NORMAN DILWORTH
Born in 1931 in Orrell (United Kingdom). Died in Lille (France) in 2023.
Norman Dilworth was an English sculptor who belonged to the concrete art movement and geometric abstraction. Using mathematics as his base materials, he played with, composed and assembled shapes according to a modular principle offering a thousand and one possibilities. Often monumental, his sculptures - made of Corten steel, stainless steel or wood - were odes to the principles of growth inherent in nature. For over sixty years, Norman Dilworth created with the insouciance and candour of childhood.
Sculpting the unforeseen, the indocile, the unknown = even the inconceivable. This is the programme of Norman Dilworth, who seems to have conceived his work in the manner of a mathematician's recreation, throwing so many uncontrolled equations into plastic reality that only his sculptures would know the unknowns.
And he leaves it up to them to become forms, if not figures - though never quite figures. For a Dilworth creation is first and foremost movement, not that of the sculptor's hand, nor that of the viewer's eye, nor that of the commentator's mind; but rather the random and elusive movement that the work seems to give itself, for itself, strengthened by the encrypted rules of the sibylline and bewitching game that the artist has taught it. In this way, Dilworth avoids falling into the blind spot of an aesthetic that is fixed, limited and static. His angles are living, moving. Such is the case with Puffball, a metallic blossom of fine tubing creating the appearance of a sphere almost suspended in its growth. Graceful and ethereal though it may appear, Puffball has the energy of springtime sprouts, unfurling a steel branch that clings to space as much as it punctuates it - as if driven by an inexorable law of growth, like a water lily or a supernova.
The possibility of a work attuned solely to the rhythm of the ordering of the universe. It is as if Dilworth were opposing the mathematics of nature with another, not exactly his own, slightly less immanent and cryptic, animating his work with the promise of an equally infinite development. The initial version of Puffball, contemporary with Mario Merz's early work on the Fibonacci sequence, similarly plays on this perspective of the ineluctable expansion of life. But whereas with Merz, the arbitrariness of measurement was at work by affixing itself to the world (in the footsteps of a crocodile or on the sides of an igloo) as if to apprehend it by remembering it, with Dilworth mathematics nourishes, stimulates and creates a world ex nihilo - and in so doing opens up its own dimension, imperceptible in its latency, which cannot really be equated with a void. The fantasy of an open work, sometimes on the verge of freezing into improbable and fleeting interweavings, sometimes closing in on a space that it almost swallows up, finding there a fragile but delightful balance. Didn't Dilworth's desire to go beyond mere form, his desire to touch the very foundation of the figure, nourish him during his years in contact with Giacometti?
Jean Genet wrote: "I had the moving spectacle of a man who never made a mistake, but was always lost. He was always going further and further into impossible regions with no way out". Suspended in their reasoned proliferation, Norman Dilworth's sculptures undoubtedly lose us at the edge of the world's forms, the better not to deceive us about the new beginning they tirelessly initiate.
Nicolas Valains
Paris, France
CV
Born in 1931 in Orrell (United Kingdom).
Died in 2023 in Lille.
SOLO SHOWS
2023
Hommage, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
2022
Retour, Galerie Bacqueville, Vlissingen, Netherlands
2021
1 2 1 2 1, Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
2020
Création/Récréation, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
2019
Ruppert Prize, Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, Germany
2018
In two minds, Galerie De Ziener, Asse, Belgium
Generation, Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg/Essen, Germany
2017
Placement d'une sculpture dans la ville du Touquet, France
Time and Tide, Redfern Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2016
Couvent des Domicains, Lille, France
Parcours, Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Parisn, France
Galerie Oniris à Chassaigne Montrachet (with Odile Decq), France
2014
Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
2012
Recent wall pieces and sculptures, Galerie Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Form and Number, Galerie de Ziener, Asse, Belgium
2011
OEuvres récentes, Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Galerie Gimpel-Müller, Paris, France
Turnpike Gallery, Leigh, United Kingdom
City Art Gallery, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
2010
Galerie Iconoclastes, Paris, France
Laurent Delaye Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2009
Galerie Média, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Galerie La Ligne, Zürich, Switzerland
Chapelle des Jésuites, Cambrai, France
2008
Galerie l’Aquarium, cour du Conservatoire, Valenciennes, France
Fabien Delbarre ( 9 + 21 ) Lille, France
OEuvres récentes, Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
2007
Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
Galerie de Ziener, Asse, Belgium
Parcours sculptures, Art Paris 07, Grand Palais – Galerie Oniris, Paris, France
2006
Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
Centre d'art contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur, France
Galerie Frontières, Hellemmes, France
2005
Musée des Beaux-arts et de la Dentelle, Calais, France
Espace Lumière-Centre d'Art, Hénin-Beaumont, France
2002
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Het Glasen Huis, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2001
Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, Netherlands
Espace d'Art Contemporain Agi Schöningh, Demigny, France
1999
International Artist in Residence Programme, Guernsey, United Kingdom
1998
Galleri Magnus Aklundh, Lund, Sweden
Espace d’Art Contemporain, Demigny, France
1994
Hermen Molendijk Stichting/ CBK, Amersfoort, Netherlands
1993
Galerie Elke Dröscher, Hamburg, Germany
Galerie Jeanne Buytaert, Antwerpen, Belgium
1992
Galerie Durhammer, Frankfurt, Germany
1991
Galerie Im Spieker, Borken, Germany
Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
1989
Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1987
Galerie Plus Kern, Brussels, Belgium
Galerie van Rooy, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1986
Galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem, Netherlands
1981
Sally East Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1978
Galerie Magazijn, Groningen, Netherlands
Galerie Ekster, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
1976
Galerie Swart, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1975
Galerie Lydia Megert, Bern, Switzerland
Galerie Pa Szepan, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
1973
Lucy Milton Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1970
Galerie Nouvelles Images, The Hague, Netherlands
1968
Redmark Gallery, London, United Kingdom
EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVES (depuis 1990) / GROUP SHOWS (since 1990)
2023
Art Rotterdam, Galerie Bacqueville, Sculpture Park, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2020
Art Paris avec Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
2019
Art Bruxelles avec Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
De l'ombre à la lumière, Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
Art au Jardin avec Galerie Bacqueville, Lille/Oost-Souburg, Esquelbecq, France
2018
Karlsruhe Art Fair avec Galerie Oniris, Rennes, Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, France
Art Paris avec Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, Galerie Oniris, Rennes, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, France
Art Brussels avec Galerie Oniris, Rennes, François Morellet, Véra Molnar Norman Dilworth, Brussels, Belgium
Art Cologne avec Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg/Essen, Germany
Criminal Ornamentation, Arts Council Collection touring exhibition, United Kingdom
Espaces en Réflexion, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, France
2017
Art Elysées Paris avec Galerie Gimpel & Müller, London, United Kingdom, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, France
François Morellet et ses amis, Musée des Beaux Arts, Chambéry, France
British Constructivism, Pallant House, Chichester, United Kingdom
Art Paris avec Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, France
Circle, Sphere, Disc, Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
Occasional Geometries, Yorkshire, Sculpture Park, United Kingdom
Galerie Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Galerie de Ziener, Asse, Belgium
30 years, Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
De l'original au Multiple, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, France
Art Elysées Paris avec Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, France
2016
Karlsruhe Art Fair avec galerie Oniris, Rennes, et galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, France
Lille Art Up avec Galerie Wagner, France
Œuvres au Singulier, Centre d'Art Contemporain Les Tanneries, Amilly, France
Art Paris avec Galerie Gimpel & Müller Paris, Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
Affinités abstraites I Il Il1 IV V, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, France
Hommage au Carré, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet, France
30 jaar De Ziener, Centre d'Art De Markten, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Affinités abstraites, Galerie Wagner, Le Touquet Paris Plage, France
Archi-Sculptures, Villa datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorque, France
Abulafia Etcetera, Galerie L, Welle, Belgium
Old and New, Galerie Art Affairs Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014
Karlsruhe Art Fair with Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, France
Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
Art Paris, Grand Palais with Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, France
Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
2013
Art Cologne with Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
Art Paris, Grand Palais with Laurent Delaye Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, France
Galerie Oniris, Rennes, France
Salon du dessin, Carrousel du Louvre with galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris, France
Strand Gallery at Venice and Murano, Italy
"Een Groep", Galerie De Ziener, Asse, Belgium
"Amsterdam drawings", Galerie Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Frieze Art Fair, London with Dan Galleria, Sao Paulo, Brazil
"Beauté Rationnelle", Topographie de l'Art, Paris, France
2012
"Klare Taal" Locus Solus, Antwerp, Belgium
"The Slade School and Construction", Derwent Gallery, London, United Kingdom
"Noirs et Blancs", Galerie Gimpel&Müller, Paris, France
"Positionen Konkreter Kunst Heute", Stadtmuseum Simeonstift, Trier, Germany
"Concrete Parallels", Centro Brasileiro Britanico, Sao Paulo, Brazil
"Mathematisch – Vorm – Systeem", De Markten, Brussels, Belgium
Exhibition with Reiner Kallhardt, Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
2011
Dilworth/ Morellet/ Molnar/ Vacossin/ Knifer/ Leblanc, Art Paris 11 – Galerie Oniris, Paris, France
Dilworth (one man show)/Molnar/ Nemours/Vacossin, Salon du dessin 2011, Carrousel du Louvre, Galerie Oniris, Paris, United Kingdom
Festival International de Sculptures Contemporaines "Escaut, Rives, Dérives", Cambrai, France
Konstrukcja w Procesie (1981), Museum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland
Een Groep, galerie de Ziener, Asse, Belgium
2010
Dilworth/ Morellet/ Molnar/ Vacossin/ Knifer/ Leblanc/Denot/Doehler/Popet, ArtParis 10 – Galerie Oniris, Paris, France
Vilma Gold Gallery, "The Ground Around" London, United Kingdom
Leeds City Art Gallery, "Construction + Its Shadow", Leeds, United Kingdom
The Green House, "White Christmas", St Peter Port, Guernsey, United Kingdom
2009
Dilworth/ Morellet/ Molnar/ Vacossin/ Knifer/ Leblanc, ArtParis 09 – Galerie Oniris, France
Galerie de Ziener « All Together Now", Asse, Belgium
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montbéliard, "L'Oblique", Montbéliard, France
Galerie Gimpel-Müller (avec Gudrun Piper), Paris, France
Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Landesmuseum Mainz, "Positionen Konkreter Kunst Heute", Mainz, Germany
Laurent Delaye Gallery, "The North Sea", London, United Kingdom
2008
Dilworth/ Morellet/ Molnar/ Vacossin/ Nemours/ Knifer/ Perrodin/ Leblanc, ArtParis 08 – Galerie Oniris, Paris, France
Delaye-Saltoun Gallery (with Anthony Hill) London, United Kingdom
Portland gallery- British abstract Art 1950-1985", London, United Kingdom
Galerie de Ziener, "Van Stof tot Asse" Asse, Belgium
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Calais, « Alice, son miroir et ses merveilles, Calais, France
2007
Dilworth/ Morellet/ Nemours/ Vacossin/ Perrodin/ Leblanc, ArtBrussels 07 – Galerie Oniris, Belgium
Dilworth/ Morellet/ Molnar/ Vacossin/ Nemours, Art Paris 07 – Galerie Oniris, Paris, France
2006
N. Dilworth/ F. Morellet/ V. Molnar/ M.-T. Vacossin, ArtBrussels 06 – Galerie Oniris, Belgium
2005
Placements, Galerie König, Hanau, Germany
Symposion, Gorinchem, Netherlands
Old + New, Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Norman Dilworth/François Morellet, FIAC 05, Galerie Oniris, Paris, France
Sjoerd Buisman/Norman Dilworth - Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2003
Konstruktive Kunst aus England, Niebüll, Germany
De bomen van Pythagoras, Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, Netherlands
2002
Hommage à R. P. Lohse, Gmunden, Switzerland
25 x 25 Galerie St Johann, Saarbrücken, Netherlands
2001
Ad Dekkers and Norman Dilworth - Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2000
Segmente, Erfurt, Germany
Tuin van verbeelding, Von Gimborn, Arboretum, Doorn, Netherlands
Klein-beeld 2000, Midden-Beemster, Netherlands
1999
Positionen, Stiftung Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany
Kunst in den Treptowers, Berlin, Germany
Concrete Kunst, Cultureel Centrum, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Permutations, Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
Kelling Arts Festival, Norfolk, United Kingdom
1998
Like Waves Breaking on the Shore. Ad Dekkers In His Time, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Equivalences, Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1997
Between Trees and Waves, Avegoor, Netherlands
13. Mednarodni Bienale Male Plastike, Murska Sobota, Slovenia
Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
1996
Aspekte niederländischer Kunst heute, Städtische Galerie, Lüdenscheid, Germany
Contemporary Concrete Art, Académie des Beaux-Arts de Budapest, Hungary
Art and Technology, Royal Shell Research Laboratories, Amsterdam, Netherlands
De Geur van hout, Gorcums Museum, Gorinchem, Netherlands
1995
Tradition und Kontinuität, Dessau, Germany
Cost/Artline, Hoorn, Netherlands
1994
Blick über den Armelkanal, Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Water op Bouvigne, Breda, Netherlands
Kunstmuseum, Thun, Switzerland
1993
Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Groningen, Netherlands
Beelden op de berg 6, Wageningen, Netherlands
Galerie Durhammer, Frankfurt, Germany
1992
Arbor et Sculptura, Ministerie van Landbouw, The Hague, Netherlands
1991
D’arte Galleria, Helsinki, Finland
3w=B2 (Rijksweg project), Markiezenhof Bergen op zoom, Netherlands
Works of The Sixties, Art Affairs, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1990
British-Systematisch, Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst, Zürich, Switzerland
Is in de Hal, Rotterdam, Netherlands
COLLECTIONS PUBLIQUES / PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands
Allianz, Berlin, Germany
City of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Arts Council of Great Britain, United Kingdom
Arts Council of Wales, United Kingdom
The British Council, United Kingdom
Camden Council, London, United Kingdom
Doncaster City Art Gallery, United Kingdom
Dresdener Bank, Dessau, Germany
The City of Dordrecht, Netherlands
Fond National d’Art Contemporain, France
Institut Collectie Nederland, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Netherlands
Mancherster City Art Gallery, United Kingdom
Museum of Modern Art, Lodz, Poland
Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, S'Hertogenbosh, Netherlands
Musée de Grenoble , France
Musée de Montbéliard, France
Musée Matisse Le Cateau Cambrésis, France
Musée de Calais, France
Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, Germany
National Collection, Warsaw, Poland
Reading University, United Kingdom
Rijksgebuwendienst, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Städtische Kunstsammlung, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Städtische Kunstsammlung, Mönchengladbach, Germany
Städtische Kunstsammlung, Neu-Ulm, Germany
Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam, Netherlands
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stichting Beeldenpark Dordwijk, Dordrecht, Netherlands
Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom
University College, London, United Kingdom
University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Ville de Valenciennes, France
Ville de Vitry, France
CNED, Villeneuve-d' Ascq, France
COMMANDES / COMMISSIONS (selection)
2011
Sculpture for the park of château Lebreton – insurance company Matmut, Saint Pierre-de-Varengeville, France
2009
Large mural for the building " Les Terrasses des Arts ", Vitry sur Seine, France
2007
Sculpture for the garden of Galerie de Ziener, Asse, Belgium
2006
Sculpture for Centre National d'Education à Distance, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France
1999
Sculpture + Relief for Allianz Offices, Treptowers, Berlin, Germany
1997
Sculpture ( exterior ) for Oud Beijerland, Netherlands
1996
Sculpture – app. 25 m long - for the interior of Wilhelminahof, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1995
Relief for Dresdener Bank, Dessau, Germany
Ziekenhuis Leyenburg, Netherlands
1994
Woningbouwvereniging, Nieuwegein, Netherlands
1993
Sculpture in the park, Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands
1991
Tower for Rijkerswoerd, Arnhem, Netherlands
Relief Zeebrugge Townhall, Netherlands
1990
Relief for Stadsdeel Zeeburg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1988
13 m high lightobject for the Akademisch Ziekenhuis, Utrecht, Netherlands
Garden sculpture for Het Verpleeghuis, Maassluis, Netherlands
1987
First Prize winner sculpture for Domplein, Utrecht, Netherlands
1986
Sculpture for Stopera, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1985
Reliefs for the offices of Dick Peek and Kees de Kat (architects Amsterdam), Netherlands
Sculpture for the Beeldenpark Dorwijk, Dordrecht, Netherlands
1984
Renovation of Betondorp, Amsterdam, Netherlands