Because it was created for a casting display, the maquette replica, also generously donated by the artist’s estate, is not in the main collection, but in the Tate Archive.įurther reading: Dennis Farr, Lynn Chadwick, Tate 2003, reproduced pp.54–7.ĭennis Farr and Eva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, Aldershot and Burlington, Vermont 2006, pp.134, 140–1 and 151–1.ĭoes this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.Annapurna Interactive revealed the voice case for Maquette today, as Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth Gabel lend their talents to the game. On that occasion a special display was mounted to illustrate the process of lost-wax casting, and a replica of the original maquette was chosen as a demonstration piece, together with the specially made new cast, T12023. A full-size version (2.3 metres high) was cast in 1959 in an edition of four and re-named Stranger III, the title under which it was shown in his retrospective at Tate in 2003. He also created a second version of the original maquette, titled Maquette for R34 Memorial, in 1958 (reproduced Farr and Chadwick, p.151, fig.282). Although the Air League was forced to withdraw the maquette from the Committee in 1958, Chadwick cast the sculpture in bronze in an edition of nine, entitled Maquette II for R34 Memorial (reproduced in Farr and Chadwick, p.141, fig.251) that same year. It was, however, strongly opposed by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, whose leader, Lord Brabazon of Tara, described it as ‘a diseased haddock’ (quoted in Farr, p.58). In the event, both the Minister of Transport and Royal Fine Art Commission, Harold Watkinson, and Frederick Gibberd approved Chadwick’s maquette. In 1956 Chadwick was awarded the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale, and he had thus already acquired an international reputation by the time he was invited to create the R34 monument. He began bronze casting in 1956, and several maquettes for one and two-headed figures – male and female – date from the period 1956–8 (Farr and Chadwick, pp.134–41). After the War he worked as a designer, creating mobiles and learning to weld, only engaging fully with three-dimensional sculpture in the mid-1950s. He was then posted to aircraft carriers in the North Atlantic and remained in the Forces until 1944. Cast in bronze by the lost-wax process, Tate’s version has a green, rust brown and white patina, with the artist’s name inscribed into the base alongside the stamped foundry mark, ‘Pangolin Edition’.ĭuring the 1930s Chadwick had worked as an architectural draughtsman and in the Second World War volunteered to fly, joining the Fleet Air Arm and qualifying as a pilot in 1941. To anchor the figure visually, a vertical ridge runs down the centre of the back and the front, with strongly-marked horizontal ridges on the front of the wings and similar lines dividing the back into geometric sections. Its metal armatures of brazed rods and wire ribs were filled with a plaster-based composite called ‘Stolit’ which was scraped and scored to reveal the skeletal structure beneath. In part this is the result of the way the original maquette was made. The sense of imminent movement is enhanced by its surface texture which has the membranous quality of a spread bat’s wing and looks as if it were stretched taught, ready for take-off. In this image of power and strength, the main mass occupies the top half of the sculpture, imparting a high centre of gravity which suggests potential for flight. Each head points outwards in an opposing direction towards the wings, symbolizing the journey to and from America, and keeping the whole sculpture to one plane. It is designed to be viewed frontally, for it is virtually flat and its slight bulk tapers to a point at the end of the wings when seen from above. Maquette for R34 Memorial neatly fuses two images: a near-abstract, two-headed figure standing firmly balanced on thin human legs, and the silhouette of an aeroplane. The edition includes two artist’s proofs and this recent ‘hors commerce’ cast. Chadwick created a small iron and plaster maquette, from which a bronze edition of nine was established in 1958. This was intended for the Long Haul Terminal at Heathrow (then London Airport) designed by the architect Sir Frederick Gibberd (1904–84). In 1957 the Air League of the British Empire commissioned Chadwick to produce a memorial to commemorate the successful two-way crossing of the Atlantic in July 1919 by the airship R34.
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