The new bronze age
Country Life UK|August 03, 2022
A talking point that can inspire passions and transform a landscape, large-scale sculpture is increasingly valued by modern collectors. Anna Tyzack meets the artists bringing grand visions to life
Anna Tyzack
The new bronze age

WITH its swirling horns and omniscient gaze, David Williams-Ellis's 26ft bronze ram will be seen from several fields away. The sculpture, which he created for a collector during lockdown and is now waiting to be cast, is one of many larger-than-life bronze pieces being installed in private gardens and public collections. There has never been a better time to be a sculptor or a foundry,' maintains Alexander Lumsden, an art historian for Bronze Age London, a foundry that has cast works by Antony Gormley. 'People are realising the value that sculpture can bring: it's a talking point; it engages people; it activates space.'

Helaine Blumenfeld, who shared a show with Henry Moore back in the 1980s and whose 16ft bronze Metamorphosis is now in situ at Canary Wharf, London E14, agrees that Britain is in the throes of a bronze renaissance, precipitated by the pandemic. During lockdown, she received emails from members of the public telling her that her sculpture spoke to them. 'Never in my 50-year career have I got so much response; sculpture gives us access to our emotions in a way no other art form does,' says Mrs Blumenfeld.

Mr Lumsden has noted a resurgence in figurative bronzes produced in the age-old lost-wax method, where a metal duplicate of the original clay (or plaster) is cast from a mould created using a wax model, which melts away before casting. He's also seeing more works created digitally using three-dimensional printing processes. 'At foundries, you get to witness the sculptural zeitgeist first hand,' he explains. For a new generation of collectors, bronze resonates: it makes you feel something, it handles being outdoors and you only have to touch it to feel how precious it is.'

This story is from the August 03, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.

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This story is from the August 03, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.

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