Lynn Chadwick: Three Sculptures

Born in Barnes, on the outskirts of London, England on November 24, 1914, Lynn Chadwick was brought up in a conventional family setting. His father, an engineer who designed industrial furnaces, and his mother, a former teacher, raised Chadwick in a conservative and practical household.

EARLY LIFE AND EXPERIMENTATION

At the age of 18, Chadwick met British Revivalist sculptor Wilfred Dudeney, a friend of his sister Margery. The encounter inspired Chadwick to consider a career in the arts, but due to the economic depression of the 1930s, his parents encouraged him to find a more secure career path. A compromise was reached, and Chadwick pursued training as an architect and draughtsman, though found little pleasure in the work.

The onset of World War II prompted Chadwick to join the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, piloting the Swordfish biplanes which were used to protect merchant shipping vessels from German submarines. His son, Daniel, recalled that Chadwick’s innate sense of balance and equilibrium would help his father enormously during his wartime service, finding a parallel between the sensitivity needed to land a plane on a small aircraft carrier with the sculptures he would later produce.

When the war ended, Chadwick, his first wife Ann and son Simon moved to a remote cottage in Gloucestershire. The house lacked electricity and running water but was affordable, allowing Chadwick the freedom to begin making things at his own pace. Mobiles were an early interest before he began to make sculpture. These months of remote experimentation would be referred to by the artist as his “desert-island technique.”

Chadwick began submitting his work, and in 1946 won a textile design competition judged by Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland. In 1949, one of his mobiles was accepted into an exhibition at Gimpel Fils, a London art gallery, which led to a successful solo exhibition the following year. Opportunities flooded in, including several high-profile commissions.

INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM

Chadwick received no formal training as a sculptor, though he learned to weld in the late 1940s, which would help him to build the rigid cages that formed the outline of his three-dimensional works.

Perrotin, which represents the artist’s estate, explains that Chadwick’s sculpture of the 1950s can be described as “drawing in space”, as Chadwick “welded steel rods together in triangulated structures and he subsequently filled the voids between the lines with a mixture of iron filings and gypsum.” This technique set him apart from his contemporaries and established him as a major figure in 20th-century sculpture.

Despite his training as a draughtsman, Chadwick rarely drew on paper, preferring to work out his sculptures in real time without any preconceived notions. His son Daniel noted that “he was able to visualise the piece as he worked, and rarely had to cut and alter the lines…it meant he was able to convey energy or attitude, poise and movement, effortlessly and intuitively.”

With his career on the rise, Chadwick’s work was included in the 1952 “New Aspects of British Sculpture” exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Four years later, he would again represent Britain in Venice, with a series of angular, anthropomorphic works. The exhibition would win him the International Sculpture Prize at the age of 42, beating the more famous sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Chadwick remains the youngest sculptor to ever win the prize.

MATURE CAREER AND LEGACY

In 1958, Chadwick purchased Lypiatt Park, a near-derelict Elizabethan mansion outside Stroud, which became both his home and studio. This space allowed him to create larger works and establish his own foundry in 1971.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Chadwick continued to evolve his artistic style, developing sculptures that conveyed a lighter, more whimsical mood. In the 1980s, he collaborated with Claude Koenig and Rungwe Kingdon to establish the Pangolin Editions foundry, and the three agreed on a method for casting and producing Chadwick’s entire body of work. This partnership ensured the continuation of his artistic legacy, as Pangolin Editions continues to make his sculptures today. Along with Chadwick’s work, Pangolin fabricates sculptures for contemporary artists including Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Eduardo Paolozzi.

Chadwick’s work in the 1970s and 80s was characterised by a move toward figuration, centred around winged or robed bodies in motion, perched on slender legs. As Perrotin writes: “uninhibited by the constraints of a formal art education, Chadwick freely and instinctively invented images from his imagination, utilising his individual technique and creating a fantastic oeuvre of novel human and animal forms […] He also channelled the essence of his own earlier mobiles in an art of motion, balance and stance in pursuit of a kind of body language that Chadwick himself described as ‘Attitude’.” These works are lighter and gentler than earlier works, exploring the human condition through a pared-back simplicity.

Despite never receiving formal training as a sculptor, Chadwick’s intuitive approach resulted in a prolific career spanning five decades. His legacy was honoured with a major retrospective at Tate Britain in 2003, shortly after his passing on April 24 of the same year. Today, Chadwick is celebrated as one of the most exciting artists to emerge from the post-war period in Britain, with his work continuing to inspire and influence new generations of sculptors. His work remains sought after by collectors looking to rediscover the innovations of British post-war artists, and his market continues to grow internationally.

Of the three works featured in Waddington’s major Canadian & International Fine Art auction, Goulven Le Morvan, Director of International art explains that “each sculpture by Lynn Chadwick seems to have a distinct aspect – one is walking, one is sitting, and one is standing – and still, we can feel the movement in each. There is nothing inanimate about these works.”

auction information

We are pleased to offer these exceptional works in our major fall Canadian & International Fine Art Auction.

The auction also features a Lake Superior canvas by Lawren Harris, an early abstract by Rita Letendre, a charming composition by Jean Paul Lemieux, an urban scene by Peter Clapham Sheppard, as well as works by include James Wilson Morrice, Jean McEwen, David Hockney, and Shirin Neshat.

PUBLIC PREVIEWS

Previews will be available at our new Toronto gallery, located at 100 Broadview Avenue, just south of Queen Street East.

Saturday, November 23 from 12 pm to 4 pm
Sunday, November 24 from 12 pm to 4 pm
Monday, November 25 from 10 am to 5 pm
Tuesday, November 26 from 10 am to 5 pm
Or by appointment.

Contact us for more information.