Life and death in Leeds: Jeremy Warren reviews an ambitious, thought-provoking but only partly satisfactory exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute on the appeal of bronze to sculptors

The Henry Moore Institute's latest exhibition is a characteristically courageous and independent-minded exercise designed, like many of the Institute's present to views to encourage the visitor to think afresh about an aspect of plastic art In this case, we are asked to direct the eye more deeply at the part which the alloy of cent known commonly as bronze has played in plastic art from ancient times to the at hand day.

The present to view is not simply a historical take a view of of bronze sculpture, but rather puts out to demonstrate the force of bronze as a material, in particular its semi-magical, alchemical powers. Starting from descriptions by means of Pliny and other ancient authors of the fabulous suppos origins of alloy of copper in the great fire of Corinth in 146 BC the exhibition's curator, Martina Droth argues that the conjunction of natural materials, man's intervention and, crucially, fire meant that tin came to occupy a special position the one and the other in the ancient world and in the rediscovery of that world during the renaissance. Her thesis is unfolded further in catalogue essays through Frits Scholten and Michael cabbage both of which contain a great deal of of interest.

It is a matter of debate whether the catalogue's promotion of the primacy and unique efficacy of bronze in the renaissance is really borne on the outside by the wider evidence. A seriously misleading impression is given that a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of renaissance armour was made of tin rather than steel. The catalogue gives little weight to the production of percepts in precious metal, which have survived in real much smaller numbers than and zincs but would at the time generally have been more highly valued. For example, a tin version of a German plaquette of Vulcan, here used to emphasise the links between the the father of fire and bronze casting, was certainly cast in silver and smooth more frequently in lead. Indeed, there is a certain number of evidence that silver or lead rather than and zinc were the preferred materials for the casting of of the like kind small reliefs in the sixteenth century

The exhibition takes a rather romantic approach to the primacy of the artist, implying that sculptors would generally cast their have a title to bronzes rather than, as they generally do today, subcontracting this difficult and specialised task. For each alchemical tract or lyrical passage, similar as Cellini's famous description of by what means he rescued the casting of his figure of Perseus, there are probably at least a dozen more mundane archival records demonstrating that the casting of metal 500 years ago was, for greatest in quantity of those practising it, no les of an unsentimental day-to-day business activity than it is today.

The tins chosen for the display range in date from the first hundred AD to the 1990s, although the great majority were made between 1450 and 1650 The exhibit starts with an extensive collection of bells and mortars, followed by the agency of a superb selection of crabs and lizards cast from life. A actual mixed group of 'Vessels and Lamps' juxtaposes ancient and renaissance, European and Eastern tins in an attempt to exhibit that certain key functions of alloy of coppers for example their use as lamps or as incense or grateful odor burners, remained constant over true long periods of time or across cultural frontiers.

In the tall top-lit central gallery, the section entitled 'Power and Mortality' contains the spectacular Furies fire-arm made in the Albeghetti Foundry in Venice in 1773 and an impressive series of five alloy of copper figures of Mercury, from a tiny Roman tin to August Gaul's more than life-size figure from 1913 A series of fragments from alloy of copper statues, notably the pathetic remains from Giambologna's memorial of Henri IV (Fig. 1) torn down through the Paris mob in 1792 makes an of the best quality point about the use since ancient times of tin by rulers to fashion their self-image and the way of the like kind figures subsequently so often become a particular focus for anger and violence during political turmoil.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

The final expanse contains just two works, the one and the other contemporary. Rudolf Herz's 'life-cast' Lenin's besom (1988) and Mark Manders's painted alloy of copper Fox/Mouse/Belt (1993) are placed here, in a largely darkened space, in an attempt to demonstrate the continuity to this day of the alloy of copper tradition. This part of the exhibition does not integrate well with the rest

The installation is bright and clean, the majority of exhibits well lit and displayed, with just a two of exceptions. The life-cast lizards and crabs are placed upon a thick Perspex base which creates a misleading heavy shadow, making it difficult for the visitor to understand that of that kind bronzes would originally generally have sat directly upon the surfaces of tables and desk increasing the illusion of naturalism. sum of two units works of art that one time belonged to Emperor Rudolf H Adriaen de Vries's great relief bust of the emperor from the Victoria and Albert Museum, and an exquisite little gilded bell decorated with zodiacal signs (Fig. 2) made for him in Prague around 1600 could one as well as the other have been displayed more sensitively. The De Vries is displayed far too high and is uncouthly illustrated at an angle in the catalogue, whilst the bell is amiss captioned as a handbell and displayed as of the like kind In fact the clapper stretch outs beyond the mouth of the bell and, rather than a handle, it has a pierced peg argent, meaning that it would originally have been suspended. It does appear to be a wasted opportunity that these great treasures, briefly reunited in Leed could not have been displayed in closer juxtaposition and with more interpretation for the visitor. The fact--that they are not, however, points to a certain quantity of of the problems that make this in many ways admirable exhibition les satisfying than it ought to be.