The Sainsbury Centre has acquired a major marble sculpture by Helaine Blumenfeld for its permanent collection and display.
Their announcement stated ‘The Sainsbury Centre is delighted to have acquired a piece of work from one of the country’s most important sculptors. The Shadow Figures series is one of Helaine Blumenfeld OBE’s most significant creations.’
Blumenfeld’s Shadow Figures was inspired by the Platonic idea that we never really see a person: we see only the shadow that he or she casts, which is ever-changing.
The Sainsbury Centre is a world-class art museum and one of the first museums in the world to display art from all around the globe and from all periods equally and collectively. Sir Robert and Lady Lisa Sainsbury created one of the most sought-after yet non-conformist art collections.
The collection includes artworks by Edgar Degas, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Francis Bacon and Frank Auerbach. Housed in Sir Norman Foster’s revolutionary first-ever public building, the space aimed for an interactive relationship between people, objects and landscape, where art was placed within an open yet intimate ‘living area’.