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LYNN CHADWICK

(1914-2003)

Organic Geometry

Learn more about one of Britain's most revered and celebrated artists, as narrated by Lynn Chadwick's daughter, Sarah Marchant. 

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Biography

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Lynn Chadwick was born in London in 1914. After taking his School Certificate at the Merchant Taylors' School, he stayed on to study drawing, watercolour and oil painting.  He was then sent to Vouvray to study French. From 1933 to 1939, he worked as an architectural draughtsman in London, subsequently spending some time as a farm labourer before volunteering for the Fleet Air Arm and gaining a commission (1941-44).

 

After the war, he worked producing textile, furniture and architectural designs. His first mobile sculpture, constructed from aluminum and balsa wood, was shown at a Building Trades Exhibition in 1947. He began to make sculpture and had the first of many solo exhibitions worldwide at Gimpel Fils in London in 1950. In 1953 he was one of the twelve semi-finalists in the “Unknown Political Prisoner” International Sculpture Competition, for which he was awarded an honourable mention and prize. By 1956 his reputation as a sculptor was confirmed internationally when he won the International Prize for Sculpture at the XXVIII Venice Biennale.  More prizes and accolades followed as his career developed, including being awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1964.

 

During the 1950s he was prominent among the group of metal sculptors following in the steps of Henry Moore whose works, although largely abstract, carried suggestions of the human figure. Notable among Chadwick’s work at this time is The Watchers, a bronze cast from a reinforced plaster modeled upon a rigid framework.  In the 1960s his work became more block-like and monumental, designed to be seen in the open.

 

Chadwick’s approach to sculpture was constructive and additive, rather than subtractive modelling. He first made a linear armature or skeleton onto which he applied a skin, building up the surface to a solid form. Earlier works featured a textured finish, but his later pieces have a smoother, more refined surface, and geometry replaced more organic form.  His subject matter ranged from the human form, abstracted but readily recognised, to animals - general types rather than specific creatures.

 

Chadwick created a permanent exhibition of his work at his Gloucestershire home, Lypiatt Park, close to the foundry that cast most of his work, from monumental bronzes to miniatures in silver. During 1980s and 1990s, his work was the subject major exhibitions in Paris, London, New York and Tokyo.

 

He is represented in public collections in the USA, Europe and Australia as well as in the Tate Gallery, The Victoria and Albert Museum and the Arts Council Collection of Great Britain.

 

Lynn Chadwick passed away after a lengthy illness in 2003.

EXHIBITIONS

 

2007

Lynn Chadwick: Prints and Maquettes

Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire (solo)

 

2006        

Beaux Arts, London (solo)

Osborne Samuel, London (solo)

 

2005        

Celebrating Chadwick,

The Museum in the Park,

Gloucestershire (solo)

 

2004        

Canary Wharf, Osborne Samuel Gallery,

London (solo)

Lynn Chadwick 1914 - 2003, Dexia, Luxembourg,

curated by Gallery Pangolin (solo)

 

2003        

Coming from the Dark, Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire (solo)

Tate Britain, Duveen Galleries, London (solo)

 

2002        

Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Palm Desert (solo)

Tasende Gallery, Los Angeles, California (solo)

 

2001        

Beaux Arts, London (solo)

JGM Galerie, Paris (solo)

 

1999        

Beaux Arts, London (solo)

 

1996        

Gimpel Fils and Berkeley Square Gallery,

London (solo)

Symbols for ’51, The Royal Festival Hall, London

Les Champs de la Sculpture, Paris

 

1994        

A Changing World of Sculpture 

British Council Collection, The State Museum,

St Petersburg, Russia

Beaux Arts, Bath (solo)

 

1993        

Galeria Freites, Caracas (solo)

The Economist Plaza, London (solo)

 

1992        

Gallery Universe, Tokyo (solo)

Galleria Blu, Milan (solo)

Galerie Marbeau, Paris (solo)

 

1991        

Marlborough Gallery, New York (solo)

The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama (solo)

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield (solo)

 

1990        

Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Sofia Imber, Caracas (solo)

 

1989        

Marlborough Fine Art, London (solo)

Marlborough Gallery, New York (solo)

 

1988        

Galeria Freites, Caracas (solo)

Modern British Sculpture from the Collection, Tate Gallery, Liverpool

 

1987        

Erika Meyerovich Gallery, San Francisco (solo)

 

1986        

British Embassy, sponsored by Christie’s Contemporary Art (solo)

Beaux Arts, Bath (solo)

Galleria Blu, Milan (solo)

 

1985        

Marlborough Gallery, New York (solo)

Recalling the Fifties: British Painting and Sculpture 1950-60, Serpentine Gallery, London

 

1984        

Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London

Marlborough Fine Art, London (solo)

 

1983        

Mercury Gallery, Edinburgh (solo)

 

1982        

Christie’s Contemporary Art, New York

(with Victor Pasmore)

 

1981        

British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

 

1980        

Galerie Regards, Paris (solo)

 

1979        

Keys Gallery, Londonderry (solo)

1978 

       

Marlborough Fine Art, London (solo)

 

1977        

A Silver Jubilee,

Exhibition of Contemporary British Sculpture, Battersea Park, London

Carved, Modelled, Constructed: Three aspects of British 20th century sculpture, Tate Gallery, London

 

1975        

Arte Contacto Galeria de Arte, Caracas (in collaboration with Marlborough Gallery,

New York) (solo)

Sculpture in Holland Park, London

 

1974        

Marlborough Fine Art, London (solo)

Jiyugaoka Gallery, Tokyo (solo)

 

1972        

Galleria Blu, Milan (solo)

 

1971        

Galeria Wspólczesna, Warsaw (solo)

IVème Exposition Internationale de Sculpture Contemporaine, Musée Rodin, Paris

 

1969        

Galerie Withofs, Brussels (solo)

 

1968        

Galleria Blu, Milan (solo)

 

1966        

Marlborough New London Gallery (solo)

Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

 

1965        

British Sculpture in the Sixties, Tate Gallery, London

Sculptures from Albert A. List Family Collection, New York Art Center

 

1964        

Contemporary British Sculpture (Arts Council open-air touring exhibition)

Exhibition of Venice Biennale Prizewinners

since 1948, Galeria d’Arte Moderne, Venice

 

1963        

Sculpture in the Open Air (London County Council exhibition), Battersea Park, London

Galleria Blu, Milan (with Kenneth Armitage)

 

1962        

Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan

(with Kenneth Armitage)

British Art Today, San Francisco Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Contemporary Arts,

Santa Barbara Museum of Art

 

1961        

2ème Exposition Internationale de Sculpture Contemporaine, Musée Rodin, Paris

Peter Lanyon, William Scott, Lynn Chadwick, Merlyn Evans, VI Biennale de São Paulo,

Museo de Arte Moderna (solo)

Marlborough Fine Art, London (solo)

 

1960        

Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover

(with Kenneth Armitage)

 

1959        

John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 2,

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

 

1958        

50 Ans d’Art Moderne,

Palais International des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Galerie Daniel Cordier, Paris (solo)

 

1957        

Saidenberg Gallery, New York (solo)

Contemporary Art – Acquisitions 1954-1957, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Sculpture 1850 and 1950, Holland Park, London

 

1956        

The Seasons, Tate Gallery, London

Exposition Internationale de Sculpture Contemporaine, Musée Rodin, Paris

XXVIII Biennale, Venice (with Ivon Hitchens)

 

1955        

Young British Sculptors

(touring exhibition by the Arts Club of Chicago)

54th London Group, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

 

1954        

Sculpture in the Open Air, Holland Park, London

 

1953        

The Unknown Political Prisoner

(sponsored by the Institute for Contemporary Arts), Tate Gallery, London

IXème Salon de Mai, Palais de New York, Paris

2ème Biennale de la Sculpture,

Middelheim Park, Antwerp

 

1952        

New Aspects of British Sculpture,

XXXVI Biennale, Venice

Gimpel Fils, London (solo)

 

1951        

Festival of Britain, South Bank, London

 

1950        

Gimpel Fils, London (solo)

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

 

Yorkshire Sculpture Park,

Wakefield, UK

 

Yale Center for British Art,

New Haven, CT

 

Art Institute of Chicago,

Chicago, IL

 

Museum of Modern Art,

New York, NY

 

Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection,

New York

 

Carnegie Institute,

Pittsburgh, PA

 

Columbus Museum of Art,

Columbus, OH

 

Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

 

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Sofia Imber,

Caracas, Venezuela

 

Modern Museet,

Stockholm, Sweden

 

City Museums and Gallery,

Birmingham, UK

 

National Museum of Wales,

Cardiff, UK

 

City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery,

Bristol, UK

 

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art,

Edinburgh, UK

 

Arts Council of Great Britain,

London, UK

 

Contemporary Art Society,

London, UK

 

British Council,

London, UK

 

Tate Gallery,

London, UK

 

Whitworth Art Gallery,

University of Manchester, UK

 

Peggy Guggenheim Collection,

Venice, Italy

 

National Gallery of Jamaica,

Kingston, Jamaica

 

Hakone Open-Air Museum,

Hakone, Japan

 

Museo Rufino Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo Internacional,

Mexico

 

Collection of the Principality of Monaco,

Monte Carlo

 

Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller,

Otterlo, The Netherlands

 

Nasjonalgalleriet,

Oslo, Norway

 

Instituto de Artes Contemporaneas,

Lima, Peru

 

The Berardo Collection,

Lisbon, Portugal

 

South African National Gallery,

Cape Town, South Africa

 

Musée National d’Art Moderne,

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

 

Musée Rodin,

Paris, France

 

Irish Museum of Modern Art,

Dublin, Ireland

 

Israel Museum,

Jerusalem, Israel

 

Tel Aviv Museum,

Tel Aviv, Israel

 

Jerusalem Foundation,

Jerusalem, Israel

 

Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Italy

 

City of Spoleto,

Italy

 

Galeria Civica d’Arte Moderna,

Spoleto, Italy

 

Museo d’Arte Moderna,

Venice, Italy

 

National Gallery,

Hamilton, Bermuda

 

Art Gallery of Hamilton,

Ontario, Canada

 

Art Gallery of Ontario,

Toronto, Canada

 

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts,

Montreal, Canada

 

Nordjyllands Kuntsmuseum,

Aalborg, Denmark

 

Marie-Louise and Gunnar Didrichsen Art Museum, Helsinki

 

Art Gallery of South Australia,

Adelaide, Australia

 

Western Australian Art,

Perth, Australia

 

Art Gallery NSW,

Sydney

 

Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique,

Brussels, Belgium

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