palpable vitality. His mastery of space, light and shadow, paired with an appreciation for asymmetrical forms, produced works that appear to have sprung from the earth. Yet Adams’ lucid, organic style belies the inner complexity of his constructions, which necessitated extensive, sprawling preparatory drawings.
Perhaps it was this meticulous approach, paired with his constructivist ideas, that secured Adams’ high regard among contemporary architects. In 1956, he earned a commission from the Gelsenkirchen Theatre in Germany, for which he produced a large-scale concrete relief of some 22 metres in length. In fact, Adams’ appeal as a corporate sculptor was strong in both Europe and America; his work can be seen in churches, schools, banks and even a P&O liner, the SS Canberra.
Within the more immediate artistic field, Adams’ work was arguably overshadowed. The likes of Ken Armitage, Lynn Chadwick and Bernard Meadows largely obscured him from the contemporary sculptural canon, leadingTime Out magazine to lament him as, "the neglected genius of post-war British sculpture”.
Nevertheless, Adams was undeniably esteemed, both at an institutional and personal level. He held a solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils in 1947, before representing Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1962. Equally, he was a close-knit associate of the artists of St Ives, forming a source of profound inspiration for Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, in particular.