ID 831259
Lot 230 | LYNN CHADWICK, R.A. (1914-2003)
Estimate value
£ 80 000 – 120 000
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).
Artist: | Lynn Chadwick (1914 - 2003) |
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Applied technique: | Metalwork |
Medium: | Bronze |
Artist: | Lynn Chadwick (1914 - 2003) |
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Applied technique: | Metalwork |
Medium: | Bronze |
Address of auction |
CHRISTIE'S 8 King Street, St. James's SW1Y 6QT London United Kingdom | |
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Preview |
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Phone | +44 (0)20 7839 9060 | |
Buyer Premium | see on Website | |
Conditions of purchase | Conditions of purchase |
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