Paul Neagu

About the artist

Paul Neagu (1938-2004) was born in Bucharest, Romania, the son of a shoemaker. He graduated from Nicolae Grigorescu Institute of Fine Arts, Bucharest in 1965, where the syllabus prioritised figurative painting over abstraction and sculpture.

Soon after completing his studies, Neagu turned his attention to sculpture, making boxes he described as ‘strange mixed media objects’. Portable and scaled to the body, these were designed to be opened, pushed and pulled – each one demanding an active, tactile encounter.

In 1969 Neagu travelled to the UK for
 the very first time, under the wing of the Edinburgh gallerist Richard Demarco. He settled in London the following year, where he remained for the next thirty-four years, continuing to push the boundaries of sculpture with works that were tactile, edible and performative.

What’s in the collection?

The archive contains papers relating to the work of Paul Neagu, including publicity materials, images, drawings and prints.

There are also twenty-one working drawings, representing Neagu’s development of three key sculptures that were produced over a long period of time: the Starhead, Hyphen and Fish Over Gate projects. The drawings for many of the sculptures include annotations in which Neagu describes how he views the work.

Further works on paper comprise prints of The Flying Horse 1973-74, and Jump 1977, and a poster for Neagu’s exhibition Nine Catalytic Stations at The Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh in 1988.

A selection of papers relate to Neagu’s Starhead project, a proposed public monument which proved to be too controversial to be made. The papers chart the attempts to get the sculpture made for the various sites and include a history of the project written by Neagu, as well as correspondence, proposals, plans and more.

Related exhibitions