Throughout his career as one of the leading figures of Post-War British art, William Turnbull sought to overturn the predominating art historical notions of what constituted sculpture. Turning away from what had since the Renaissance been a preoccupation with naturalism and a reverence for the classical Greek figurative carvings in shimmering marbles, he was part of a generation of artists who, following on from the likes of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, sought to create a new notion of what sculpture was meant to be, and how viewers should interact with a work.

Beginning while a student at the Slade, he frequently visited the British Museum to study archaic and non-classical figures, as well as ancient tools and weapons uncovered through archaeological finds, drawn to the timelessness of these sacred and utilitarian forms. Together with the aesthetic dialogue observed during his time spent studying in Paris, where he was exposed to the work of Giacometti and Brancusi, it was this ancient visual language that guided his sculptural approach of the 1950s and ‘60s, before his sculpture took a radical departure with the introduction of cut and welded metals in the mid- to late-1960s. It was the major retrospective of his work at the Tate in 1973, including examples from the last three decades of his career, which outlined some clear and consistent themes that permeated his work, leading to his decision to redefine his earlier ideas on sculpture.

Conceived in 1985, works such as Paddle Venus 5 turn again to the idol motif that occupied him in the '50s, the ancient and tribal, with a wonderful economy of expression. Turnbull famously asked: ‘How little will suggest a head?’ (Turnbull, quoted in David Sylvester, William Turnbull: Sculpture and Paintings (exh. cat.), Serpentine Gallery, London, 1995, p.10) and the present work suggests the human figure with graceful sparsity: the upright blade which swells and narrows, the subtle suggestion of nipples, and the scoring of the surface, which functions as both design and anatomy. The markings that etch the bronze are an artificial intervention on a surface which looks both natural and timeless, recalling the markings on tribal shields and masks, and also the ancient art of tattooing, which was a particular fascination of Turnbull’s. As he stated:

Turnbull’s sculptures of this later period diverge from the 50s works partially in their slimness, in part inspired by his son’s skate and surf boards. Paddle Venus 5 takes inspiration from his earlier abstracted figures, together with his collection of primitive tools, modern objects and religious statues, including works from African and Oceanic cultures. Fertility is also an important reference point within the present work, with the title alone offering references to the goddess Venus and her association with love, fertility and idealised beauty, all within this delicately pared-back and simple form. The work manages to reference the primordial and corporeal while still asserting itself as a bold statement of modern sculpture at its most avant-garde, creating a dialogue with the viewer and opening itself up to different interpretations with every encounter.