Beasts by Lynn Chadwick
Happy New Year!
So to kick off my blog in 2019, I decided to pay a visit to the Sainsbury Centre to tick off one of the exhibitions/installations I had on my ‘to see’ list. The installation was called ‘Beasts’ by British sculptor, Lynn Chadwick. It consists of three sculptures of animals in various states of action. The geometric sculptures below (L-R) ‘Lion I’, ‘Beast Alerted’ and ‘Crouching Beast II’, are made from welded stainless steel sheets. Living so close to the UEA, it was a great opportunity to see some of Lynn Chadwick’s work, which has displayed in museums and public spaces all over the world.
Much of Lynn Chadwick’s work as a sculptor is semi-abstract and made with bronze or steel. In the time he made these three sculptures (1989 -1990) he was returning to using steel as a material to sculpt with as well being in the final stages of developing his style and technique. If you take for example one of his sculptures called ‘Roaring Lion’ (1960) and compare it to ‘Lion I’ (1990) you can see that although they are similar in form, Chadwick’s development over 30 years on this peice has gone from a rough bronze sculpture to a more ‘finished and polished’ monument.
‘Roaring Lion’ (1960) and ‘Lion I’ (1990)
Chadwick is said to have been “delighted in the properties that steel afforded; no matter how dull the weather some facet of the sculptures would catch and reflect the light.” With the twilight backdrop of the Sainsbury Centre on a cool January afternoon, these monumental sculptures took on a mythological appearance. The setting sun and artificial lighting on the campus captured and enhanced their abstract and geometric forms and also Chadwick’s development in combining the natural with the mechanic.
The installation will be at the UEA’s Sainsbury Centre until 31st August 2019 and is an addition to the Sainsbury Centre’s Sculpture Park.