Dimensions: object: 1918 x 279 x 286 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Denis Mitchell | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: At first glance, it feels like a golden flame, reaching upwards. Is that the effect Denis Mitchell was going for? Editor: Quite possibly! This is "Praze," by Mitchell. While undated, it is quintessential Mitchell—an elegant exploration of form in bronze. Curator: Bronze... It feels much lighter. The opening near the base gives it a sense of airiness, challenging bronze's traditional heaviness. I can almost hear wind whistling through it. Editor: Absolutely, this oculus can symbolize insight or revelation, but also vulnerability. The polished surface suggests aspiration, though the material anchors it. Curator: Mitchell's abstraction is always intriguing. He seems to tap into something primal, a kind of elemental language. A visual poem of air and fire, captured in solid form. Editor: An artist's attempt to freeze the ephemeral. Which perhaps is what all art is doing?
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Denis Mitchell moved to Cornwall in 1930. He played an important role in the artistic development of St Ives following the Second World War. He was a founder member of the Penwith Society and was an assistant to Barbara Hepworth from 1949-59, working on many of her sculptures. In 1959 he began to make abstract sculptures in bronze using a local sand-casting foundry. Simple shapes can be cast by this method and the casts were initially rough, enabling him to use his manual skills to perfect and purify the surfaces. 'Praze' is a fine example of his streamlined single sculptural forms. It is a variation on a theme that he had begun to develop some years earlier. The title, 'Praze' is a Cornish place name. Gallery label, August 2004
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