Totem: The Untold Story of Sculpture, Art Talk with Jo Baring

Event Information

Join Jo Baring to delve into the heart of sculpture, exploring creativity, memory and why we have been driven to make art in this medium since the very beginning of humanity at this accessible and enjoyable talk. For forty thousand years, we have been carving and moulding, shaping and chiselling, feeling our way and sensing our place in the world through sculpture. This talk accompanies her latest book, TOTEM. TOTEM was New York Times most anticipated book of 2026, and is described by Sir Antony Gormley as ‘lively and passionate’. Copies of the book will be available for purchase in the Gallery shop.

Jo Baring is an art historian writer. She is Director of the Ingram Collection of Modern British & Contemporary Art, one of the UK’s leading art collections and this talk is programmed to coincide with the final month of the exhibition, Art Then! which features a number of twentieth century sculptures from the Ingram Collection.

A former Director of Christie’s UK, she has curated exhibitions across Britain, spoken at institutions including the Royal Academy, Tate and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and writes widely on art and culture. Her first book, Totem: The Untold Story of Sculpture, explores the role of sculpture in human history, identity, memory and creativity.

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