IMG 6992-001-Diamond

Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood, West Sussex.

In the seventies Lynn Chadwick began to develop his style from angular and abstract constructions into smooth and more obviously figurative forms. He began using geometric shapes as emblems for limbs and heads in order to standardise his figures. Diamond is a perfect example of this evolution into figuration. There is a satisfaction in understanding the progression of Lynn Chadwick’s work from his early mobiles, which can be understood as explorations into space and volume, to the Conjunction works of the sixties, which combined mass in sculptural form, to the more refined and smooth Cubist forms of his works in the eighties, such as Diamond. This work exposes the visual code which Chadwick developed; the diamond or pyramid referring to the female and the rectangular to the male. Although Cubist and geometric, Diamond is not cold or without movement. The masterful lean, which Chadwick accomplished in Diamond, provides a soft edge ensuring that the works ‘attitude’ is not lost. Chadwick believed this attitude was imperative to the success of a sculpture and Diamond certainly achieves this through an endearing interaction of two figures.