Lynn Chadwick. Beasts of Time

Running time: February 29, 2020 through to July 26, 2020

Imaginative, poetic, eerie and strange – the sculptural work of Lynn Chadwick (1914–2003) unites contradictory associations in a consistent body of work. The retrospective “Lynn Chadwick – Beasts of Time” acknowledges Lynn Chadwick as one of the most important British post-War sculptors. With around 70 sculptural works, as well as numerous drawings and prints, the show presents the impressive development in the oeuvre of the artist, a pioneer of post-War British Modernism.

The artist’s fantastical creations are developed out of abstractions of human, animal and architectural elements. The now downright iconic “beasts” form the heart of this work, uniting existential questions and a dark sense of humor. Chadwick hit the nerve of his times with his sculptures, which personify the mixture of civilization fatigue, utopian belief in progress and existential angst that was felt in many places in those years and which arose from the very recent experience of the war.

In this extensive retrospective the Lehmbruck Museum presents the sculptor’s entire artistic oeuvre, from the early years of his career in the 1950s through to the late 1990s. The exhibition shows his most important themes in large groups that include everything from working models to complex sculptural-architectural forms in the finished works.

The exhibition “Lynn Chadwick – Beasts of Time” was developed in cooperation with Haus am Waldsee, Berlin and the Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog issued by Walter König publishing house.

The exhibition is supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and Sparkasse Duisburg.