Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003)

Winged Figures (2)

both incised with the artist's signature, numbered, and dated 'Chadwick '74 E.1. 6/8' (on the back of the wing)

bronze with black patina (2), 20x20x10 cm and 19.5x16x10 cm

Cast by Fonderie Susse Frères, Paris, France (with their blind stamp on the leg of the male figure).
Literature:
D. Farr and E. Chadwick, 'Lynn Chadwick Sculptor', London 1990, p. 309, cat. no. 704, illustrated.

Lynn Chadwick’s Winged Figures
The winged figures are a returning theme in Lynn Chadwicks body of work. Usually realized as a couple, the male and female torso can be joined or like in the present lot separated into two individual sculptures, yet they are only complete when brought into conversation with one another. Chadwick started to develop the winged figure format in 1955. In the earliest sculptures the two figures are joined by the groin and confronting one another. While in earlier works heads can be reduced to a minimum in later versions male figures generally have blocky rectangular heads while female heads are triangular. Chadwick served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War, and it has been suggested that his winged figures owe some debt to his wartime experience. Though these figures are winged, however, they are resolutely grounded. They stand upright in gestureless poses and by 1974 when these sculptures were made, it seems that flight had become merely an idea – something to be thought of or dreamed about, but in reality quite impossible.

‘Art must be the manifestation of some vital force coming from the dark, caught by the imagination and translated by the artist’s ability and skill... Whatever the final shape, the force behind is... indivisible. When we philosophise upon this force we lose sight of it. The intellect alone is too clumsy to grasp it’ -Lynn Chadwick

For this artist resale right is applicable from €2400 hammer price onwards