Dimensions: object: 324 x 190 x 451 mm, 9.3 kg
Copyright: © Robert Clatworthy | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is Robert Clatworthy’s sculpture, “Bull,” currently residing in the Tate Collection. It feels both ancient and modern, powerful and vulnerable all at once. What significance do you see in Clatworthy’s choice of the bull as a subject? Curator: The bull, a potent symbol across cultures, embodies strength, fertility, and primal energy. Clatworthy's rough, almost violent, modeling of the bronze taps into the raw, untamed power the bull represents in ancient myths, particularly those associated with sacrifice and virility. Do you see how the texture amplifies that feeling? Editor: Absolutely! It's not just a bull; it's an embodiment of brute force, a living myth. I never considered the surface texture so essential. Curator: Indeed. The texture acts as a visual language, communicating volumes about the animal’s nature and historical significance. I leave with a newfound appreciation for the bull's enduring power. Editor: Me too. Thanks for sharing your insights!
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Clatworthy studied at the West of England College of Art, Chelsea School of Art, and the Slade School, where he was taught by the painter William Coldstream and the sculptor Bernard Meadows. He had his first solo show of small sculpture at the Hanover Gallery, London in 1955, followed by another in 1957. This sculpture of a bull was shown at the Hanover Gallery in 1957, and is one of a series of studies for a life-size plaster bull shown at the London County Council open air exhibition of sculpture in Holland Park, in the summer of 1957. The starting point for the sculpture was the sight of a bull in the field next to the artist's studio in Sussex. Gallery label, August 2004
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