Robert Clatworthy (b. 1928)

Seated Figure VI is one of the most powerful subjects of Clatworthy’s oeuvre. Praised for their expressionistic qualities, Clatworthy’s sculpture highlights the relationship between the inner and outer material, juxtaposing the stress of material and surface with a psychic and emotional energy.

Clatworthy’s work can be seen to be inspired, in part, by Henry Moore who he worked as an assistant for at Perry Green in the summer of 1951, most noticeably in his figuration, his compositional strategies and the tactile qualities of his smaller work. We cannot put too much emphasis on this, however, as during the 1950s and 60s Clatworthy, like his British contemporaries, Michael Ayrton, Ralph Brown and Anthony Caro were looking abroad to Europe, inspired by the work of international artists such as Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and the earlier examples of Merardo Rosso.

Although inspired by other artists Clatworthy can be viewed as a highly unique artist whose individual approach to sculpture has stood him out as one of the finest British artists of the 20th Century. One of Clatworthy’s most individual characteristics is his manipulation of the surface, which can be seen to great effect in Seated Figure VI, circa 1958. Keith Chapman states, ‘Clatworthy’s approach was thus to focus on tactility and the worked collisions of planes and subtleties of surface, intensifying their potential psychic charge and heightening the nuanced associations and meanings they might bring’ (K. Chapman, Robert Clatworthy Sculpture and Drawings, Bristol, 2012, p. 9).

The artist found that such effects were most effective when moulding in plaster. Famed for the speed in which he worked, the notoriously demanding material suited the artist who relished in the rapidity one had to model and carve it. This was an unusual treatment of the material, Chapman explains, ‘This usage deliberately went against the grain of plaster’s traditional function as the material of replication, recasting it as the material of individually worked and idiosyncratically manipulated sculpture’. He continues, ‘It had a strength and resilience which meant that it could be exhibited, but also a skin-like fragility powdery friability that brought tenderness and vulnerability to its subject matter’ (ibid., p. 9).

Clatworthy has exhibited in some of the most influential post-war group exhibitions including, the Open Air Sculpture Exhibitions at Holland Park (1957), British Sculpture in the 60s’, Tate (1965) and British Sculpture ‘72’ at the Royal Academy. The artist’s works also remains part of the public collections of the Royal Academy and the Victoria and Albert Museum.