Maquette III Elektra

Details

Lynn Chadwick, R.A. (1914-2003)
Maquette III Elektra
signed, numbered and dated 'Chadwick 69 581 2/4' (on the inside of the back leg) and stamped with the foundry mark 'Morris Singer Foundry' (on the inside of the left leg)
bronze with a green and black patina and polished face and torso
29 in. (73.6 cm.) high

Provenance

Purchased by the present owner circa 1980.

Literature

D. Farr & E. Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculptor, Aldershot, 2006, p. 260, no. 581, another cast illustrated.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Edward Lucie-Smith comments about the Elektra series, 'the figures have lodged themselves so firmly in the consciousness of the British art world that, for many people, they remain the pieces that most typify Chadwick's style, ... There were two Elektras in Greek mythology. One, the better known who features in dramas by Sophocles and Euripides, was the daughter of Agamemnon who helped her brother Orestes to avenge their murdered father. The other was one of the Pleiades, mother of the founder of Troy. Neither seems to have any close link with Chadwick's sculptures. The answer is to be found in the etymology of the name itself, Greek for 'the Bright' or 'the Shining One'. These were the first of Chadwick's bronzes to make use of polished surfaces.' (see E. Lucie Smith, Chadwick, Stroud, 1997, p. 81).

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