Lynn Chadwick: Retrospectives, Blain|Southern

Lynn Chadwick is one of those artists who can be credited with shaping British Modernity. Along with the likes of Eduardo Paolozzi and Reg Butler, Chadwick’s modest reputation among the general public does not do justice to his importance as an influence on 20th century sculpture.

While most major museum collections around the UK include Chadwick’s work, it is rarely given prominence compared to that of, for instance, Henry Moore or Anthony Caro. So, coming ten years after Chadwick’s retrospective at Tate Britain, the forthcoming major survey of his career is welcome. And it really is a big exhibition, opening across three galleries in London, New York and Berlin. We highly recommend a visit to the London leg of the exhibition, which will feature several seminal works. 

In his early life, Chadwick worked as an architectural draughtsman. This discipline surely contributed to his understanding of sculptural form. But it was not until being commissioned to produce a series of works for the 1951 Festival of Britain that his career took off. The primary focus of this retrospective is Chadwick’s period of intense creativity that followed throughout the 1950s, the exhibition includes the piece that won Chadwick the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1956.

Chadwick’s interest in human and animal forms lay at the core of his practice, he is best known for his bronze works in which he blurred the lines between figuration and abstraction. However, Blain Southern will also offer the chance to see some of his work in other media, including stainless steel, with which he worked extensively in the latter part of his career.

Blain Southern’s cavernous Hanover Square gallery lends itself to Chadwick’s large sculptural work. However, many of his sculptures are simply too big to be shown indoors. So, alongside this expansive exhibition, The Royal Academy will be playing host to four monumental works in it’s courtyard from 14 April until 16 May. Make sure you catch both!