Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
Lot 88*,AR,W
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi(British, 1924-2005)Vulcan (Study for Newcastle) 71.1 cm. (28 in.) high (including base)
20 November 2013, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £16,875 inc. premium
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Christopher Dawson
Head of Department
Ingram Reid
Director
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (British, 1924-2005)
Vulcan (Study for Newcastle)
signed, inscribed and dated '1998/Eduardo Paolozzi/A/C' (on the base)
bronze with a black patina
71.1 cm. (28 in.) high (including base)
signed, inscribed and dated '1998/Eduardo Paolozzi/A/C' (on the base)
bronze with a black patina
71.1 cm. (28 in.) high (including base)
Footnotes
PROVENANCE:
The artist's estate
With Flowers Gallery, London where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, Canada
The present lot is a maquette for a seven metre high bronze known as The Newcastle Vulcan (2000, collection of Peter Millican) which became a local landmark when installed in the city's Central Square from May 2000 until 2009. Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and smithery, and his Greek counterpart Hephaestus, was a recurrent subject for Paolozzi from the mid 1980s onwards as an icon of the archetypal sculptor. Further notable examples of this motif include the monumental welded steel Vulcan (1999, National Galleries of Scotland) and Artist as Hephaestus (1987).
Vulcan (Study for Newcastle) may also have been known as simply Study for Newcastle or Vulcan. It is most probably from an overall edition of six casts, three of which would be numbered and three of which would be artist's casts. It was common for Paolozzi to work in this fashion and to customise each cast with small variations, he regarded these as unique works. The present lot was cast by the Livingstone Foundry, Kent.
We are grateful to Professor Robin Spencer for his assistance in cataloguing this work.