Lynn Chadwick

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Two Seated Figures , bronze sculpture from 1973 in Tel Aviv

Lynn Russell Chadwick , CBE (born November 24, 1914 in London , Great Britain , † April 25, 2003 in Stroud , Gloucestershire ) was a British sculptor .

Lynn Chadwick is known for his sculptures made of welded iron parts, which he also made as mobiles . His works show echoes of the art of Alexander Calder .

Life

Lynn Chadwick received an architectural education from the elite Merchant Taylor's School in Northwood , Middlesex . After graduating from school, he went on a study trip to France. From 1933 to 1939 he worked as a draftsman for various London architects' offices. During the Second World War he was a pilot in the British Naval Air Force.

Chadwick began his first artistic steps with drawings (he worked as a freelance draftsman after the war), with watercolor and oil painting . From 1946 to 1952 he was a freelance designer for textiles, furniture and architecture. He became financially independent, began to experiment with sculptural constructions and to devote himself exclusively to sculpture. He made his first sculptures after the end of the war. In 1947 he worked with the architect Rodney Thomas , who had a great influence on him. In 1948 Chadwick first took part in an exhibition with his bizarre sculptures, and in 1949 he exhibited in the gallery of Charles and Peter Gimpel in London. His first solo exhibition took place in 1950. From 1951 Chadwick created numerous commissioned works, u. a. a mobile and a stable for the Festival of Britain . In 1952 he exhibited in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale . In 1953, his memorial to the unknown political prisoner received 3rd prize in an international competition. Since then, his sculptures have gained increasing international attention, and he has participated in the Venice Biennale and the documenta in Kassel several times .

Lynn Chadwick has received other international prizes and awards, including the 1956 Venice Biennale Grand Prix for Sculpture . In 1959 he was awarded first prize at the Concorso Internazionale del Bronzetto in Padua . In 1960 he was the winner of the international exhibition of drawings and etchings in Lugano . In 1964, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lynn Chadwick Commander of the British Empire . In 1985 he received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture.

His initially hard metallic animal-like sculptures became softer and more like humans in the course of his artistic work. In Lypiatt Park , Stroud, Gloucestershire, Lynn Chadwick settled and set up a sculpture park. He died in his home town in 2003.

Works

Lynn Chadwick's sculptures consist mainly of iron parts welded together. Early works show stylistic similarities to sculptures by Alexander Calder , but follow an architectural rather than a plastic principle in their conception. Around 1950, Lynn Chadwick's Mobiles and Stables combined both static and moving elements. As one of the most important figurative sculptors of the post-war period in Great Britain, he aimed for a synthesis of abstract and figurative components. The works of the early 1950s, which are basically abstract, are reminiscent of insect-like configurations, but also of totem-like objects. Mostly massive in the upper area, they stand on fragile, thin legs. The works of the 1970s are often abstract pairs of figures, whose basic constructive conception is interrupted by a few human body parts. The massiveness of the sculptures is canceled out by elements that protrude upwards or to the side.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1952: Participant in the Venice Biennale
  • 1955: Participant in documenta 1 in Kassel
  • 1956: Participant in the Venice Biennale
  • 1959: Participant in documenta 2 in Kassel
  • 1960: Exhibition together with Kenneth Armitage , Kestner Society , Hanover
  • 1964: Participant in documenta 3 in Kassel
  • 1996: Gimpel Fils in London
  • 1998: Solomon Gallery in Dublin
  • 1999: Participant in the Venice Biennale
  • 2000: Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver
  • 2002: James Hyman Fine Art, London
  • 2002: Galleria M´ARTE, Milan
  • 2002: Blast to Freeze , Wolfsburg Art Museum
  • 2003: Sculpture - from stability to mobility , gallery on Lindenplatz in Vaduz
  • 2003: Lynn Chadwick , Tate Britain in London
  • 2004: Hommage à Picasso - 50 artists , Galerie Wolfgang Exner, Vienna
  • 2004: Lynn Chadwick. Sculpture Osborne Samuel / Scolar Fine Art, London
  • 2005: Summer Show Marlborough Gallery , New York
  • 2019, May – September: Beasts of Time at the same time in the Haus am Waldsee and in the Georg Kolbe Museum , Berlin; Exhibition of individual Chadwick works

literature

  • Kenneth Armitage - Lynn Chadwick. Exhibition catalog, Kestner Society, Hanover 1960.
  • Dennis Farr / Eva Chadwick: Lynn Chadwick, with a Complete Illustrated Catalog 1947–2005. L. Humphries, Farnham / Surrey, England 2006, ISBN 0-85331-942-1 .

Web links

Commons : Lynn Russell Chadwick  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hybrid Biester , information about exhibitions and illustration of the work Beast Alektiven , 1990. In: Berliner Zeitung , May 31, 2019, p. 25.
  2. ↑ Biester der Zeit , exhibition with works by Lynn Chadwick, Katja Struntz and Hans Uhlmann in the Haus am Waldsee , accessed on June 4, 2019 ( hausamwaldsee.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Chadwick, Lynn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chadwick, Lynn Russell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2003
Place of death Stroud , Gloucestershire