Lynn Chadwick
Winged Figures, Conceived in 1955 and cast in 1961
Bronze with brown patina
Height 21 1/2 in, 54.6 cm
Signed, numbered and dated '172 2/6 Chadwick 55' on the male figure and stamped with the foundry mark on the female figure
Number 2 from an edition of 6 cast by Cera Persa Brotal foundry, Mendrisio in 1961
Number 2 from an edition of 6 cast by Cera Persa Brotal foundry, Mendrisio in 1961
Lynn Chadwick is one of the most important and respected British sculptors of the post-war years. His reputation became fully established after he won the International Prize for Sculpture at...
Lynn Chadwick is one of the most important and respected British sculptors of the post-war years. His reputation became fully established after he won the International Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1956. It was the year prior to this that he created ‘Winged Figures’.
From 1955 Chadwick began a series of sculptures inspired by dancing figures called 'Winged Figures'. Part insect and part human the bodies are bonded at the waist as if moving in rhythm together. The wings make reference to Chadwick’s time as a spent as a pilot during World War II. In the 1940s Chadwick turned from the traditional methods of carving sculpture from wood and stone and instead learnt how to weld, transforming his approach to sculpture. It is this textural quality that is seen in Winged Figures, giving the surface of the sculpture a wonderful roughness and depth.
Other sculptures from the 'Winged Figures' series now belong to public collections including Tate, London and National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.
From 1955 Chadwick began a series of sculptures inspired by dancing figures called 'Winged Figures'. Part insect and part human the bodies are bonded at the waist as if moving in rhythm together. The wings make reference to Chadwick’s time as a spent as a pilot during World War II. In the 1940s Chadwick turned from the traditional methods of carving sculpture from wood and stone and instead learnt how to weld, transforming his approach to sculpture. It is this textural quality that is seen in Winged Figures, giving the surface of the sculpture a wonderful roughness and depth.
Other sculptures from the 'Winged Figures' series now belong to public collections including Tate, London and National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Provenance
Private Collection (purchased in the 1950s)Private Collection (by descent from the above)
Exhibitions
New York, M. Knoedler, Lynn Chadwick, January 1961, another cast illus.Literature
H. Read, Lynn Chadwick: Artist of
Our Time, Amriswil, 1960, p. 20, another cast illus. (titled Maquette
for Two Winged Figures)
W. Schmalenbach, 'Lynn Chadwick', Louisiana Revy, 1/2, November
1960
D. Farr, British Sculpture since 1945, London, 1965, pl. 7,
another cast illus.
A.M. Hammacher, Modern English Sculpture, London, 1967, no. 15,
(titled Maquette for Two Winged Figures)
P. Levine and N. Koster, Chadwick: The Sculptor and His World, Leiden,
1988, p. 48, another cast illus.
D. Farr and E. Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick: Sculptor, With a Complete
Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Farnham, 2014, p. 124, no. 172,
another cast illus.
M. Bird, Lynn Chadwick, Lund Humphries, 2014, no. 3-1, pp. 62-63, another cast illus.