Spring Seasons Cock, 1956
Bronze
From the edition of 6 plus one artist's cast

This cast exhibited at:

London, Tate Gallery,1956
Venice Biennale, 1964
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1965

Provenance:

Mrs M. W. Meadows, ca 1956
Private Collection, USA

Literature:

Alan Bowness, Bernard Meadows, 1995
BM 40, pl.28, p49

The sculpture of Bernard Meadows uses the animal world as a metaphor for the inherent vulnerability of the human condition - stripped of cultural overlay and pretence - pertinent to the existential post-war era. Using frightened cocks, wounded, running or fallen birds and crabs as recurring subject matter, Meadows created potent and meaningful, if harrowing, sculptural icons modelled in the emotive, expressive and distinctive style of the period.
"Spring Season's Cock" (1956), originally exhibited at a Contemporary Art Society exhibition at the Tate Gallery, is typical of the work upon which Meadows's reputation is based. Indeed, his international standing was established early through participation in the landmark 1952 Venice Biennale, where the critic Herbert Read spoke of the 'Geometry of Fear' subjects of Meadows, Armitage , Butler, Chadwick and Turnbull. As Meadows once wrote "birds can express a whole range of tragic emotion, they have a vulnerability which makes it easy to use them as vehicles for people".
In similar vein, Alan Bowness has written that the 'geometry of fear' tag is therefore not only "more apposite and prophetic" in the case of Meadows, but indeed offered a "way escaping the overwhelming influence of Moore and finding his own voice". Working intermittently for Moore before the war, Meadows took over the great man's former teaching post at the Chelsea School of Art in 1948. Here in turn the younger Norwich-born sculptor taught an influenced students like Elisabeth Frink and Robert Clatworthy, who also went on to make use of emotive animal subjects. Meadows' influence at both Chelsea and, later, the Royal College enabled Bowness to speculate that "the renewed interest in animal sculpture in post-war England began with Meadows and his teaching at Chelsea."
76.0 x 37.0 x 24.0 cm (30 x 14½ x 9½ inches)

Provenance:
Mrs M.W. Meadows, circa 1956
Private Collection, U.S.A.

Exhibition History:
London, Tate Gallery, organised by Contemporary Art Society, 'The Seasons, 1956', probably this cast.
Venice, The British Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 1964
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 'Hilton, Irwin, Meadows, Tilson', May - June 1965, no.48, illustrated in catalogue.

Literature:
Alan Bowness, 'Bernard Meadows: Sculpture & Drawings, The Henry Moore Foundation in association with Lund Humphries, London, 1995, BM 40, pl.28, p.49

Notes:
The sculpture of Bernard Meadows uses the animal world as a metaphor for the inherent vulnerability of the human condition - stripped of cultural overlay and pretence - pertinent to the existential post-war era. Using frightened cocks, wounded, running or fallen birds and crabs as recurring subject matter, Meadows created potent and meaningful, if harrowing, sculptural icons modelled in the emotive, expressive and distinctive style of the period.
"Spring Season's Cock" (1956), originally exhibited at a Contemporary Art Society exhibition at the Tate Gallery, is typical of the work upon which Meadows's reputation is based. Indeed, his international standing was established early through participation in the landmark 1952 Venice Biennale, where the critic Herbert Read spoke of the 'Geometry of Fear' subjects of Meadows, Armitage , Butler, Chadwick and Turnbull. As Meadows once wrote "birds can express a whole range of tragic emotion, they have a vulnerability which makes it easy to use them as vehicles for people".
In similar vein, Alan Bowness has written that the 'geometry of fear' tag is therefore not only "more apposite and prophetic" in the case of Meadows, but indeed offered a "way escaping the overwhelming influence of Moore and finding his own voice". Working intermittently for Moore before the war, Meadows took over the great man's former teaching post at the Chelsea School of Art in 1948. Here in turn the younger Norwich-born sculptor taught an influenced students like Elisabeth Frink and Robert Clatworthy, who also went on to make use of emotive animal subjects. Meadows' influence at both Chelsea and, later, the Royal College enabled Bowness to speculate that "the renewed interest in animal sculpture in post-war England began with Meadows and his teaching at Chelsea."
POA