The Blade
Anthony Twentyman (1906 - 1988)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1970 - 1988
Materials
Measurements
2200 mm (Height)
Order this imageCollection
Dudmaston, Shropshire
NT 815369
Summary
Stone, The Blade, Anthony Twentyman (1906-1988), c. 1970-88. An abstract standing sculpture carved of stone, with patination, mounted on square base.
Full description
This monolithic sculpture is based on the form of a turbine blade and also incorporates a bone or flint-like cavity. In the tradition of Henry Moore (1898-1986) and Barbara Hepworth (1903-75), Anthony Twentyman drew inspiration from found and natural objects which he referred to as 'signifiers'. In 1956 the sculptor Don Potter (1902-2004), whom Twentyman befriended as a youth at a Boy Scout camp, first introduced him to the Cornish talc stone polyphant, and from that began a practice of carving almost exclusively in stone, particularly regional or local types sourced on visits to quarries. Several titles incorporate the names of these materials, for example the present work is also known as 'Mansfield Blade' to reflect the origin of the Nottinghamshire limestone from which it was hewn. Born in Wolverhampton in 1906, during the Second World War Twentyman was posted to Singapore as a Flight lieutenant Equipment Liaison Officer in the RAF. After the fall of that city to the Japanese in 1942 he was captured as prisoner of war and held at camps at Palembang, Sumatra and Changai, Singapore. He returned to painting and sculpture after the war, exhibiting fairly regularly throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A commission to John Piper (1902-93) to record Bilbrook Manor, the Twentyman family home, led to an enduring friendship between the two artists. Twentyman spent time with leading members of the Penwith Society at St Ives, buying work by Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. Sir George Labouchere, a close friend and neighbour, commissioned several works from the artist including large-scale outdoor sculpture (‘The Watcher’, ‘Spaceframe', ‘Abstract Form’), bronzes, maquettes and studies for ‘The Watcher’ and ‘Spaceframe’. Twentyman was elected to the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1983 and became president of the Wolverhampton Society of Artists. His own collection was bequeathed to Wolverhampton Art Gallery, where Labouchere was a Trustee. His papers are held at the Wolverhampton City Archives (NRA 36293).
Provenance
Nicholas Tresilian from the artist's estate, 1989; given to the National Trust by Deed of Gift, 2021.
Makers and roles
Anthony Twentyman (1906 - 1988), sculptor