CHATSWORTH.- Over the last ten years, Sotheby’s Beyond Limits has firmly established itself as one of the most prestigious platforms for the display and sale of modern and contemporary outdoor sculpture, and a key event in the art world calendar. The show brings together works by leading pioneers in this field, all situated in the historic garden of one of Europe’s greatest country estates, the ancestral seat of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

At the heart of this year’s exhibition is Zaha Hadid’s sculpturally stunning Lilas pavilion, created for the Serpentine summer party in 2007 - the most architecturally ambitious installation to be presented at Chatsworth to date. Chatsworth’s own Art Out Loud festival (23-25 September), will feature Patrik Schumacher, the principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, in conversation the New York Times’ Farah Nayeri, placing Lilas within Hadid’s wider oeuvre.

Simon Stock, Sotheby’s Senior International Specialist and curator of the exhibition, commented: “For each of our annual Beyond Limits shows we seek to bring something new and thrilling to the experience, and the resurrection of Zaha Hadid’s seminal Lilas pavilion in such a historic location is one of the highlights this year. The public display of this remarkable structure, which has travelled from a Royal Park to the gardens of a stately home, is also a fitting tribute to such a pioneer in her field. Hadid's pavilion is offset by the stunning grounds of Chatsworth, along with works by renowned classic sculptors such as Aristide Maillol, together with newer international names. We are delighted to be bringing an installation by Bruce Munro to the Canal Pond, a historic stretch of water that we haven’t used since our inaugural exhibition over ten years ago.”

Zaha Hadid, Lilas, 2007
This year’s exhibition celebrates the legacy and creative spirit of the late visionary architect Zaha Hadid. Dubbed ‘Queen of the Curve’, Hadid transformed the landscape of modern architecture, with highly expressive, sweeping forms. In the summer of 2000, Hadid was the architect behind the inaugural Serpentine Pavilion, created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Serpentine Gallery. Almost by accident, this sparked an iconic annual project that brings some of the world’s leading architects and their innovative designs to Hyde Park.

The poetic and futuristic Lilas was a temporary commission for the Serpentine’s summer party in 2007 – a sculpturally stunning open air space with calligraphic arcs rising to 5.5 metres in height. The work is an imaginative fusion of technology and organic form, taking inspiration from complex natural geometries, such as flower petals and plants, all interweaving without touching – allowing air, light and sound to travel through. The pavilion’s sculptural form accommodates interaction and movement; in the day it can provide shade to passers-by, whilst at night it becomes a source of illumination.

Crossing the divides of art, architectural design and functionality, works by Zaha Hadid have been exhibited at Beyond Limits on two previous occasions and Lilas is the most ambitious architectural installation at Chatsworth to date.

Aristide Maillol, La Montagne, premier état, conceived in 1936-37
La Montagne is the culmination of Aristide Maillol’s interest in the form of the seated female nude – a theme which enthralled him from the early 1900s throughout his career.

In contrast to the sculptural fashion of the time, which took its lead from Auguste Rodin and his exploration of emotion, Maillol opted for simplicity of form and expression. The sheer size of the work renders it extremely powerful, but the soft lines, sinuous curves and gentle features mean that it is equally a statement of elegance and poise.

The first monumental version was commissioned in stone by the Musée National d’Art Moderne in 1936. Other versions in lead, as in this example, can also be found in the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris.

Cristina Iglesias, Habitación Vegetal XV (doble pasaje), 2008
The exhibition brings into the spotlight a magical work by Cristina Iglesias, one of Spain’s foremost Contemporary artists.

Habitación Vegetal XV is an installation that explores the boundaries between appearance and reality, forcing the viewer to play an active part in the artist’s fictional world. The exterior is made up of stainless steel, which reflects and distorts its immediate surroundings - in this case the verdant Derbyshire landscape - creating a misshapen and deceptive reality. However, on navigating the enclosed room, the interior passages are heavily sculpted in relief to give the illusion of a natural and organic space.

Iglesias’ works have been exhibited worldwide, including at London’s Whitechapel Art Gallery, The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Bruce Munro, Time and Again, 2016
‘Professional daydreamer’ Bruce Munro’s immersive large-scale light-based installations are inspired largely by his interest in shared human experience. Time and Again is an enchanting array of 108 giant waterlilies made out of engraved stainless steel, which appear to float on the water’s surface. There are three sets of lily pads, representing the past, present and future, each forming an abstraction of a clock face. The lily appeals for its simplicity and symmetry, lending itself to the creation of routine and pattern.

The piece was conceived specifically for the renowned Canal Pond, partly inspired by the heritage of Chatsworth in relation to the Victoria amazonica water lilies. The first seeds were brought back to England from British Guiana in 1837, sparking a race amongst the landed gentry to be the first to cultivate the plant. In 1849, Chatsworth’s head gardener Joseph Paxton built a suitably large glasshouse to accommodate the flower that he referred to as a ‘natural feat of engineering’. The giant lily pads continue to evoke wonder to this day, and Munro’s installation is an uplifting experience that unites the past and the present.

Erwin Wurm, Der Gurk, bronze, 2016
A purveyor of social commentary, Erwin Wurm “will often use humour to seduce people… to get them to move closer, but it’s never very nice when they [do]”. Wurm typically takes a banal everyday object as the subject of his work, radicalising it through some form of visual distortion in an amalgam of absurdist humour and a parody of Western consumerist culture. Der Gurk is a sculpture of a cucumber immortalised in bronze and enlarged to more than four-metres high. What at first seems just a comic enlargement of a common and slightly obscene looking vegetable is in fact a nod to the endemic modern obsession with everything being ‘bigger and better’.

Joana Vasconcelos, Fruitcake, 2011
One of Portugal’s leading Contemporary artists, Joana Vasconcelos’ work deals with social and political issues. In 2012, she became the first woman and youngest artist to ever exhibit at the Palace of Versailles, with an exhibition that attracted over 1.5 million visitors. Fruitcake is a work from Vasconcelos’ ‘Treats’ series, in which she explores contemporary consumerist culture. The monumental form of a cupcake is built up from vividly-coloured moulds shaped like various fruits and pretzels. The oversized and colourful structure references commercial strategies of temptation, whilst the simple steel frame reveals the hollowness of a culture that prioritises style over substance.

Ju Ming, Taichi Arch, conceived in 2000
Ju Ming took up the ancient Chinese practice of Tai Chi in the 1970s, in order to develop his physical and mental discipline. This inspired a series of bronze renderings of Tai Chi movements, drawing the artist closer towards abstract art and remaining one of his most acclaimed series. The human subjects are pared down to abstract forms, with an essential simplicity reflecting the martial art’s ideals of balance, clarity and discipline. The piece also encapsulates a defining theme of twentieth-century Asian Contemporary art – the fusion of traditional culture with modern society.

Lynn Chadwick, Black Beast, 1958-60
By one of the most internationally renowned and significant sculptors of the twentieth century, this sculpture is a striking example of Lynn Chadwick’s Beasts series. Exuding an undeniable sense of power and presence, Beasts was partly inspired by Chadwick’s visit to Greece in 1955, where he saw the celebrated Avenue of Lions at Delos. Thus the piece adopts a mythical dimension – becoming a universal signifier of the animal kingdom at its most primal and powerful.

Wendell Castle, Above within Beyond, Wandering Mountain & Temptation, 2014-15
Wendell Castle’s work has consistently sought to challenge artistic conventions, breaking down the barriers that traditionally separate the worlds of design and fine art. Considering himself a sculptor working in the medium of furniture, he assimilates functionality with sculptural form. Castle’s works are influenced by artists including Jean Arp, Constantin Brancusi and Henry Moore – who had turned to direct carving as a mode of expression – alongside his own innovative and experimental approach. The three bronze pieces by Castle in this exhibition were designed with an outdoor setting in mind. They are seats as well as sculptures, their organic shapes creating an almost fluid interplay with their surroundings.