Lot Essay
'This maquette was one of two which King entered for a closed competition for a tiered site located outside the European Patent Office, the largest building in Munich ... A major factor of the site was the multiplicity of views it afforded of the sculpture, from various heights and both within and outside the building. Maquette for Cross-bend takes on a dynamic identity commensurate with this variety of angles. Multi-axial, it twists through space as it arches from the terrace to the forecourt below, steadied and anchored by the stable low-slung diamond shape behind. With its springing organic movement in sharp contrast to the severe and static facade of rectilinear forms, Cross-bend effects a radical transformation of this exterior space' (L. Cooke, Phillip King, Hayward Gallery exhibition catalogue, 1981, p.70).