Lynn Chadwick
Winged Figures Version II, 1973
Bronze
Conceived and cast in 1973 as number 2 in an edition of 6
Conceived and cast in 1973 as number 2 in an edition of 6
26 1/8 x 22 1/2 x 14 in, 66.4 x 57.1 x 35.6 cm
Stamped with the artist’s signature, dated and inscribed ‘660 2/6’
‘At first I gave the rectangular heads to both genders. Then I thought, that’s not quite fair - I ought to give the female one a different head. I made...
‘At first I gave the rectangular heads to both genders. Then I thought, that’s not quite fair - I ought to give the female one a different head. I made the female head a pyramid so that the tip of the pyramid was just slightly higher than the male one, but the mass of the female one was slightly lower than the head of the male, so as to balance it not only from the point of view of gender but from the point of view of masses.' Lynn Chadwick
The Winged Figures is among Chadwick’s most iconic series of sculptures. He worked on the group for twenty years between 1955 and 1975, creating over fifty versions around the same subject. Chadwick cast the present sculpture - 'Winged Figures Version II' - in 1973. The series was inspired by dancing figures, with the two bodies bonded together at the waist as if moving to the rhythm together. The wings make reference to Chadwick’s time as a spent as a pilot during World War II.
In the 1970s Chadwick fully developed the visual language that is now synonymous with his work, depicting monumental pairings of angular male and female figures. 'Winged Figures Version II' is a brilliant example of Chadwick’s mature style and demonstrates his exploration of the emotional and physical relationship between the male and the female. Yet, unlikely many of his other works in which the head shape marks gender, here Chadwick has made one of the figures distinctly female.
In sculptures such as the present, Chadwick rejected the smooth, direct-carved forms of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore to create a rougher textured skin. Using phosphoric acid Chadwick could control the tactile finish of his cast bronze sculptures and separate himself from what he considered to be the greasy shine of green and black patinas.
Lynn Chadwick's work can be found in the collections of major international museums including the Tate, London; National Museum of Wales; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Musee Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Galleria Nazionale d-Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC. He was awarded a CBE in 1964 and made a Royal Academician in 2001.
The Winged Figures is among Chadwick’s most iconic series of sculptures. He worked on the group for twenty years between 1955 and 1975, creating over fifty versions around the same subject. Chadwick cast the present sculpture - 'Winged Figures Version II' - in 1973. The series was inspired by dancing figures, with the two bodies bonded together at the waist as if moving to the rhythm together. The wings make reference to Chadwick’s time as a spent as a pilot during World War II.
In the 1970s Chadwick fully developed the visual language that is now synonymous with his work, depicting monumental pairings of angular male and female figures. 'Winged Figures Version II' is a brilliant example of Chadwick’s mature style and demonstrates his exploration of the emotional and physical relationship between the male and the female. Yet, unlikely many of his other works in which the head shape marks gender, here Chadwick has made one of the figures distinctly female.
In sculptures such as the present, Chadwick rejected the smooth, direct-carved forms of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore to create a rougher textured skin. Using phosphoric acid Chadwick could control the tactile finish of his cast bronze sculptures and separate himself from what he considered to be the greasy shine of green and black patinas.
Lynn Chadwick's work can be found in the collections of major international museums including the Tate, London; National Museum of Wales; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Musee Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Galleria Nazionale d-Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC. He was awarded a CBE in 1964 and made a Royal Academician in 2001.
Provenance
David Margolis
(acquired from the artist in 1973 and then on loan to the American Art Gallery,
Copenhagen)
Estate of David Margolis (by descent from the above)
Exhibitions
Copenhagen, Court Gallery, Lynn Chadwick, December 1975 – January 1976, no.15
Literature
D. Farr and E.
Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick: Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated
Catalogue 1947 - 1988, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990,
no.660, p.262-63 (another cast illus.)
D. Farr and E. Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick: Sculptor, With a Complete
Illustrated Catalogue 1947 - 2003, Farnham, Lund Humphries, 2014, no.660, p.297
(another cast illus.)