Last year Blackwell (the 'Arts and Crafts' house in the Lake District) played host to sculptures by Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003), and outside on the lawns were the larger pieces from his imagination. Here is Howling Beast sitting on its haunches by the side of the house. A piece from 1990 when his sculptures took a darker turn
By the house entrance was this couple perpetually climbing stairs
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| 'Stairs' (1991) |
For those not able to climb stairs the house entrance has the gentle slope to the door leading to where more of Chadwick's sculptures were on display. When asked about his working methods he said "
I start by welding. If I start by thinking first I can't do anything". His working technique was to build a skeleton from metal rods welding them together and then building up a form from stolit (a mix of plaster and iron filings) and working on pieces until "t
hey become something in their own right".
The 'Walking Women in Wind' (1986) seems to be doing just that.
Chadwick started out as an architectural draughtsman so I think he would appreciate the 'Sitting Couple' location by a house. He repeated a variation of this sculpture many times and in fact there is a version of it in Canary Wharf, London. He took up sculpture after serving as a pilot in World War 2 and started with metal mobiles in the 1940s, his first one man exhibition came in 1950 and among the many prizes he won was the International Sculpture prize at 1956 Venice Biennial .
People are taking tea on the terrace behind our couple, the overcast day meaning there was no requirement for sun shades and maybe why tea inside was the preferred option, but the view outside had attracted the hardy few.
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| 'Sitting Couple' on the Blackwell lawn overlooking Windermere |
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