Lynn Chadwick R.A.

(British, 1914-2003)

Cloaked Couple V 51 cm. (20 in.) high

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist, thence by family descent

Exhibited
Edinburgh, Mercury Gallery, Lynn Chadwick, 25 February-31 March 1983, cat.no.9 (another cast)

Literature
Dennis Farr & Éva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-1996, Lypiatt Studio, Stroud, 1997, p.314, cat.no.763S
Dennis Farr & Éva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2005, Lund Humphries, Aldershot, 2006, p.322 cat.no.763S
Dennis Farr & Éva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, p.330, cat.no.763S

In contrast to the preceding lot Maquette Jubilee II, Cloaked Couple V conceived in 1977 demonstrates how by joining together the male and female figures Chadwick was able to explore the ideas of tenderness and intimacy in his paired sculptures. With the separated couples the owners' determine their positioning and relationship to one another; they can be controlled and expressed in a myriad of ways. But with the fusing of the bronze cloaks in the present lot, at a position where the lower arms and hands meet underneath, an unbreakable bond is created between the sexes which is first established in Chadwick's mature phase in his life-size Two Reclining Figures (1972). The emphasis shifts, as the 1970s progress and the technique developed, to an emotional level, where the figures' humanity is realised in new terms. With Cloaked Couple V the subtleties of the woman's stretched neck and positioning of face leaning into her companion imply a moment of privacy and dialogue is occurring which, as viewers, we are privileged to share.

Michael Bird comments on this time:

'His increasing tendency to interpret his work in terms of human relationship, rather than formal balance, begins to be audible. "Presences" was how he referred to his new figure sculptures; they were about being, not doing: "I used to call them Watchers, but no longer. Sometimes they are not watching anything. What they are doing is illustrating a relationship – a physical relationship – between people". It was through this relationship, not through purely formal or allusive qualities, that he wanted his sculptures to speak: "If you can get their physical attitudes right you can spell out a message"' (Michael Bird, Lynn Chadwick, Lund Humphries, Farnham, Surrey, 2014, p.147).

We are grateful to the Artist's Estate for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.