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Lot Essay
William Turnbull’s Metamorphic Venus of 1981 remains a prominent example of the artist’s celebrated ‘Idol’ series. Cast in bronze, with its dark brown red patina, the present work echoes through its traditional medium the archaic themes that had preoccupied Turnbull's practice since the 1950s. Here in this series, Turnbull returns once again to abstracting the female body, or specific to this series, the fertile female form. Yet, through the classical associations of the bronze’s title, this reconsideration of art history’s feminine figurehead is pulled into contention with the rudimentary organic forms of modern sculpture.
Metamorphic Venus marks the beginning of Turnbull’s refinement of the Venus figure throughout the 1980s. More specifically, between 1981 and 1982, the artist played with the delicateness of this slender triangular form and its associations with the historical figure of the woman. Towards the end of the 1980s, Turnbull’s Venuses elongated in length and form, whereas here the sculpture centres around the characteristic connotations of feminine form. Cleverly achieved through a series of contentions, from the delicate resting of the weighted bronze upon its stone plinth, to the tracing of the feminine physiognomy upon its surface, Turnbull’s Metamorphic Venus beautifully exemplifies a coming together of both the past, present and future.
The same can be said of Turnbull’s characterisation of the fertile feminine form through the incisions upon the Venus’s surface. Coupled with the textured yet smooth surface of the bronze, these markings that distinguish the figure’s breasts and hands, act as reminders of the fertile theme with which Turnbull was once again honouring during this rich period of artistic resurgence. These incisions then can be seen as indicators, like that of the sculpture’s composition, of Turnbull’s attention to both the organic glory of the female form, and also, in the delicacy of their low relief, the minimalist aesthetic that transformed his ‘Idols’ in the 1980s of which, the 1981 Metamorphic Venus plays a powerful part.
Metamorphic Venus marks the beginning of Turnbull’s refinement of the Venus figure throughout the 1980s. More specifically, between 1981 and 1982, the artist played with the delicateness of this slender triangular form and its associations with the historical figure of the woman. Towards the end of the 1980s, Turnbull’s Venuses elongated in length and form, whereas here the sculpture centres around the characteristic connotations of feminine form. Cleverly achieved through a series of contentions, from the delicate resting of the weighted bronze upon its stone plinth, to the tracing of the feminine physiognomy upon its surface, Turnbull’s Metamorphic Venus beautifully exemplifies a coming together of both the past, present and future.
The same can be said of Turnbull’s characterisation of the fertile feminine form through the incisions upon the Venus’s surface. Coupled with the textured yet smooth surface of the bronze, these markings that distinguish the figure’s breasts and hands, act as reminders of the fertile theme with which Turnbull was once again honouring during this rich period of artistic resurgence. These incisions then can be seen as indicators, like that of the sculpture’s composition, of Turnbull’s attention to both the organic glory of the female form, and also, in the delicacy of their low relief, the minimalist aesthetic that transformed his ‘Idols’ in the 1980s of which, the 1981 Metamorphic Venus plays a powerful part.