Lynn Chadwick is famous for his fantastical creations made of welded steel which refuse precise classification and combine elements from the spheres of man, animal, and architecture. The English sculptor devoted himself not without humour to the existential questions of our time, hitting a nerve with critics and the public.
(...) Continue readingLynn Chadwick – An interest in art led to an apprenticeship as structural draughtsman
Lynn Chadwick was born in London on 24 November 1914. He developed a strong interest in the fine arts during his schooling at the elite school Merchant Taylor’s School in Northwood, Middlesex; his teacher, however, warned of the uncertain career prospects this would bring and instead recommended a career as an architect. Chadwick thus took an apprenticeship as a structural draughtsman and worked in the architectural offices of Donald Hamilton, Eugen Carl Kauffman and Rodney Thomas. With his interest in contemporary European architecture and design, the latter had a deciding influence on Chadwick’s artistic development. As well as training as a draughtsman, Chadwick remained a self-taught artist throughout his life, and in retrospect, he saw this time as important and helpful in his understanding of pictorial composition. With the start of the Second World War, he initially refused military service as a conscientious objector, but volunteered for the military in April 1941 and served as a pilot.
From sought-after designer to celebrated sculptor
After the war, Lynn Chadwick initially worked again for Rodney Thomas and was involved in designing trade show stands. With some success, he experimented as a textile designer, winning a competition, which resulted in further commissions for the company of the designer couple Zika and Lida Ascher. In 1947, Lynn Chadwick constructed his first mobile, drawing on ideas from his employer, Thomas, but of these early works - made primarily of balsa wood, wire and cut brass and copper shapes - only a few examples have survived. He presented his idiosyncratic mobiles for the first time in 1950 at a solo exhibition in the Gimpel Fils Gallery. This attracted the attention of the art critics and resulted in several large contracts, including the design of a large-format mobile for a building project of the star architect Jane Drew. Drew’s colleague Misha Black, on the other hand, did not want a moving mobile, but a fixed sculpture for a restaurant garden. This marked Lynn Chadwick’s transition from designer to sculptor.
Participation in the Biennale and great international acceptance
Lynn Chadwick acquired skills in welding iron, steel, copper and brass and worked in increasingly large dimensions. In 1952, he was invited to exhibit at the XXVI Venice Biennale, alongside other young sculptors including Kenneth Armitage, Robert Adams, Geoffrey Clarke, Reg Butler, Bernard Meadows, William Turnbull and Eduardo Paolozzi. His contribution elicited a positive response: the art critic Herbert Read wrote a long eulogy, garnished with quotations from Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, and thus made a topical reference to the Cold War. Chadwick celebrated great international recognition, participated several times at the Venice Biennale as well as Documenta in Kassel. Although the early sculptures show a certain similarity to the work of the American sculptor Alexander Calder, Lynn Chadwick ultimately found his own way which reflected his personal pathway in architecture.
Lynn Chadwick died in Stroud in the English county of Gloucestershire on 25 April 2003.
Lynn Chadwick - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
