Lynn Chadwick was born in London in 1914. He worked as a draughtsman in architectural practice and served as a pilot in the Second World War. After the war, he resumed architectural work and also worked as a designer of textiles and furniture. His earliest sculpture consisted of mobiles made from various metals. Throughout the 1950s Chadwick made free-standing figurative and animal forms, often in anguished postures. Many of his sculptures were cast in bronze but he also developed innovative methods of combining iron and ‘composition’. In the 1960s he explored more abstract forms but later returned to figurative work. His work first attracted international acclaim when it was shown at the Venice Biennale in 1952. His awards include International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1956 and 1st prize at the Concorso Internazionale del Bronzetto in Padua in 1959. He was awarded a C.B.E. in 1964 and Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985. His commissions include Fisheater for the Arts Council of Great Britain, works for the Festival of Britain Southbank site and The Watchers for Alton Estate, London. Chadwick has had solo shows at Gimpel Fils and Galerie Daniel Cordier in Paris and retrospectives at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (1992) and Gallery Pangolin, Stroud (2003). His work features in all major collections including the Tate Gallery, the British Council, Museé Nationale d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Chadwick died in Lypiatt, Gloucestershire in 2003. He died just before his retrospective at the Tate.

See Newsletter number 8 Nov 2009 for more information.

Work

Trigon
Bronze cast
Height 230 cm
Broad Walk, Town Centre

Trigon was bought by the Trust in 1963. Initially, the Trustees commissioned it in bronze-effect fibreglass. However, as his fibreglass techniques were quite experimental at that stage, Chadwick offered a bronze version instead. The cast, produced in a Swiss foundry, was sited in 1966.
When considering the new works for the town center the Trust passed on several artists before settling on Chadwick. On that list of names was Anthony Caro.
The plinth is the original plinth for Rodin’s Eve. Lyn Chadwick went out of fashion for a while. Tate Britain put on major retrospective to mark his death in 2003. Its value doubled in about 6 months. Trigon like Upright Motive illustrates how surroundings change. In this instance BT phone boxes have been added which prevent you seeing it from a particular angle.