Hanneke Beaumont: Sculpting the Universal Self
19th June, 2025 – 25th July, 2025
Bowman Sculpture
6 Duke Street, St James’s
London SW1Y 6BN
This summer, Bowman Sculpture in St James’s will present Hanneke Beaumont: Sculpting the Universal Self, a solo exhibition tracing more than three decades of work by the Dutch-born sculptor, whose introspective bronze and terracotta figures have quietly challenged traditional approaches to the human form.
Opening to the public on 19 June and running through 25 July, the exhibition marks the premiere of Duality, a new monumental sculpture arriving directly from the artist’s studio in Pietrasanta, Italy. The piece is the latest expression of Beaumont’s sustained exploration of ambiguity, interiority and human presence.
Image courtesy of Bowman Sculpture
Beaumont’s sculptures are not portraits in the usual sense. Cast in elemental materials—bronze, terracotta, cast iron—they depict androgynous figures that seem at once grounded and uncertain. They carry weight, yet appear caught in thought. With no clear age, gender or origin, they ask viewers to look beyond identity and into shared emotional terrain.
“I represent the human being, regardless of where they are from, who they are or what they do,” Beaumont has said. “I believe some feelings are universal to mankind and wish to express these.”
In a time when questions of identity and belonging are particularly resonant, Beaumont’s work offers stillness rather than assertion. Duality, the centrepiece of the show, reflects this balance—between strength and vulnerability, solitude and connection.
The exhibition brings together works from across Beaumont’s career, including several recent sculptures and rare final casts of earlier pieces, such as Bronze 71 (2005, edition 8/8) and Bronze 45 (1998, edition 8/8). Seen together, they offer a view into an artist’s long, deliberate engagement with the complexities of being human.
Courtesy of photographer James D. Kelly
Mica Bowman, Director of Bowman Sculpture, comments: “Hanneke’s sculptures refuse to tell us who or what we’re looking at—and that’s their power. In a world often obsessed with definition, her figures invite us to pause, feel, and connect without needing to categorise. They offer a rare space of reflection, empathy, and shared experience. Hanneke’s sculptures offer a vital perspective in our current cultural moment. They resist the urge to define or categorise and instead present the human being as a shared idea—fluid, imperfect, and innately connected.”
Beaumont, who trained in Belgium and the Netherlands, began exhibiting with Bowman Sculpture in the early 1990s. The London gallery has since played a central role in presenting her work internationally, including the two-part exhibition Connected and Disconnected at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in the United States.
Among her most recognisable public commissions is Stepping Forward, permanently installed outside the European Council in Brussels—a group of figures emblematic of quiet resolve and collective progress. Her work is also held in museum collections including The Baker Museum and Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida, the Copelouzos Museum in Athens, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame, where No.130 (Observing) stands as a meditative presence at the museum’s entrance.
Beaumont’s sculptures have appeared at major art fairs including TEFAF Maastricht, BRAFA, The Winter Show in New York, Frieze and Art Miami. Though exhibited widely, her work resists spectacle. These are figures that do not demand to be understood—they invite one simply to pause, and recognise something quietly familiar.
A full-colour catalogue accompanies the exhibition, featuring a foreword by Mica Bowman and further insights into Beaumont’s practice.
Hanneke Beaumont: Sculpting the Universal Self opens on the 19th of June, 2025 until the 25th July, 2025 at Bowman Sculpture
©2025 Bowman Sculpture
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