Nigel Hall: Drawings

Born in 1943 in Bristol, Nigel Hall RA studied at the West of England College of Art in Bristol and at the Royal College of Art in London before winning a Harkness Fellowship to study in America, where he travelled in California and the Mojave Desert. One of the foremost sculptors of his generation, Hall has created acclaimed works in steel, aluminium and polished wood. As a boy he watched and worked with his grandfather, a stonemason who restored churches and other buildings in the West of England: ‘Experience of carving has affected the way I make sculpture and drawings, which is very much to do with light and shade, and edge.’ In this appealing new volume, Hall’s skill as a draughtsman is revealed, as is the importance of drawing to his sculptural practice. Indeed, his abstract drawings in gouache and charcoal show the same preoccupation with space and balance as his sculptures. Some 80 of Hall’s beautiful works on paper are included, with an intriguing introduction to them by the renowned art writer Andrew Lambirth.