Barry Flanagan RA - Contemporary Art Evening Sale London Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Waddington Galleries Ltd., London; Private Collection

  • Literature

    London, Waddington Galleries Ltd., Barry Flanagan, May–June 1990, no. 11, p. 25 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    Since its first public appearance at the Venice Biennale in 1982, the hare has become a signature motif in Barry Flanagan’s oeuvre. Flanagan's hares are often engaged in human activities such as boxing, performing acrobatics or playing musical instruments. By incorporating human attributes into his animal world, the result is at once rich and expressive. The current lot, Hare on Pyramid, presents a single hare dramatically leaping on the top of a high pyramidal base. In material and production method, the work follows the trajectory of classical sculptural practice – the formal qualities of the bronze, the grandiose scale and meticulous draughtsmanship as well as the volumetric sensibility, are powerfully displayed in this work. Nonetheless, filled with a sense of energy, the elasticity of its limbs captured in a leap gives the hare an almost cartoonish character. Hare on Pyramid is a sculpture bursting with life; and through its dynamic portrayal of movement, the element of playfulness is immediately felt.
     
    “The great bronze hares which Barry Flanagan has been producing since the 1980s are one of the most personal and recognisable artistic endeavours of the second half of this century. Spectacular in size, bitingly ironic and bold, as well as terribly individualistic, they are totally unlike what we normally see in museums and galleries around the world.” (E. Juncosa, in Barry Flanagan, exh. cat., Waddington Galleries, London, 1994, n.p.)

14

Hare on Pyramid

1988
Bronze with black patina.
204.5 × 189.2 × 45.7 cm (80 1/2 × 74 1/2 × 18 in).


Stamped with the artist’s monogram and numbered of 7 on the base. This work is from an edition of 7.

Estimate
£250,000 - 350,000 

Sold for £409,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

13 October 2010
London