Fin 2

By the late 1950s, when Turnbull was still in his thirties, he was becoming regarded as one of the leading artists of his generation. Conceived in 1957, Fin 2 comes from one of Turnbull’s most prestigious periods, straddling the Icon Series of 1955-57 and the Totemic Forms of 1958-62.

Utilising a series of materials, techniques and a rich variety of visual sources, Fin 2 displays Turnbull’s unique artistic vision, which established him as one of the most individual artists of the 20th Century. Turnbull particularly enjoyed the interplay between image and object and the process of metamorphosis. Never one to shy away from experimentation, Turnbull’s aesthetic changed over the years but his artistic vision remained rooted in the strength of economy of expression, the potency of simplification of form and his belief in the inner power of a work of art. Paul Elliott explains, ‘Whatever the material and technique, the work is always characterised by simple, clearly articulated forms. It is not a stylistic quality that binds his work together, indeed one can hardly speak of his work as having a particular style. It is more to do with a consistent way of thinking, a way of thinking characterised by lucidity, decisiveness and economy of expression’ (P. Elliott, ‘William Turnbull: A Consistent Way of Thinking’ in P. Elliott and D. Sylvester, William Turnbull sculpture and paintings, London, 1995, p. 74).

A key characteristic of Turnbull’s work is his ability to transcend cultural and artistic boundaries, drawing on the ancient, historical and mystical, to create a modern idiom, which maintains a dialogue with the past. Elliot comments that, ‘Turnbull’s work is full of these unexpected, usually hidden references to old and new forms, high art and low art, Western and non-Western. The constancy of certain elemental forms in different cultures throughout the age is one of the mainsprings of his art, and it is partly this multivalency of meaning and source that gives his art its formal and metaphorical richness’ (P. Elliott, ibid., p. 34). This discourse between the ancient and modern can be seen to powerful effect in Fin 2.

Since his days as a student at the Slade, Turnbull developed a keen interest in non-Western art, rejecting the Renaissance stance that classical Greek sculpture was to be the sculptor’s ultimate paragon. Preferring instead the various forms of archaic or primitive sculpture, such as the carvings from Egypt, the Cyclades and Archaic Greek sculptures, which he saw on his regular visits to the British Museum. He commented, ‘I went a lot to the British Museum when I came to London … I just thought it was the most extraordinary place … I have always felt in a sense that the further back the exhibits were, the more modern they looked. I am always amazed how objects that are three thousand, four thousand or more years old can look as if they were done much more recently than things made fifty or sixty years ago. This way they can jump right through time. To be able to look at objects without hierarchy, without feeling that this one is higher, more developed than that one, this is very refreshing’ (W. Turnbull in conversation with C. Renfrew, 6 May 1998, exhibition catalogue, William Turnbull sculpture and paintings, London, Waddington Galleries, 1998, p. 7).

This interest in the art of other civilisations, both ancient and contemporary, was reinforced by his trip to Paris in 1948 with Eduardo Paolozzi, where he visited the studio of Constantin Brancusi, who greatly influenced his works of the late 1950s. This influence can be seen in Fin 2, through the elimination of the traditional division between sculpture and base, and the introduction of stacked elements in his work. Here the different tiers of his hand-carved unique base become unified with the bronze element of his sculpture and add to the dimensionality of the work. His foray into non-Western art was also supported by the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), which he joined after his return from Paris in 1950, and was intensified by his marriage to Singaporean sculptor Kim Lim in 1960 and their subsequent travel together to Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Although Turnbull’s work is pervaded with imagery and influences from the past, the complex textured surface of Fin 2 demonstrates a very modern approach to sculpture. Turnbull looked to Paul Klee’s philosophy that art should emerge from the working process, rather than be the product of a clearly pre-defined idea. That it should allow the subconscious to submerge one’s work facilitating a natural, non-formulaic process. These kinds of sensory explorations were also championed by the leading Abstract Expressionist painters at the time, who Turnbull enjoyed a close friendship with, when he visited America in 1957.

Turnbull explored this experimental philosophy in Fin 2, using bits of corrugated cardboard and other materials to stick on the wet plaster and pull away, to create these wonderful textured effects. For Turnbull, the process of manipulating the surface of the wet plaster using corrugated cardboard, allowed him to approach sculpture in the same spontaneous way as one would a canvas, without an established plan but allowing things to happen freely. The element of chance introduced through this method resulted in unpredictable results when the work was cast. Turnbull explained, ‘The surface comes out of the way you are working … It’s not something you add on at the end’ (W. Turnbull, quoted in, ibid., p. 8).

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