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Spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present, Sussex Modernism interweaves painting, sculpture, film, textiles, literature and music, bringing together artists not usually included within the story of modernism. It encompasses those who opposed it, those who came before and after it, and an array of countercultural artists from the 1960s to 80s who flouted established tastes in their attempts to embrace the ‘new’ and ‘now’.

Embedded within the show is an original story about the ways in which art, cultures, and places outside of metropolitan centres have been seen. Assumptions about the ‘provincial’ are interrogated and the idea of ‘new regionalism’ is introduced. This is the first show of its kind to ask what it means to look at works of art through a regional lens.

The focus will be on those who made work in or had a connection to Sussex. While many would have objected to being called a ‘Sussex artist’, the regional frame will draw out the political potency of their works, questioning the labels that are usually used to describe them.

Sussex Modernism includes monumental artworks: sculpture by Jacob Epstein and one of the largest paintings Ivon Hitchens ever created. But it will also make visible women artists who had regional rather than national power as well as work by contemporary artists in which modernist themes continue to reverberate.

This exhibition has been curated by Dr Hope Wolf, University of Sussex. It draws on her book Sussex Modernism (Yale University Press, 2025).

(Photo credit: Ivon Hitchens, Day’s Rest, Day’s Work, 1960. Wax and oil on four panels, 365.6 × 731.5 cm. University of Sussex)