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Barry Flanagan, R.A. (British, 1941-2009) The Guns Never Won 61 cm. (24 in.) high (including the base) (Conceived in 2009) image 1

Barry Flanagan, R.A. (British, 1941-2009) The Guns Never Won 61 cm. (24 in.) high (including the base) (Conceived in 2009) image 2

Lot 70^AR

Barry Flanagan, R.A.
(British, 1941-2009)
The Guns Never Won 61 cm. (24 in.) high (including the base)

Modern British and Irish Art

30 June 2021, 14:00 BST

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £31,500 inc. premium

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Barry Flanagan, R.A. (British, 1941-2009)

The Guns Never Won
signed with initial, titled and numbered 'THE GUNS/NEVER WON/f 2/8-/19' (on the bronze base)
bronze with a black patina
61 cm. (24 in.) high (including the base)
Conceived in 2009

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist's Estate, from whom acquired by the present owner

On the surface Flanagan's varied output can appear disjointed. His works of the late 1960s and 1970s are conceptual, performative and cutting edge, especially in terms of the material selected (stone, rope, cloth, sand). These feel entirely different to the series of hares, begun in 1979, for which he is perhaps now most known. Modelled in bronze, a most traditional sculptural medium, these figurative works appear unexpected and in contrast to his output hitherto. Indeed, within the series Flanagan references the canon of art history by re-imaging Rodin's The Thinker and Nijinski in hare form. A further timelessness is introduced by primarily using the hare, rather than other animals or a human, as the hare has long held symbolic status within mythology and folklore, both seemingly disparate to the artist's conceptual engagement.

However, the key to understanding the lineage between the earlier works and the hares lies in Flanagan's own assertion that the hare is a metaphor, not a subject. A connecting theme in Flanagan's conceptual practice is that for the viewer, the human, they evoke a rich experience. Similarly, his hares, in whatever guise they appear; dancing, leaping, drumming etc. are all representative of various elements of the human experience. He comments 'I use the hare as a surrogate or as a vehicle to entertain in a way. The abstract realm that sculpture somehow demands is a very awkward way to work, so I abstract myself from the human figure, choosing the hare to behave as a human occasionally.' (quoted in Barry Flanagan: Sculpture 1965-2005, exh.cat., Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2006, p.65).

We are grateful to the Artist's Estate for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.

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