Antony Gormley

Gallery Nordenhake, Stockholm
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Michael Mack Ed., Antony Gormley, Göttingen 2007, p. 519, illustration of another example in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is lighter in the original. The catalogue illustration does not fully convey the rough texture of the metal or the full three-dimensionality apparent in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Some oxidisation has occurred in the recessed areas of the sculpture and in a few places elsewhere. There are a few scattered rub marks on the underside.
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Curled on the floor, seemingly alone and abandoned, Antony Gormley's  Iron Baby is an emotive incarnation of the artist's figurative iron sculptures which are the defining highlight of his career. Typically Gormley has used his own body as a tool in the making of these works, seeking to leave only the trace of his form rather than his specific presence and rendering the works for all intents and purposes; anonymous. By contrast the present work is striking in its departure from these pre-set dimensions  as the work is modelled on Gormley's  own baby daughter.  Despite this intensely personal connection the cast conforms to his previous processes and maintains the non-expressivity of the metal which betrays no identifying features or gender.

The very nature of the infant sculpture plays on our basest emotions. We struggle to understand the isolation of this small body, and are faced with the overwhelming and innate desire to rescue the infant. This assumed dependence reminds us that Gormley's early figures convey a sense of purpose and strength in their isolation, which is here exposed as weak and vulnerable. The prone motionless form is at odds with the traditional presentation of children as innocents, receptive to the outside world and always protected by others. Instead this tiny sculpture is turned away from the outside, embodying Gormley's consistent desire to address the inward bodily space through stillness.