Lynn Chadwick
Maquette for Lion1961, Bronze
Edition of 4
Dying Lioness in Ashurbanipal relief at the British Museum © Carole Raddato
Above: Dying Lioness in Ashurbanipal relief at the British Museum © Carole Raddato
Below: Lynn Chadwick Maquette for Lion, 1961, Bronze, Edition of 4
Lynn Chadwick grew up in a modest double fronted house on Station Road in Barnes. His father was a successful engineer and later local mayor and his mother was a keen, if conservative, follower of culture. Weekends as a child were spent visiting museums and and galleries, as well as theatres and Kew Gardens with his sister Margery.
We know that Chadwick particularly enjoyed visiting the British Museum and he has described how the energy he saw in the Easter Island head there was something he hoped to achieve in his own work. He believed that not predicting or designing the work in advance meant this might be more possible, channelling an energy from his subconscious.
Chadwick must have seen at the British Museum this large and powerful image of a dying lioness pierced with arrows. It is an Assyrian relief that once adorned the walls of the royal palace of King Ashurbanipal in 7th Century BC in Nineveh, Mesopotamia.
He may also have been subliminally inspired by the sculptor Jacob Epstein (1880–1959) whose controversial Rima Chadwick recalls going to see in Hyde Park as a boy to ‘see the horrors of Modern Art’. He also visited Epstein’s Memorial to Oscar Wilde, 1914 whilst in Paris in 1932 and both works can be considered to have a certain Assyrian aesthetic.
Further images
From a practical perspective, Chadwick’s beasts allowed him the opportunity to explore elevating mass on four spindly legs, rather than two, a signature theme in Chadwick’s work. The beasts also allowed Chadwick to experiment with stance with subtle changes to the balance of weight and direction of the head. Having first learnt to weld in 1950 alongside his contemporary, Geoffrey Clarke, the Beast sculptures also exemplify Chadwick’s remarkable consolidation and refinement of technique.
Lynn Chadwick first came to international prominence in 1952 when he was included in the British Council’s ‘New Aspects of British Sculpture’ exhibition for the XXVI Venice Biennale alongside Kenneth Armitage, Reg Butler, Bernard Meadows, Geoffrey Clarke, Robert Adam, William Turnbull and Eduardo Paolozzi.
The following year, Chadwick was one of the twelve semi-finalists for the Unknown Political Prisoner International Sculpture Competition and went on to win the International Prize for sculpture at the 1956 Venice Biennale, ahead of Alberto Giacometti. Many honours and awards followed this period and his work was widely collected both privately and by major institutions globally. In 1964, he was awarded a CBE and in 2001 was elected a Royal Academician. A major retrospective of his work was held this year at Houghton Hall, Norfolk.
