Shadow Figures

The Shadow Figures series is one of Blumenfeld’s most significant creations, inspired by the Platonic idea that we never really see a person: we only see the shadow that they cast, which is ever-changing. There is a remarkable translucency and lightness to the work, one which is testimony to the quality of both material and method. Blumenfeld has explored working in marble since the mid-1970s, following a visit to Pietrasanta in Italy and its surrounding marble quarries. This visit had a profound impact on Blumenfeld’s practice, and it was here she joined master carver, Sem Gehlardini at Studio Sem, where she developed and extended her skills as a carver. It was during this period that Blumenfeld met others working in this medium, including Henry Moore, with whom Blumenfeld exhibited with in 1974 at Alex Rosenberg Gallery in New York.

Blumenfeld’s work falls magically in the liminal space between figure and abstraction. Citing Henry Moore as an artist with whom she shares affinities (as well as differences) Blumenfeld describes Moore’s sculpture as projecting ‘presences more than bodies.’[1] This notion of presence is fundamental to Blumenfeld’s work, albeit more concerned with sensuality and movement than Moore’s. Blumenfeld takes this further, hinting that our experience of sculpture is akin to our experience of other human beings: ‘I believe we have a soul and that it’s not a religious feature, not tangible and not describable, but it’s something there, and it’s there as a translucency, a transparency, as an illumination. It’s what lights us up.’[2] These principles find expression in Blumenfeld’s choice of marble, with its luminosity an essential part of the work.

Dr Rosy Gray, October 2025

[1] Alex Rosenberg, Alan Caine and Tom Flynn, Helaine Blumenfeld – Henry Moore: A Dialogue 1985-2015, Bowman Sculpture, p. 12.

[2] Anna McNay, ‘Helaine Blumenfeld: ‘Beauty has no real meaning anymore’, Studio International, 7 November, 2016.