Reg Butler 1913-1981
Bride, 1954-61
bronze
h: 93 in / 236.2 cm
Sold
Previously installed at Princeton University, Bride by Reg Butler is considered to be one of the artist’s most significant works. Standing just below 8ft high, the bronze sculpture took over seven years to complete. When later describing his creative process regarding the work, Butler emphasised his affinity for an additive process in which he could work outwards, allowing the sculpture to slowly grow over time. Butler worked on the piece underneath a large tree in the yard space outside his studio and considered that the dappled light through the branches of the tree had perhaps inspired the textured surface of the sculpture. Butler recalled that “The Bride probably owes a great deal to the adjacent tree trunks and the leaves around me all the time.” The lower body of the Bride embodies the contours of tree trunk whilst the upper mass around the face of the Bride simulates the foliage. Additionally, Bride was modelled in plaster rather than clay, a form that enabled Butler to employ a more fluid and organic approach in line with the natural environment in which he created the piece. The lack of arms and the magnified head of the figure create the shape of a mushroom cloud, illustrating Butler’s concept of a sculpture as an ‘exploding mass’. (Richard Calvocoressi, Reg Butler: The Man and the Work, in Reg Butler, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, 1983, pp.16-17)
Provenance
John B. Putnam Jnr Memorial Collection, Princeton University, 1970.Christie's, London, 12 June 1998, lot 96
Private collection, UK
Exhibitions
New York, Pierre Matisse, Reg Butler: Recent Sculpture: 1959-1962, October - November 1962, no. 26, another cast exhibited.London, County Council, Battersea Park, Open-Air Exhibition of Contemporary British and American Works, May - September1963, no. 7, another cast exhibited.
London, Hanover Gallery, Reg Butler: Sculpture and Drawings, July - September1963, no. 3, another cast exhibited.
Louisville, Kentucky, J.B. Speed Museum, Reg Butler: A Retrospective Exhibition, October - December 1963, no. 94, another cast exhibited.
Birmingham, Arts Council of Great Britain, Cannon Hill Park, Contemporary British sculpture: an open-air exhibition arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain, April- May 1964, no. 4, another cast exhibited: this exhibition traveled to Accrington, Haworth Art Gallery, May - June 1964; Wollaston, Wollaston Hall, June - July 1964; Cheltenham, Imperial Gardens, July 1964; Middlesbrough, Albert Park, July - August 1964; and Bradford, Lister Park, August -September 1964.
Caracas, Galería Frietas, Reg Butler, March - April 1992, catalogue not traced.
Caracas, Galería Frietas, Postwar English Sculpture, August - September 2006, no. 12.
Literature
Exhibition catalogue, Reg Butler: Recent Sculpture: 1959-1962, New York, Pierre Matisse, 1962, n.p., no. 26, another cast illustrated.Exhibition catalogue, Open-Air Exhibition of Contemporary British and American Works, London, County Council, Battersea Park, 1963, n.p., no. 7, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Reg Butler: Sculpture and Drawings, London, Hanover Gallery,1963, n.p., no. 3, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Reg Butler: A Retrospective Exhibition, Louiseville, Kentucky, J.B. Speed Museum, 1963, n.p., no. 94, another cast illustrated.
P. Kelleher, Living with Modern Sculpture: The John B. Putnam Jnr. Memorial Collection, Princeton University, 1982, pp. 36, 38-39, no. 1.R.
Calvocoressi, exhibition catalogue, Reg Butler, London, Tate Gallery, 1983, p. 28, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Reg Butler, Caracas, Galería Frietas, 1992, p. 20, fg. 8.
Exhibition catalogue, Postwar English Sculpture, Caracas, Galería Frietas, 2006,p. 25, no. 12, illustrated.
M. Garlake, The Sculpture of Reg Butler, Much Hadham, 2006, pp. 83, 159, no. 211,fg. 73, another cast illustrated.