Katherine Gili Explained

Katherine Gili (born 1948) is a British sculptor. After completing her studies at Bath Academy of Art and St Martin's School of Art, Gili taught at a number of art schools; most notably St Martin's and Norwich between 1972 and 1985. Her sculpture was exhibited for the first time in 1973 and well over a hundred times since. Gili's career is marked by solo shows in London and New York and by contributions to seminal survey exhibitions at major venues such as the Hayward Gallery. In recent years she has regularly shown in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions and notably in 2013 her sculpture "Ripoll" won the Sculpture Prize.

Katherine Gili's work is represented in the Arts Council Collection, Tate and other public and corporate collections in the UK, Switzerland and the USA. Lord Foster selected one of her pieces to stand alongside the Cranfield University Institute of Technology Library which was designed by Foster Associates in 1992.

Early life

Gili was born in Oxford to father Joan Gili, Catalan publisher and translator, and Elizabeth (née McPherson or MacPherson), cookbook author, artist, and the daughter of a Scottish-Canadian missionary.^[1] Her brother was filmmaker Jonathan Gili. Gili graduated from Bath Academy of Art in 1970 and then studied for two years at St Martin's School of Art.^[2]

Solo exhibitions

• Summer Exhibition 2, Selected by Tim Hilton. Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London, 1977^[3]
• Salander O'Reilly Gallery, New York 1981
• Katherine Gili – A Career Survey; Poussin Gallery 2011^[4]
• Artist of the Day, chosen by Jennifer Durrant, Flowers Gallery, London 2014^[5]
• Looking for the Physical, Sculpture and Drawings by Katherine Gili, Felix & Spear, London, 2016^[6]
• Discovered in the Making, Katherine Gili Sculpture, Felix & Spear, London, 2018^[7]
• Sparks Fly, Katherine Gili Sculpture 1974 to 2018, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, 2019

Selected mixed exhibitions

• The Condition of Sculpture; Hayward Gallery, an international exhibition selected by William Tucker, 1975
• Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Contemporary British Sculpture; Battersea Park 1977
• Annual Stockwell Depot Exhibitions of Painting and Sculpture; 1974–79
• Hayward Annual; 1979
• Have You Seen Sculpture from the Body? Tate Gallery 1984
• Escultura Nueva Reino Unido; Centro Cultural del Conde Duque, Madrid 1988
• Moving Into View: a major display of the Arts Council Collection; South Bank Centre selected by William Packer, 1993
• British Abstract Art, Part 2, Sculpture; Flowers East Gallery, London 1995
• British Figurative Art, Part 2, Sculpture; Flowers East Gallery, London. 1998
• Steel; Canary Wharf, London. 2006
• The Royal Academy Summer Shows 1996, 1997, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016^[8]

Awards

• Elephant Trust 1994
• Elected Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors 1999^[9]
• Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture, Royal Academy 2013

Selected Public Collections

• Arts Council Collection^[10]
• University of Leicester^[11]
• City of Lugano Switzerland
• Cartwright Hall, Bradford
• General Electric Corporation, USA
• Henry Moore Institute
• Tate^[12]

Private collections

The Leo and Eileen Herzel Collection USA

Lord Peter Palumbo collection at Kentuck Knob USA, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

References

• Katherine Gili, Looking for the Physical, published by Felix & Spear Gallery,
• Katherine Gili, a career survey, published by Poussin Gallery,
• A Free Hand, An exhibition chosen by William Packer from painting and sculpture recently acquired by the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1978, (illus)
• Stockwell Depot 1967–79 by Sam Cornish, published by Ridinghouse, London, 2015,
• Forja by José Antonio Ares, published by Parramon, 2007 (illus).
• La Sculpture en Acier by Philippe Clérin, published by Dessain et Tolra, Paris, 1994 (illus).
• Portrait of the Artist: 25 Years of British Art by Jorge Lewinski, published by Carcanet, 1987, Katherine Gili, pp70–71 (illus).
• Interesting Times by Tom Flynn, catalogue for the annual Sculpture in the Garden exhibition, University of Leicester, 2012 (illus)
• Fe₂O₅, introduction by Ann Elliott, Myles Meehan Gallery, 2005 (illus).
• British Figurative Art Part Two: Sculpture, introduction by Norbert Lynton, photography by Adrian Flowers, Flowers East Gallery, 1998 (illus). (paper)
• British Abstract Art Part 2: Sculpture, introduction by Bryan Robertson, Flowers East Gallery, 1995 (illus)
• A Conversation with Isabel Langtry catalogue for Escultura Nueva Reino Unido, Centro Cultural del Conde Duque, pp47–63, 1988 (illus).
• Have You Seen Sculpture from the Body? by Vivien Knight, introduction, Tate Gallery, pp8–21, 1984 (illus)
• Sculpture from Stockwell Depot at the Sainsbury Centre by James Faure-Walker, Artscribe No 35 pp8–21, June 1982 (illus),
• Sculpture from Stockwell Depot John Foster, Katherine Gili, Peter Hide, Anthony Smart: Katherine Gili and Anthony Smart by Alan Gouk, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, 1982 (illus)
• Constructed Sculpture by Brendon Prendeville, catalogue for British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century at Whitechapel Gallery, 1981 pp209–221, (illus)
• Five Interviews: Katherine Gili with David Robson, (catalogue for the Hayward Annual 1979), Hayward Gallery, 1979, pp116–117, 124–125,(illus)
• The Condition of Sculpture Hayward Gallery, introduction by William Tucker, 1975 (illus pp26–27)
• Arts Council Collection (1942–78) (illus p 105)
• Arts Council Collections 1979–83 (illus p 45)

External links

• Katherine Gili's Website
• Felix & Spear, London
• Katherine Gili – FAD Magazine
• Papers of Katherine Gili – Archives Hub

Notes and References

1. Web site: Obituary: J. L. Gili. The Independent. Ian. Michael. 7 May 1998.
2. Web site: Papers of Katherine Gili. Archives Hub.
3. Web site: Summer Show 2 [1977].
4. Web site: Poussin Gallery.
5. Web site: Exhibitions.
6. Web site: Katherine Gili | Felix & Spear.
7. Web site: Katherine Gili | Felix & Spear.
8. Web site: 1146 - PENDULUM MAQUETTE by Bryan Kneale RA.
9. https://sculptors.org.uk/artists/katherine-gili{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
10. Web site: Gili, Katherine | Arts Council Collection.
11. Web site: Events | Botanic Garden and Attenborough Arboretum | University of Leicester.
12. Web site: Katherine Gili born 1948.