Disobedient Bodies

This major exhibition saw Jonathan Anderson, one of the world’s most innovative contemporary fashion designers, exploring the human form in art, fashion and design. 

A personal selection of sculptures were on display, alongside notable fashion pieces and objects of craft and design, investigating the way the human form has been reconceived by artists and designers across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

The selection was shaped by Anderson’s long-standing passion for modern art (from the mid-twentieth century) and the underlying questions of gender that have been posed by his own fashion collections at JW Anderson. 

 Figurative sculptures by artists including Jean Arp, Louise Bourgeois, Lynn Chadwick, Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth, Sarah Lucas, Henry Moore, Magali Reus and Dorothea Tanning are in direct dialogue with fashion pieces by designers such as Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo of Commes des Garçons, Helmut Lang and Issey Miyake. 

Anderson collaborated with Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald of 6a architects to present this exhibition, which unfolded across the galleries, offering a series of contrasting experiences for visitors to explore.

Images © The Hepworth Wakefield, photography Lewis Ronald.