Online publications

Maquette for R 34 (Maquette for Stranger III), 1959 Signed 'Chadwick', inscribed with cat. no. '321' and numbered from the edition of 6, on the rear left of the artist's base; further, stamped with foundry mark, on the rear right of the artist's base. Bronze 44 x 54 x 18 cm (17 ⅜ x 21 ¼ x 7 ⅛ in) Edition of 6 Provenance Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia Osborne Samuel, London Exhibited New York, Knoedler Galleries, Lynn Chadwick, 1961 (different cast) Literature Dennis Farr & Eva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, p. 324, cat. no. 321 (another cast ill. b&w) LY N N C H A D W I C K ( 1 9 1 4 - 2 0 0 3 ) Among the most famous black and white photographs of Lynn Chadwick taken by David Farrell, the sculptor's photographic documenter, is the one reproduced on the front cover of Michael Bird's monograph, Lynn Chadwick (Lund Humphries, 2014). The 1958 image of him welding the armature of Stranger III in his newly acquired studio at Lypiatt Park, Gloucestershire, epitomises the essence of the sculptor's physical working practice during the late 1950s. Michael Bird states, 'His main project during the winter of 1958-59 was the construction of Stranger III, the final, full scale incarnation of his R34 [memorial] concept. While snow lay outside, and Frances and her two-month-old baby were beset by builders in the freezing old manor house on the other side of the wall, David Farrell photographed the sculptor at work in the chapel. (Michael Bird, Lynn Chadwick, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, p. 106). R34 Memorial was a major commission, driven and funded by the Air League of the British Empire in 1957. Intended as a memorial to commemorate the successful double crossing of the Atlantic by the airship R34 in July 1919, the sculpture sadly never reached fruition. It was planned to be positioned at the Long Haul Terminal Building at London Airport (Heathrow), designed by Frederick Gibberd and due to open in 1959. Despite wide enthusiasm and acceptance from the R34 Memorial Committee, including the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, the concept was withdrawn by the Air League in December 1958 following strong opposition in the House of Lords, led by Lord Brabazon of Tara, a pioneering aviator and former cabinet minister. Maquette for R34 (Maquette for Stanger III), of which several different versions exist, is among the most faithful from a design perspective to Chadwick's full-size model, which measures 104 inches wide and 86 inches high. The Chadwick complete illustrated catalogue explains, 'His first ideas were for a two-headed winged figure, with two huge, roughly symmetrical, bat-like wings, poised on three tapered legs. (Or it could more accurately be said that they were two figures fused into one). The separate beaked heads, looking to left and right, which symbolised the double transatlantic journey, were later fused into an elongated rectangular shape, set at an angle as if looking out across a space, and marrying well with the massive wings, which were themselves modified into a truncated pyramidal form on the left balanced by a shorter, squarer wing on the right. The sculpture both suggests movement and yet remains implacably solid and immobile.' (Dennis Farr and Eva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor: With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, pp. 25-26) Two casts of Stranger III are held in the collections of The City of Spoleto, Umbria, Italy, and Colby College, Bixler Art and Music Centre, Waterville, Maine, USA. The Estate of the Artist have confirmed that this cast is recorded in their archive and the cataloguing. 10

• Cover