Lynn Chadwick, R.A.

Acquired by a Private American Collector in the late 1950s, from whom acquired by the present owner

Kassel, Jahrhunderts, Documenta: Kunst des XX, July - September 1955, cat. no.121;
New York, Silberman Galleries, An Exhibition of Contemporary British Art, 1956 (details untraced).

Dennis Farr and Eva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 1947-2005, Lund Humphries, 2006, cat. no.161, p.107, illustrated.

The following condition report has been prepared by Amy Anderson – Senior Conservator, Plowden & Smith Limited, London. The piece was examined at Sotheby's New Bond Street. The iron work is in good condition generally and the Stolit render appears well adhered. The proper right leg leans slightly inward but this doesn't appear to affect the balance unduly and the piece stands soundly. The object was examined under UV light, which confirmed one unidentified accretion on the proper right arm and a small repaired chip on the reverse between figures one and two. Some adhesive residue is visible around this. There is a hairline crack which runs vertically along the front between figures one and two along the left side of the central figure's Torso. This appears to be associated with the repair noted above and a further associated repair at the base of the crack. It seems likely that this has been caused by an impact. The crack exhibits some very slight movement when put under pressure. Despite this, the damage seems fairly stable and is unlikely to worsen with normal handling. If the piece is travelling extensively it is recommended that an attempt be made to stabilise the crack. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In 1955, Arnold Bode, German architect, designer and curator, organised documenta in Kassel, an ambitious exhibition whose aim was to present the very best of modern and contemporary art to a generation who had been deprived of cutting-edge visual culture during the Nazi era. The success of the exhibition was unprecedented and attracted over 130,000 visitors, showcasing Picasso and Braque alongside the likes of Matisse and Modigliani. It is highly significant that Chadwick was selected as one of only six British artists included (the other five were Moore, Hepworth, Nicholson, Sutherland and Armitage) and that it was the present work, Three Standing Figures, that he chose to represent him amongst such esteemed company. The year after, 1956, Chadwick went on to represent Britain at the XXVIII Venice Biennale, his inclusion in documenta no doubt playing an influential part in the selection process. He won the international sculpture prize, beating Giacometti and becoming the youngest recipient since the Second World War. 

What makes this achievement all the more remarkable is that Chadwick had only learnt to weld in 1950, the year of his first show at Gimpel Fils. It was his innovative working methods which distinguished Chadwick, along with his contemporaries – Butler and Turnbull among them – as sculptors of a new generation, presenting a new aesthetic in British sculpture. The present work is constructed through a web of coarsely welded rods which form an angular ribbed skeletal armature. Stolit was then used to fill the sections (an artificial stone compound which is applied like wet plaster that sets hard). This material has been worked by hand and subtly coloured to create a natural earthy feel, whilst leaving the framework visible. The result is a highly textured and tangible object comprising a rough musculature surface-skin with a ribbed frame-work of angular lines which give a linear tension to the sculpture.

During the course of the 1950s, Chadwick was to develop from the mobile constructions which populated his Gimpel Fils exhibition to sculptures with more solid structures. His overriding concern during this period was with mass, weight and movement, initially with an emphasis on animal forms, but moving to more obvious figurative sculpture. Three Standing Figures of 1955 demonstrates Chadwick’s unique expression of the human unit. By placing this trio of figures linked together on thinly tapered legs, interlinking but each with their own distinctive pose, they each acquire an individual vitality. The arms of one have been truanted, and the necks reduced to carefully tilted spikes indicate the poise of the missing heads:

‘I would call it attitude, you know, the way that you can make something almost talk by the way the neck is bent, or the attitude of the head’ (the Artist, quoted in Dennis Farr and Eva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 1947-2005, Lund Humphries, 2006, p.11). 

Despite the work’s stationary pose, there is a sense of anticipated movement with the solid bodies angled and yet perfectly balanced on their slender legs. They appear to be conferring, huddled in a semi-circle. Chadwick’s works of this period were usually single or paired figures in which he explores relationships between the forms and groups of three figures are unusual. This rare work, therefore, is one of his first sculptures to look at more than two figures and foreshadows his series of The Watchers from the 1960s when Chadwick began once again to think in terms of three forms but by this date he had turned to bronze.