From the mid 1950’s Josephsohn has worked exclusively with the human form. This he has analyzed and deconstructed into busts or half-figures, reliefs and reclining figures. The five monumental half-figures in bronze in this exhibition date from 1990 to 2003.

In these half-figure sculptures the head makes up at least half of the entire piece, the torso becoming a truncated shape. The anatomical detail is omitted almost entirely and the human form reduced so that any personal reference is erased. In the loss of a particular identity these works gain a universal aspect. They have been compared to effigy figures from earlier cultures, also to the stone figures of Easter Island.

Josephsohn executes the work in plaster before he has it cast in bronze. He builds up the volume of the sculpture using plaster plates at different stages of hardness. Evident in the finished bronze, the hand of the artist is clearly visible in the areas where Josephsohn has chipped away the solid plaster by means of a knife or hammer or axe, or added new layers, often re-using the chipped away pieces.