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Walking Cloaked Figures

Maker Lynn Russell Chadwick (b. 1914, Barnes, England – d. 2003, Stroud, England)

Date1978

GeographyUnited Kingdom, Europe

MediumBronze

Dimensionsoverall: 11 1/16 in. x 9 1/8 in. x 8 in. (28.1 cm x 23.2 cm x 20.3 cm)

Credit LineGift from the E. Franklin Robbins Collection donated by Joyce Robbins Michaelson (Class of 1964) and Patricia Ann Michaelson (Class of 1991)

Object number1991.20.2

Status

Not on view

RightsCopyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Copyright laws

Photo creditDavis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

More Information

Object Label

Trained as an architectural draughtsman, Chadwick came to sculpture after serving in World War II and working in commercial design. Largely self-taught, he took a welding course at the British Oxygen Company’s Welding School (as did artist Leslie Thornton) and constructed large-scale mobiles and stabiles. Following his inclusion in the 1952 Venice Biennale, Chadwick rose to international acclaim; presented again at Venice in 1956, he was winner of the Sculpture Prize as the youngest artist ever. Chadwick’s sculptures retain literal reference to figures both human and non-human. This tabletop work relates closely to the larger than life-sized Pair of Walking Figures – Jubilee, 1977, in its similarly pleated drapery and billowing cloaks—both of which became signature elements in the artist’s work. Chadwick identified one figure as male (rectangular head) and the other as female (triangular head).