4 May - 28 September, 2025
Stephen Cox
'MYTH'
The Exhibition
A major exhibition by the acclaimed British sculptor, Stephen Cox: Myth was presented across the park, gardens and interiors of Houghton Hall from 4 May to 28 September, 2025.
The exhibition represented the largest and most comprehensive group of work the artist had ever shown. Spanning over 40 years, it included work conceived and produced all over the world from India to Egypt, Italy and the UK.
Around 20 sculptures in marble and stone were placed in the landscape, while smaller works were installed in the State Rooms on the first floor of the house, where William Kent’s exuberant decorative scheme has hardly changed since it was created in the early 18th century. A modern gallery space in the South wing of the house showed a group of works on paper, together with a black English basalt figure, Shrouded Peregrine, and a porphyry and Egyptian breccia figure, Song II.
About the Artist
Stephen Cox is one of the most acclaimed British artists of his generation, best known for his monumental works in stone.
His work is known worldwide with celebrated exhibitions include MOMA, New York and the National Gallery and Tate Britain, London.
Using traditional techniques, he has carved marble, alabaster and porphyry, and was the first artist for many centuries to gain access to the Imperial Porphyry Quarries in the Eastern Mountains of Egypt.
His works are in many private and public collections around the world, with government and corporate commissions in India and Egypt as well as in Britain. He was elected a Royal Academician in 2006.
Acknowledgements
Organised by the Houghton Arts Foundation, with support from The Rothschild Foundation Marmonil, and key assistance from the artist. The Houghton Arts Foundation continues to build a collection of contemporary art at Houghton including a number of site-specific commissions. With links to colleges and public institutions across the region, the Foundation’s aim is for Houghton to become a focus for those who wish to see great art of our time in a historic setting.
"I work amongst diverse cultures and look for the imaginative which, like poetry, gives us 'meaning' without definition. We speculate on our origins, but we carry the answers in the very 'matter' of our being." Stephen Cox RA
