LYNN CHADWICK EXHIBITION

LYNN CHADWICK
IN CONTACT

SCULPTURE FROM THE
PHILIP & MURIEL BERMAN MUSEUM OF ART
URSINUS COLLEGE

Introduction
About the Berman Collection
List of Works With Images
Images of Large Works
Chadwick Chronolgy
Exhibition Facts
Exhibition Schedule
Contact Info
Link to Berman Museum of Art
- LANDAU TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS WEBSITE -

LYNN CHADWICK
IN CONTACT

INTRODUCTION

A new traveling exhibition entitled LYNN CHADWICK: IN CONTACT - Sculpture from the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College, is now being made available for circulation.

One of several talented British sculptors who burst upon the international art scene in the late 1950s, Lynn Chadwick helped establish an entirely new vocabulary for this form of art. Inspired by the career of Henry Moore, Chadwick's work exhibits a fascinating evolution of personal images; a series of animals, birds, imaginary beasts and rhythmic double and/or triple figures characterized by their thrusting energy. Other more static forms called "Watchers" or "Strangers" stand alone or in totemic groups, expressing a monolithic power.

Born in London in 1914, Chadwick studied architectural drafting and design following his World War II service as a pilot. He made abstract mobiles and constructions of metal and glass. In the 1950's, he emerged as a sculptor with a singularly distinctive style. Following one-man shows at Gimpel Fils, London, in 1950 and '52, Chadwick was invited to exhibit at the British Pavilion of the 1952 Venice Biennale, a remarkable distinction that set the course for his future. In 1956, Chadwick was astonished to be selected to represent Britain at the XXVIII Venice Biennale, and he took home the Biennale's highest honor—the International Prize for sculpture.

The 43 sculptures and 5 lithographs in the exhibition are drawn from the permanent collection of the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College which includes 137 works spanning the years of 1954 to 1984. It is a focused collection that chronicles distinctive themes beginning with pure abstraction articulated by pyramids, cylindrical forms, and tripods, moving to strong animal forms known as beasts, and evolving to his characteristic figurative work that explores the form seated, striding, climbing, or majestically static enveloped by cloaks. Examples of each of these motifs are represented in this exhibition.

"I look upon an artist as a person who is in contact with humanity generally and is able to act as a sort of connecting link to express to them how they are," says Chadwick, who prefers not to analyze the deeper motivation of his creations. "I do not analyze my work with my senses. I wait until I have got the feeling that I know what I am going to do before starting to work. A conscious effort to draw ideas from their subconscious sources would lame and slow down the creative capacity."

Chadwick has been the subject of numerous one-man exhibitions since 1950. His work has been celebrated throughout Europe, South America, and in Asia. In 2003 the Tate Gallery in Britain presented the first major retrospective of the sculptor’s work.

The exhibition is being organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions in association with Lisa Tremper Hanover, Director of the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA.