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Lot Essay
“Chadwick has always been intrigued by movement, either actual or implied, in his sculpture. From his early mobiles to his dancing Teddy Boy and Girl series of the 1950s to his cloaked walking women with windswept hair of the 1980s, he has explored figures in motion. Sometimes their cloaks and draperies flow out in the wind from behind them, or are caught by a gust and wrap themselves around the figures. This essentially lateral progression gives place to a vertical rhythm in his groups of, usually two, figures.”
- (D. Farr & E. Chadwick, op. cit., 2006, p. 15).
Conceived in 1977, Cloaked Couple IV is an archetypal example of Chadwick’s advanced work, seamlessly blurring the line between figuration and abstraction to wonderful effect. Here, two figures stride confidently forward, their cloaks billowing dramatically behind them. Standing at almost 50 cm high, the couple has an imposing air, commanding the attention of the viewer with their mysterious essence and powerful pose. By 1970s, Chadwick had firmly established his artistic reputation on an international stage, allowing him the freedom to further explore themes that had interested him in his early career, many of which are perfectly encapsulated in Cloaked Couple IV. The subject of the couple in particular, which Chadwick had first visited in 1950s, would continue to occupy the artist throughout his life. Here, the figures stand firmly as a pair, physically joined beneath their cloaks where their hands would usually be. In just this simple detail alone, Chadwick’s alludes to an intimate and tender connection.
Despite their solidity as a couple, the two figures of Cloaked Couple IV retain their own distinct identities, Chadwick’s signature signifiers of male and female differentiating them; the oblong and triangle head retrospectively. The identification of each figure is also furthered by Chadwick’s skilful treatment of form. The female figure here is more lightly built, her body more softly rendered and shoulders sloping more gently, whilst the male figure has a weightier stance and more angular build. As is typical of Chadwick’s sculptures, the couple’s faces remain featureless, the artist relying on body language alone to convey a mood, a feat he certainly accomplishes in their simultaneously dynamic and intimate pose. As he commented in 1991, 'the important thing in my figures is always the attitude - what the figures are expressing through their actual stance. They talk, as it were, and this is something a lot of people don't understand' (L. Chadwick in an interview with Barrie Gavin broadcast on HTV West, 1991).
Cloaked Couple IV is part of a group of cloaked figures that developed out of Chadwick’s 1960s Winged Figure series. From 1973 onwards, the cloak became an highly important feature of his oeuvre, as increasingly the artist began to clothe his figures in extravagant drapery. Here, Chadwick has adopted the cloak as a device through which to add a sense of dynamic movement to his sculpture and these figures are instantly recognisable as some of his foremost work. In Cloaked Couple IV, the cloak retains a wonderful sense of angularity, yet still has the same drama and sense of motion which we see epitomised in the extravagant capes of his iconic work of 1977, Pair of Walking Figures – Jubilee. As Edward Lucie-Smith remarks, ‘The restless stirring of their vast cloaks enables them to make their own weather – where they are it is always windy, however still the weather. One notices how Chadwick’s characteristically crisp, sharp outlines seem to cut into the surrounding atmosphere. Far from mimicking nature, and, so to speak, becoming part of it, as some of Henry Moore’s large sculptures seem to do when placed outdoors, Chadwick’s work sets itself almost aggressively in opposition to its surroundings’ (E. Lucie-Smith, op.cit., pp. 111-112).
We are very grateful to Sarah Chadwick for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
- (D. Farr & E. Chadwick, op. cit., 2006, p. 15).
Conceived in 1977, Cloaked Couple IV is an archetypal example of Chadwick’s advanced work, seamlessly blurring the line between figuration and abstraction to wonderful effect. Here, two figures stride confidently forward, their cloaks billowing dramatically behind them. Standing at almost 50 cm high, the couple has an imposing air, commanding the attention of the viewer with their mysterious essence and powerful pose. By 1970s, Chadwick had firmly established his artistic reputation on an international stage, allowing him the freedom to further explore themes that had interested him in his early career, many of which are perfectly encapsulated in Cloaked Couple IV. The subject of the couple in particular, which Chadwick had first visited in 1950s, would continue to occupy the artist throughout his life. Here, the figures stand firmly as a pair, physically joined beneath their cloaks where their hands would usually be. In just this simple detail alone, Chadwick’s alludes to an intimate and tender connection.
Despite their solidity as a couple, the two figures of Cloaked Couple IV retain their own distinct identities, Chadwick’s signature signifiers of male and female differentiating them; the oblong and triangle head retrospectively. The identification of each figure is also furthered by Chadwick’s skilful treatment of form. The female figure here is more lightly built, her body more softly rendered and shoulders sloping more gently, whilst the male figure has a weightier stance and more angular build. As is typical of Chadwick’s sculptures, the couple’s faces remain featureless, the artist relying on body language alone to convey a mood, a feat he certainly accomplishes in their simultaneously dynamic and intimate pose. As he commented in 1991, 'the important thing in my figures is always the attitude - what the figures are expressing through their actual stance. They talk, as it were, and this is something a lot of people don't understand' (L. Chadwick in an interview with Barrie Gavin broadcast on HTV West, 1991).
Cloaked Couple IV is part of a group of cloaked figures that developed out of Chadwick’s 1960s Winged Figure series. From 1973 onwards, the cloak became an highly important feature of his oeuvre, as increasingly the artist began to clothe his figures in extravagant drapery. Here, Chadwick has adopted the cloak as a device through which to add a sense of dynamic movement to his sculpture and these figures are instantly recognisable as some of his foremost work. In Cloaked Couple IV, the cloak retains a wonderful sense of angularity, yet still has the same drama and sense of motion which we see epitomised in the extravagant capes of his iconic work of 1977, Pair of Walking Figures – Jubilee. As Edward Lucie-Smith remarks, ‘The restless stirring of their vast cloaks enables them to make their own weather – where they are it is always windy, however still the weather. One notices how Chadwick’s characteristically crisp, sharp outlines seem to cut into the surrounding atmosphere. Far from mimicking nature, and, so to speak, becoming part of it, as some of Henry Moore’s large sculptures seem to do when placed outdoors, Chadwick’s work sets itself almost aggressively in opposition to its surroundings’ (E. Lucie-Smith, op.cit., pp. 111-112).
We are very grateful to Sarah Chadwick for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.