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拍品专文
In the spring of 1958, Lynn Chadwick gifted this striking sculpture to Marie-Rose, the daughter of the owners of Le Raspail Vert – a lively Montparnasse restaurant that had become a second home for artists, writers, architects and free thinkers in post-war Paris. Located near the former American Centre and La Rotonde, Le Raspail Vert drew artists and students from the École Spéciale d’Architecture and École des Beaux Arts. From Alberto Giacometti to Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir to Fernand Léger, some of the great creative figures of the day would frequent the restaurant, their visits documented through drawings and paintings, some signed, others hastily sketched, left behind on the restaurant’s paper tablecloths. At that time, the Montparnasse neighbourhood was home to a large network of cafés: La Rotonde; Le Dôme; La Coupole. Le Raspail Vert was one of the most discreet and highly appreciated among artists.
Executed in 1958, Untitled (to Marie-Rose) is a compelling example of Chadwick’s achievements as a sculptor. Two years earlier he had won the International Sculpture Prize at the 1956 Venice Biennale, then the youngest artist ever to receive the award, and his work was rapidly gaining international attention. By the end of the decade his work had entered major international collections, including the Musée National d’Art Moderne, following his exhibition there in 1957. In May 1958 he opened a solo exhibition at Galerie Daniel Cordier, shortly after completing the present work. A preparatory sketch - and hitherto the only documented image of the sculpture - for Untitled (to Marie-Rose) dated April 1958 further situates the piece at this pivotal moment, created just weeks before his Paris exhibition.
Untitled (to Marie-Rose) belongs to an significant group of rare and unique iron sculptures developed from the early 1950s that established Chadwick as a leading sculptural figure of the post war period. Built around a welded iron armature, a method he described as “drawing in space”, the sculpture takes shape as a distinctive, animated form: three slender, insect like legs support a constructed angular body, crowned with antler-like extensions. The piece occupies an intriguing space between organism and mechanism, between the prehistoric and the futuristic, encapsulating the tension, balance and movement that characterises Chadwick’s most imaginative early sculptures.
Held in the same French private collection since its creation, Untitled (to Marie-Rose) is an exceptional example of Chadwick’s early technique at a moment when his international reputation was rapidly rising. Yet it is the dedication, “pour Marie Rose”, quietly inscribed beneath the base, that sets this work apart. This personal dedication speaks to Chadwick’s genuine affection for the lively restaurant and family that owned it, who welcomed him so warmly on his visits to Paris.
Executed in 1958, Untitled (to Marie-Rose) is a compelling example of Chadwick’s achievements as a sculptor. Two years earlier he had won the International Sculpture Prize at the 1956 Venice Biennale, then the youngest artist ever to receive the award, and his work was rapidly gaining international attention. By the end of the decade his work had entered major international collections, including the Musée National d’Art Moderne, following his exhibition there in 1957. In May 1958 he opened a solo exhibition at Galerie Daniel Cordier, shortly after completing the present work. A preparatory sketch - and hitherto the only documented image of the sculpture - for Untitled (to Marie-Rose) dated April 1958 further situates the piece at this pivotal moment, created just weeks before his Paris exhibition.
Untitled (to Marie-Rose) belongs to an significant group of rare and unique iron sculptures developed from the early 1950s that established Chadwick as a leading sculptural figure of the post war period. Built around a welded iron armature, a method he described as “drawing in space”, the sculpture takes shape as a distinctive, animated form: three slender, insect like legs support a constructed angular body, crowned with antler-like extensions. The piece occupies an intriguing space between organism and mechanism, between the prehistoric and the futuristic, encapsulating the tension, balance and movement that characterises Chadwick’s most imaginative early sculptures.
Held in the same French private collection since its creation, Untitled (to Marie-Rose) is an exceptional example of Chadwick’s early technique at a moment when his international reputation was rapidly rising. Yet it is the dedication, “pour Marie Rose”, quietly inscribed beneath the base, that sets this work apart. This personal dedication speaks to Chadwick’s genuine affection for the lively restaurant and family that owned it, who welcomed him so warmly on his visits to Paris.