.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Barry Flanagan's Leaping Hare on Steel Pyramid is one of the artist's celebrated works, part of a remarkable career that saw him move through a range of styles, from the post-minimal sculpture that he focused on in the 1960s, moving toward the figurative style we see here. With a burst of joyous energy, Flanagan's iconic hare leaps through the air, balanced on top of a pyramidal base, whose straight lines and angles contrast dramatically with the curved form and vital, exuberant energy of the hare. Playfulness and immediacy are given striking sculptural form, inviting the viewer to join the artist in his celebration of nature, life and happiness.
Executed in bronze and steel, Leaping Hare on Steel Pyramid is a sophisticated composition that merges slender elongated shapes with symmetry and elegant poise. Flanagan was a highly influential sculptor for nearly five decades from the late 1960s onwards. Achieving an exceptional degree of material skill, confidence and eloquence in his artistic language, the artist here allows his creative spirit to run free, and adds a welcome and wonderful sense of humor and whimsicality to the medium of bronze figurative sculpture, a traditional medium with great historical associations, linked to grand monuments, full of pathos and grandeur. Flanagan's handling of the material is delightfully sly and irreverent.
The iconic simplicity of the hare echoes prehistoric bronze figurines, with their mysticism and appeal to magic powers believed contained within the image of the figure. But the form of the hare has personal associations for the artist, as well. Flanagan began creating sculptures of hares in the late 1970s, in part because of a memory he recalled vividly of seeing a hare running across the Sussex Downs. Through his sculptures he communicates that memory, conveying the animal's boundless energy, fluidity and humor. The hare sculptures are one set of a larger body of sculptures based on animal forms that Flanagan created over his career. All of these works, and in particular the hare sculptures, expressed his interest in merging the commonplace, the imaginary and the fantastic, and drew from the ancient, mythic, archetypal meanings the various animal forms have held for human beings. Flanagan became fascinated with how the medium of bronze has been used to model animal figures, to convey their physicality, to be sure, but also their aura. He studied ancient bronze sculptures of animals, and was inspired both by the technical skill their sculptors possessed, but also how these works expressed man's eternal fascination with animals.
The motif of the hare clearly held great significance for the artist; it appeared repeatedly in Flanagan's work over a period of many years. When asked why it held such appeal, he said, "I find that the hare is a rich and expressive form that can carry the conventions of the cartoon and the attributes of the human into the animal world. So I use the hareas a vehicle to entertainI abstract from the human figure, choosing the hare to behave as a human occasionally." (B. Flanagan, quoted in E. Juncosa, Barry Flanagan Sculpture 1965-2005, Dublin, 2006, p. 65). With a knowing nod to art history, Flanagan contrasts the supple lines of the animal in motion with the stillness and stolidity of a steel pyramidal base, referencing the twentieth century's obsession with the language of geometric forms and their connotations of progress through an adherence to rationality and precision. Flanagan had briefly studied architecture, before moving on to study his true passion, sculpture. His use of architectural motifs, such as the pyramid, might echo his brief dalliance with architecture. Speaking of his love for sculpture, Flanagan once said, "I enjoy the third dimension and I appreciate material in time and space. I find it exciting to the eyes." (B. Flanagan, quoted in R. Smith, "Barry Flanagan, British Sculptor of Sly Works, Dies at 68," The New York Times, September 10, 2009).
Leaping Hare on Steel Pyramid demonstrates why Flanagan was praised not only by critics and fellow artists, but also why he became a true people's artist. He created numerous and much beloved public sculptures that have been collected and exhibited all over the world, and his works are in the holdings of dozens of museums and corporate collections as well. The present work infuses age-old sculptural tradition with freshness, creative passion and a unique sense of joie de vivre.
Executed in bronze and steel, Leaping Hare on Steel Pyramid is a sophisticated composition that merges slender elongated shapes with symmetry and elegant poise. Flanagan was a highly influential sculptor for nearly five decades from the late 1960s onwards. Achieving an exceptional degree of material skill, confidence and eloquence in his artistic language, the artist here allows his creative spirit to run free, and adds a welcome and wonderful sense of humor and whimsicality to the medium of bronze figurative sculpture, a traditional medium with great historical associations, linked to grand monuments, full of pathos and grandeur. Flanagan's handling of the material is delightfully sly and irreverent.
The iconic simplicity of the hare echoes prehistoric bronze figurines, with their mysticism and appeal to magic powers believed contained within the image of the figure. But the form of the hare has personal associations for the artist, as well. Flanagan began creating sculptures of hares in the late 1970s, in part because of a memory he recalled vividly of seeing a hare running across the Sussex Downs. Through his sculptures he communicates that memory, conveying the animal's boundless energy, fluidity and humor. The hare sculptures are one set of a larger body of sculptures based on animal forms that Flanagan created over his career. All of these works, and in particular the hare sculptures, expressed his interest in merging the commonplace, the imaginary and the fantastic, and drew from the ancient, mythic, archetypal meanings the various animal forms have held for human beings. Flanagan became fascinated with how the medium of bronze has been used to model animal figures, to convey their physicality, to be sure, but also their aura. He studied ancient bronze sculptures of animals, and was inspired both by the technical skill their sculptors possessed, but also how these works expressed man's eternal fascination with animals.
The motif of the hare clearly held great significance for the artist; it appeared repeatedly in Flanagan's work over a period of many years. When asked why it held such appeal, he said, "I find that the hare is a rich and expressive form that can carry the conventions of the cartoon and the attributes of the human into the animal world. So I use the hareas a vehicle to entertainI abstract from the human figure, choosing the hare to behave as a human occasionally." (B. Flanagan, quoted in E. Juncosa, Barry Flanagan Sculpture 1965-2005, Dublin, 2006, p. 65). With a knowing nod to art history, Flanagan contrasts the supple lines of the animal in motion with the stillness and stolidity of a steel pyramidal base, referencing the twentieth century's obsession with the language of geometric forms and their connotations of progress through an adherence to rationality and precision. Flanagan had briefly studied architecture, before moving on to study his true passion, sculpture. His use of architectural motifs, such as the pyramid, might echo his brief dalliance with architecture. Speaking of his love for sculpture, Flanagan once said, "I enjoy the third dimension and I appreciate material in time and space. I find it exciting to the eyes." (B. Flanagan, quoted in R. Smith, "Barry Flanagan, British Sculptor of Sly Works, Dies at 68," The New York Times, September 10, 2009).
Leaping Hare on Steel Pyramid demonstrates why Flanagan was praised not only by critics and fellow artists, but also why he became a true people's artist. He created numerous and much beloved public sculptures that have been collected and exhibited all over the world, and his works are in the holdings of dozens of museums and corporate collections as well. The present work infuses age-old sculptural tradition with freshness, creative passion and a unique sense of joie de vivre.