Lynn Chadwick was one of eight talented young sculptors selected by Herbert Read in 1952 for his influential New Aspects of British Sculpture show at the Venice Biennale. The spiky and twisted forms that united the pieces were said by Read to belong to the "iconography of despair" and "geometry of fear" that encapsulated the early Cold War years. Chadwick himself had returned to win the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1956. By the mid-1950s, abstracted animal forms had given way to human figures with surreal or mythological undertones. Draped figures with wings and either square (male) or pyramidal (female) heads dominated his later work. This sculpture is a small version of a series of large-scale compositions featuring two seated figures. Having started out as a designer of showrooms and exhibition stands, Chadwick’s success as a sculptor enabled him to buy Lypiatt Park in Gloucestershire in 1958, where his larger pieces could be shown in a parkland setting. He opened his own foundry in 1971. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2020
