.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
'It is not motion that counts for him… it is immobility, not as rest but as tension, the tension of watchfulness… This tendency towards stillness is allied to a desire for simplification' A.M. Hammacher
The Watcher series, first conceived by the artist in 1959, is one of Chadwick’s most recognisable body of works, demonstrating the development of his sculptural practice from linear form into figurative abstraction, and defining the symbolism of the statuesque double figure as a key theme in his output. The series had evolved from the iron and composite sculpture of the 1950s into more solid and geometric anthropomorphic forms which were more easily able to be cast into bronze sculpture during the 1960s. Initially trained as an architect, Chadwick began his sculpting career through constructing mobiles, and the development of his techniques evolved through the nature of his medium. He explained, ‘If I look back on my work over a period of years, I can see a development from mobiles and constructions, on to beaten shapes with limbs and connections, to the solid forms on which I’m now working. It seems there has been a deliberate continuity, as if the mobiles had been a research into space and volume (separate parts free in space), and the constructions had been a way of joining the parts together, fixing them in space to make forms, and that these constructions have become armatures for the solid shapes – the iron frames of the construction still delineate the mass and act as lines of tension’ (Lynn Chadwick, ‘Artist’s Statement’ in A. Bowness, Lynn Chadwick, London, 1962, n.p.).
Chadwick was the only sculptor to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1956, going on to win the prestigious International Sculpture Prize - still the youngest artist to have ever received it. He did not use drawings to conceive his works, and worked out his sculptures in three dimensions, feeling out his own way at a vast medieval manor house at Lypiatt Park, which gave him the space to work in a large studio and where he later created his own foundry. The freedom to work in this way brought about a new emphasis on geometric elements in his work and, as Rungwe Kingdon has observed, 'Lynn’s sculptural language was essentially built around triangles. The stability of a tripod, pyramid or cone, both as an actual form or as a concept to construct other forms, was intrinsic to his method. Juxtaposed triangles extended into squares, rectangles or even larger polyhedrons, could be extended further into three-dimensional, cage-like constructions creating more organic objects' (R. Kingdon (intro.), exhibition catalogue, Lynn Chadwick: Out of the Shadows: Unseen Sculpture of the 1960s, London, Pangolin, 2009, p. 3). The major double figures of The Watchers, in differing numbered versions, were created from this new methodology and inspired by the imposing Polynesian Easter Island heads, these sculptures took on a monumental form.
In the present work, two figures are conjoined, and Chadwick has described this process: ‘If I have two people, I make the two pairs of legs first then join them … I adjust the legs until they are … opposed to each other in the way that I feel is interesting for me … and from the pelvis … I then build up the bodies to balance the lower half just to give a certain type of movement’ (Lynn Chadwick quoted in N. Koster and P. Levine, Lynn Chadwick: The Sculptor and His World; The Artist and His Work, Leiden, 1988, p. 64). This pairing brings about a dynamic tension, coupled with a sense of stillness and calm. Chadwick has skilfully positioned the pair, as if staring into each other's eyes and has staged a confrontation: 'I would call it attitude, you know, the way that you can make something almost talk by the way the neck is bent, or the attitude of the head; you can actually make these sculptures talk, they say something according to the exact balance' (Lynn Chadwick quoted in D. Farr and E. Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculpture, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Farnham, 2014, p. 28).
We are very grateful to Sarah Chadwick for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
The Watcher series, first conceived by the artist in 1959, is one of Chadwick’s most recognisable body of works, demonstrating the development of his sculptural practice from linear form into figurative abstraction, and defining the symbolism of the statuesque double figure as a key theme in his output. The series had evolved from the iron and composite sculpture of the 1950s into more solid and geometric anthropomorphic forms which were more easily able to be cast into bronze sculpture during the 1960s. Initially trained as an architect, Chadwick began his sculpting career through constructing mobiles, and the development of his techniques evolved through the nature of his medium. He explained, ‘If I look back on my work over a period of years, I can see a development from mobiles and constructions, on to beaten shapes with limbs and connections, to the solid forms on which I’m now working. It seems there has been a deliberate continuity, as if the mobiles had been a research into space and volume (separate parts free in space), and the constructions had been a way of joining the parts together, fixing them in space to make forms, and that these constructions have become armatures for the solid shapes – the iron frames of the construction still delineate the mass and act as lines of tension’ (Lynn Chadwick, ‘Artist’s Statement’ in A. Bowness, Lynn Chadwick, London, 1962, n.p.).
Chadwick was the only sculptor to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1956, going on to win the prestigious International Sculpture Prize - still the youngest artist to have ever received it. He did not use drawings to conceive his works, and worked out his sculptures in three dimensions, feeling out his own way at a vast medieval manor house at Lypiatt Park, which gave him the space to work in a large studio and where he later created his own foundry. The freedom to work in this way brought about a new emphasis on geometric elements in his work and, as Rungwe Kingdon has observed, 'Lynn’s sculptural language was essentially built around triangles. The stability of a tripod, pyramid or cone, both as an actual form or as a concept to construct other forms, was intrinsic to his method. Juxtaposed triangles extended into squares, rectangles or even larger polyhedrons, could be extended further into three-dimensional, cage-like constructions creating more organic objects' (R. Kingdon (intro.), exhibition catalogue, Lynn Chadwick: Out of the Shadows: Unseen Sculpture of the 1960s, London, Pangolin, 2009, p. 3). The major double figures of The Watchers, in differing numbered versions, were created from this new methodology and inspired by the imposing Polynesian Easter Island heads, these sculptures took on a monumental form.
In the present work, two figures are conjoined, and Chadwick has described this process: ‘If I have two people, I make the two pairs of legs first then join them … I adjust the legs until they are … opposed to each other in the way that I feel is interesting for me … and from the pelvis … I then build up the bodies to balance the lower half just to give a certain type of movement’ (Lynn Chadwick quoted in N. Koster and P. Levine, Lynn Chadwick: The Sculptor and His World; The Artist and His Work, Leiden, 1988, p. 64). This pairing brings about a dynamic tension, coupled with a sense of stillness and calm. Chadwick has skilfully positioned the pair, as if staring into each other's eyes and has staged a confrontation: 'I would call it attitude, you know, the way that you can make something almost talk by the way the neck is bent, or the attitude of the head; you can actually make these sculptures talk, they say something according to the exact balance' (Lynn Chadwick quoted in D. Farr and E. Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculpture, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Farnham, 2014, p. 28).
We are very grateful to Sarah Chadwick for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.