Sculpture, 'Raft of the Medusa I', porcelain, Rachel Kneebone, London, 2015, with Corian base

Porcelain sculpture in the form of intertwined limbs, set on rectangular Corian base.

Acquired through the generosity of Gerard and Sarah Griffin, and Christian and Florence Levett

Rachel Kneebone's Raft of the Medusa series was conceived after her observation of shared formal characteristics between a new work (which became her Raft of the Medusa II) and Theodore Gericault's painting of the same name. Raft of the Medusa I, made subsequently, was the first piece in the series to consciously explore the relationship, hence its numbering. The series was shown in the solo exhibition Raft of the Medusa at The Foundling Museum, London, 2017-8.

Artist's statement:

Raft of the Medusa

This new series of works takes its inspiration from Gericault's famous painting 'The Raft of the Medusa'. Rather that attempting to recreate the scene as such, I have tried to elaborate the elements and forces in the painting that seem most powerful to me: the combination of hope and despair, the convergence of so many bodies in one small space, the sense of what has just happened to them, and the extraordinary geometry of horizontals and verticals which contribute to the painting's effect.

The movement of the wind and sea, and the billowing expanse of the sail and shirt held aloft by the wind all accentuate the theme of the resilience of life in the face of death and disaster at sea. In my works, I am hoping to build on these themes, creating a kind of physical dialogue with Gericault's picture, which still retains its impact on viewers today. The base of the sculptures evokes the raft itself, broken and fractured in a variety of different ways, with limbs and bodies intertwined above, their movement and position creating a sense of both release and capture, prison and freedom.

C.339:1, 2-2018