Ferdinand Khnopff, Mask, painted plaster, c.1897. Elke Watford/Hamburger Kunsthalle

Exhibition Preview: Against Nature – The hydrid forms of modern sculpture at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, until May 4 2008.

While classical sculpture concentrated on idealised versions of the human form, sculptors in the late 19th century were more preoccupied with moulding the monstrous creatures in the forms featured in classical mythology – the chimeras, centaurs and sphinxes.

The Henry Moore Institute is reviewing modern sculpture of these hybrid beings, looking at the art form’s fusion of human, animal and vegetal components through various movements of the 20th century in the exhibition Against Nature.

Jacob Epstein, Torso in metal from ‘The Rock Drill’, 1913-14. Courtesy of Tate. © The Estate of Jacob Epstein

It begins in the late 1800s, when sculptors turned their backs on classical notions of anatomy and instead used the malleable materials at their disposal to let their imaginations create what was not known in reality. Mythological creatures became the stock subject of Salon exhibitions – such as Ferdinand Khnopff’s faun-like winged mask (c1897).

Outside the gallery, new scientific theories and societal changes provided food for thought.

Dimitrie Paciurea, Chimera, patinated bronze. The National Museum of Art of Romania

The age of the machine and pressures of industrialisation inspired machine/man hybrids such as Jacob Epstein’s Rock Drill (1913-14), which wouldn’t look out of place in a Hollywood alien flick – its menacing metal ribcage surely impervious to human blows.

On the other hand, Darwin’s theory of evolution suggested that any shape could become real given the conditions to suit it – providing a new context for the impossible beings that sculpture delivered. The natural order was simply a matter of science now – there was no God-given cast. Moreover, sculptural modelling made the fantastical tantalisingly realistic.

Hans Arp, Sirene, 1942. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Courtesy of the Stiftung Hans Arp and Sophie Tauber-Arp e.V

Each successive avant-garde movement featured anatomical reinvention (symbolism, futurism, vorticism, constructivism and surrealism). The exhibition looks at hybrids from several movements and periods, right up to the modern day with Louise Bourgeois’s headless, animal-footed beasts.

Little-known sculptors from across Europe and the Americas are placed in a freakish family tree that includes works by the likes of Jans Arp, Umberto Boccioni, Max Ernst, Julio Gonzalez and Germaine Richier.

Max Ernst (1981-1976), Lunar Asparagus, 1935. © 2007 The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence

Some of the highlights at the Henry Moore include Dimitri Paciurea’s Chimera series, with their human faces affixed to organic yet unrecognisable forms. Roche’s Morgan le Fay, dating back to 1905, adds mermaid features to a Venus-like nude, which is echoed in Hans Arp’s more modernist style Sirene, from 1942.

The hydrids theme provides a new way of looking at the continuities in modern sculpture over the last century and a visually satisfying collection of diverse works.

This is an exhibition preview. If you’ve been to see the show, why not let us know what you think?