Lynn Chadwick

Sitting Elektra II

1968

Lynn Chadwick was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Chadwick was born in the suburb of Barnes, in western London, and attended Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood. While there, he expressed an interest in being an artist, though his art master suggested architecture was a more realistic option. Accordingly, Chadwick became a trainee draughtsman, working first at the offices of architects Donald Hamilton and then Eugen Carl Kauffman, and finally for Rodney Thomas. Chadwick took great inspiration from Thomas, whose interest in contemporary European architecture and design had a significant effect on his development. His training in architectural drawing was the only formal education he received as an artist. He recalled, "What it taught me was how to compose things, a formal exercise in composition it has nothing to do with the building it represents."