Lynn Chadwick began his career as an architectural draughtsman which gave him a technical and disciplined introduction to drawing. In 1946, Chadwick took the decision to concentrate on his own work and moved to Gloucestershire where he rented a small cottage and delighted in his newfound freedom of expression making mobiles, stabiles and then sculpture. From the very first mobile, Chadwick kept a notebook in which he catalogued each piece with a ‘shorthand’ sketch listing its dimensions and materials to help with identification. When it came to more formal ‘finished’ drawings however, Chadwick primarily used the process of drawing to explore the sculpture he had made after its creation rather than to plan it in advance. In Lynn Chadwick: Draughtsman Rungwe Kingdon notes:
Chadwick did not go to Art School but in a similar vein by drawing his own sculptures, he had a means of reassessing what he had just achieved through an instinctive making process of making in three dimensions. This visual thinking is different from verbal-based thought; it means that line, angle, stance, texture, shape, rhythm, weight and movement can all be considered, compared and explored in a simple, direct and image-based way. In effect, Chadwick was exploring the grammar of his own sculptural language.
By 1956, the year Lynn Chadwick represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, he chose to show as many drawings as he did sculpture - one of which we are delighted to have available in superb collection below. Indeed, this rare selection of works on paper with their deft lines and directness of image making, reveal a fresh view of Chadwick’s sculpture and highlights the diversity of his unique language.
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