- 23
LYNN CHADWICK, R.A. | Beast VII
Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 GBP
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Description
- Lynn Chadwick
- Beast VII
- stamped with Artist's monogram, numbered 2/9 and 198 and stamped with foundry stamp
- bronze
- length: 108cm.; 42½in.
- Conceived in 1956 and cast by Pangolin Editions in 1999, the present work is number 2 from the edition of 9.
Provenance
The Artist
Galeria Freites, Caracas
Private Collection
Galeria Freites, Caracas
Private Collection
Exhibited
Vienna, Wiener Secession, Ivon Hitchens, Lynn Chadwick, November 1956, cat. no.20 (as Beast VIII), (another cast), produced with the British Council for the Venice Biennale, with tour to Städtische Galerie, Munich; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels and Arts Council Gallery, London.
Literature
Dennis Farr, Lynn Chadwick, Tate Publishing, London, 2003, pp.45-47, (another cast);
Dennis Farr and Eva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculpture, with a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1943-2003, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, cat. no.198, illustrated p.136 (another cast)
Dennis Farr and Eva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculpture, with a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1943-2003, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, cat. no.198, illustrated p.136 (another cast)
Condition
The sculpture appears sound. There are one or two tiny casting imperfections to the head and on the underside. There is some extremely minor pitting in various places throughout. There is minor surface dirt to the crevices. This excepting the work appears to be in excellent overall condition. The work is freestanding. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
‘Art must be the manifestation of some vital force coming from the dark, caught by the imagination and translated by the artist’s ability and skill … Whatever the final shape, the force behind is … indivisible. When we philosophise upon this force we lose sight of it. The intellect alone is too clumsy to grasp it’ (Lynn Chadwick, The Listener, 21st October 1954). We are grateful to The Estate of Lynn Chadwick for their kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.
Chadwick first began exploring the motif of the beast as a subject in 1955, becoming a theme to which he would frequently return throughout the course of his career, and resulting in some of his most exciting and iconic works. Earlier that year he had visited Mykonos and Delos and there saw the ancient remains of the famous avenue of lions at Delos, dating from the sixth century B.C., with their menacing posture and weathered forms.
As with many of Chadwick’s works of the 1950s, Beast VII speaks in the vocabulary of the ‘geometry of fear’ - a term coined four years before by the critic Herbert Read in response to the work of Chadwick together with Kenneth Armitage, Reg Butler, Geoffrey Clark, Bernard Meadows, Eduardo Paolozzi and William Turnbull at the British Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. Their work was characterised by spiky, distorted, alien-looking twisted and tortured figures executed in pitted bronze or welded steel, and expressing the anxieties and fears of many within the post-war age. This anxiety is epitomised in Chadwick's rendering of the 'Beast' motif, and Beast VII is a superbly lithe creature with an alert, anxious, and threatening presence. Drawing on his experience as an architectural draughtsman before the war, Chadwick builds his sculptures using geometric space frames, welding metal strip together to create an armature which he referred to as ‘drawing in steel rods’ (the Artist, quoted in Michael Bird, Lynn Chadwick, Lund Humphries, London, 2014, p.28). The armature remains visible even after the application of stolit and the casting in bronze, resulting in a surface that is shattered, like a broken pane of glass. With a visible rib cage - indicating some semi-starved creature – pointed feet and a strong, sharp backbone that runs through the head, neck and tail, this is an animal at its most alert. It also showcases Chadwick at his very best, with the beast motif allowing the artist to create a sculptural metaphor for the essence of animality without ensnaring him in the representational or illusionistic. Superficially an abstraction, these works do not represent a particular kind of beast; instead they pulsate with a mysterious animal vigour, reflecting the broader anxieties of the new age and the possibilities of a very different tomorrow.
Chadwick first began exploring the motif of the beast as a subject in 1955, becoming a theme to which he would frequently return throughout the course of his career, and resulting in some of his most exciting and iconic works. Earlier that year he had visited Mykonos and Delos and there saw the ancient remains of the famous avenue of lions at Delos, dating from the sixth century B.C., with their menacing posture and weathered forms.
As with many of Chadwick’s works of the 1950s, Beast VII speaks in the vocabulary of the ‘geometry of fear’ - a term coined four years before by the critic Herbert Read in response to the work of Chadwick together with Kenneth Armitage, Reg Butler, Geoffrey Clark, Bernard Meadows, Eduardo Paolozzi and William Turnbull at the British Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. Their work was characterised by spiky, distorted, alien-looking twisted and tortured figures executed in pitted bronze or welded steel, and expressing the anxieties and fears of many within the post-war age. This anxiety is epitomised in Chadwick's rendering of the 'Beast' motif, and Beast VII is a superbly lithe creature with an alert, anxious, and threatening presence. Drawing on his experience as an architectural draughtsman before the war, Chadwick builds his sculptures using geometric space frames, welding metal strip together to create an armature which he referred to as ‘drawing in steel rods’ (the Artist, quoted in Michael Bird, Lynn Chadwick, Lund Humphries, London, 2014, p.28). The armature remains visible even after the application of stolit and the casting in bronze, resulting in a surface that is shattered, like a broken pane of glass. With a visible rib cage - indicating some semi-starved creature – pointed feet and a strong, sharp backbone that runs through the head, neck and tail, this is an animal at its most alert. It also showcases Chadwick at his very best, with the beast motif allowing the artist to create a sculptural metaphor for the essence of animality without ensnaring him in the representational or illusionistic. Superficially an abstraction, these works do not represent a particular kind of beast; instead they pulsate with a mysterious animal vigour, reflecting the broader anxieties of the new age and the possibilities of a very different tomorrow.