Lynn Chadwick: Little Girl

The sculptures in the Formal Garden explore ideas of transformation, the body, mythology, and the impact of conflict and violence. Each artist explores these themes in their own way, creating unsettling and ambiguous hybrid figures. 

Little Girl is one of a series of seated figures made by Lynn Chadwick during the 1970s and 1980s. The triangular head, without any features, may make the figure seem isolated and distant, or perhaps in a state of peaceful contemplation. Chadwick’s skill as a welder allowed him to develop a distinctive style of making, in which a metal skin is fixed over a skeleton of steel rods.

Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003) and Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993) were part of a generation of British sculptors that emerged after the Second World War. Their work was often figurative and explored human strength and frailty.

Courtesy of YSP Collection