By Reg Butler
Located in Detroit, MI
"Manipulator" is an abstracted figurative drawing in charcoal and graphite. The figure seems to be "manipulating" some object it holds without visual clarity as what that object is leaving it up to the viewer to fantasize about its intent. The drawing has a monumentality to it that speaks of Butler’s influence by Henry Moore, for whom he worked at one time, and echoes the style of the sculptures that Butler created. Butler most often used the female figure in his sculptures and drawings and although it is not certain, this drawing may be of a female figure engaged in some hand work with perhaps a mechanical toy that resembles a bird.
Butler trained as an architect and worked as a blacksmith before becoming Henry Moore’s assistant and developing his own talent as a sculptor. His first solo exhibition was held in 1949 at the Hanover Gallery in London. In 1952 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale and in the same year won a much publicized competition for a Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner which, however, was never made. After winning the 'Unknown Political Prisoner' competition in 1953 he became one of the best known sculptors during the 1950s and 1960s, and also taught at the Slade School of Art.
Reginald Cotterell Butler (28 April 1913 – 23 October 1981) was an English sculptor born at Bridgefoot House, Buntingford, Hertfordshire to Frederick William Butler, formerly a police constable, and Edith Barltrop. His parents were the Master and Matron of the Buntingford Union Workhouse. His father was a relative of the poet William Butler Yeats; Edith was of Anglo-French descent.
Butler studied and lectured at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1937 to 1939. He was a conscientious objector during the Second World War, being exempted from military service conditional upon setting up a small blacksmith business repairing farm implements. Butler's later work consists of lifelike models of female figures, such as Girl on a Round Base, that have something in common with Hans Bellmer and the sculpture of Allen Jones and prefigure the work of Ron Mueck...
Category
1960s Abstract Art by Medium: Charcoal
MaterialsPaper, Graphite, Charcoal
