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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.

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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

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

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