Study for "Beast"
1961
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen and brown ink with wash on tracing paper
Dimensions
overall: 40.9 x 52.5 cm (16 1/8 x 20 11/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of William B. O'Neal
Accession Number
1995.52.17
Art Historical Context
Lynn Chadwick's *Study for "Beast (1961) offers a fascinating glimpse into the creative process of one of Britain's leading post-war sculptors. Created during the tense Cold War era, Chadwick works often explored themes of confrontation and mechanized menace through angular, abstracted figures. This drawing served as a preparatory sketch for larger sculpture, capturing the artist's iterative approach to his signature "beast" motifs—spiky, predatory forms that evoke both animal ferocity and industrial rigidity. Executed in pen and brown ink with wash on tracing paper, the medium highlights Cha...
About the Artist
Lynn Chadwick
Lynn Russell Chadwick (1914–2003) was a pioneering British sculptor whose innovative use of metal transformed postwar sculpture. Born in the London suburb of Barnes, he attended Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood, where an art master steered him toward architecture rather than fine art. Chadwick trained as an architectural draughtsman in the offices of Donald Hamilton, Eugen Carl Kauffman, and ...