LYNN CHADWICK, R.A. (1914-2003)

Lot 230
20.10.2022 13:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 138 600
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 831259
Lot 230 | LYNN CHADWICK, R.A. (1914-2003)
Estimate value
£ 80 000 – 120 000
LYNN CHADWICK, R.A. (1914-2003)

Maquette II Sitting Couple on Bench

numbered and dated 'C9S 8/9 1984' (on the underside of each element)

bronze with a black and polished patina

16 1/8 in. (41 cm.) long

Conceived in 1984 and cast in 1985 by Lypiatt Foundry, Stroud.





Provenance

with Adrian Sassoon, London, where purchased by the present owner.



Literature

Arts Review, 9 November 1984, p. 553, another cast illustrated, as 'Maquette II Diamond'.

D. Farr and E. Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculptor: With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Farnham, 2014, p. 350, no. C9S.



Special notice


Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.



Post lot text

'I used to call them "Watchers", but no longer. Sometimes they are not watching anything. What they are doing is illustrating a relationship - a physical relationship - between people.' It was through this relationship, not through purely formal or allusive qualities, that he wanted his sculptures to speak: 'If you can get their physical attitudes right you can spell out a message' (L. Chadwick, quoted in M. Bird, Lynn Chadwick, Farnham, 2014, p. 147).

Lynn Chadwick redefined the way human forms can be represented in sculpture, and was particularly interested in paired figures, having first approached the theme in the 1950s. It continued to occupy him throughout his career. He initially explored the human form by looking in detail at how a figure moves and at the stances they might take, but in the 1970s he started to standardise these figures. Eventually, Chadwick developed a kind of visual code, adopting a triangle and square head as a shorthand device for the symbolisation of the male and female forms. Chadwick has discussed the reasons for blanked faces in his work: he understood body language to have a far greater power in conveying mood and character than facial features, which he felt to be limiting. Commenting in 1991, the sculptor revealed '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' (the artist in an interview with Barrie Gavin broadcast on HTV West, 1991).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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