Bidding on this item has ended.
Frederick Edward McWilliam
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEAN
Lot 99
Price Realised:
€15,000
Estimate:
€15,000 - €25,000
Frederick Edward McWilliam RA, 1909 - 1992
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEAN (1965)
Bronze, 30 1/2" high (77.5cm), signed with initials, ed 1/5,with attached plaque presented by 'H. Dieter Holterbosch'
Provenance: Ex collection Lehman Brothers, 3 World Fina... Read more
Lot 99
Frederick Edward McWilliam
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEAN
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEAN (1965)
Bronze, 30 1/2" high (77.5cm), signed with initials, ed 1/5,with attached plaque presented by 'H. Dieter Holterbosch'
Provenance: Ex collection Lehman Brothers, 3 World Fina... Read more
Lot 99
Frederick Edward McWilliam
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEAN
Estimate:
€15,000 - €25,000
Frederick Edward McWilliam RA, 1909 - 1992
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEAN (1965)
Bronze, 30 1/2" high (77.5cm), signed with initials, ed 1/5,with attached plaque presented by 'H. Dieter Holterbosch'
Provenance: Ex collection Lehman Brothers, 3 World Financial Center, New York.
In the early 1960s, an Australian friend gifted to FEMcWilliam, a Coco de Mer (Lodoicea), commonly known as a sea coconut or double coconut. This is a nut, from a rare species of the palm tree native to the Seychelles Archipeligo in the Indian Ocean, is a source of legends, mysteries and lore. The seed of the Coco de Mer is the largest in the plant kingdom, weighing up to 45 lbs. This exotic gift inspired a series of sculptures produced throughout 1965/66, encapsulating ideas and forms which McWilliam explored thirty years beforehand, firstly in early wood sculptures and subsequently in stone. These pre-war, abstract carvings sprang from the subconscious and from force embraced in magic powers, contained in African masks and fetishes of tribal art. McWilliam shared common ground with Henry Moore who, in his early career, had also allied himself to Surrealism. From these beginnings, McWilliam's characteristic adoption of a form of biomorphic abstraction, evolved. Early in 1965, he embarked on a sculpture project on the subject of peace, resulting in a bronze combining the shape and acceptable symbol of a dove and geometrical bars of a birdcage.
This combination of forms, became an obsessive interest and most works completed in 1965, emanated from this symbiosis. The bean series followed and McWilliam commented 'mid-year I found the bean and then of course the birthrate jumped.' His list of bean sculptures included Aegean Bean, Spanish Bean, Roman Bean, Duplex Bean, Nordic Bean and Bean with Sauerkraut and fig Leaf. The huge, two-lobed nut, ignited McWilliam's mischievous humour and allowed him optimize his fanciful and whimsical treatment of gender. This organic motif facilitated McWilliam's playful manipulation of subject matter: nature, culture, myth and eroticism. Most of the Bean sculptures were shown in the Arts Councils of Ireland's retrospective of 1981 and in the Tate Gallery Retrospective of 1989. Anthropomorphic Bean was shown in both exhibitions and in the 2008 inaugural exhibition of the FEMcWilliam Gallery and Studio at Banbridge. Its plaster maquette, is in the collection of the FEMcWilliam Gallery. Two casts, were made, 1/5, by the Galizia Foundry London and 2/5, by the Fiorini Foundry, London. On the base of this work, 1/5, in addition to McWilliam's signature, a plate records that the sculpture was presented to the Lehman Brothers, by H.Dieter Holterboch, a wealthy, industrialist, who died in 2016, aged 95. The work was located at the World Financial Center, New York, until the collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001. As the Financial Center suffered damage, the work was put in storage, where it remained until the auction of the work in Philadelphia in 2009.
Brian Ferran
October 2019
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEAN (1965)
Bronze, 30 1/2" high (77.5cm), signed with initials, ed 1/5,with attached plaque presented by 'H. Dieter Holterbosch'
Provenance: Ex collection Lehman Brothers, 3 World Financial Center, New York.
In the early 1960s, an Australian friend gifted to FEMcWilliam, a Coco de Mer (Lodoicea), commonly known as a sea coconut or double coconut. This is a nut, from a rare species of the palm tree native to the Seychelles Archipeligo in the Indian Ocean, is a source of legends, mysteries and lore. The seed of the Coco de Mer is the largest in the plant kingdom, weighing up to 45 lbs. This exotic gift inspired a series of sculptures produced throughout 1965/66, encapsulating ideas and forms which McWilliam explored thirty years beforehand, firstly in early wood sculptures and subsequently in stone. These pre-war, abstract carvings sprang from the subconscious and from force embraced in magic powers, contained in African masks and fetishes of tribal art. McWilliam shared common ground with Henry Moore who, in his early career, had also allied himself to Surrealism. From these beginnings, McWilliam's characteristic adoption of a form of biomorphic abstraction, evolved. Early in 1965, he embarked on a sculpture project on the subject of peace, resulting in a bronze combining the shape and acceptable symbol of a dove and geometrical bars of a birdcage.
This combination of forms, became an obsessive interest and most works completed in 1965, emanated from this symbiosis. The bean series followed and McWilliam commented 'mid-year I found the bean and then of course the birthrate jumped.' His list of bean sculptures included Aegean Bean, Spanish Bean, Roman Bean, Duplex Bean, Nordic Bean and Bean with Sauerkraut and fig Leaf. The huge, two-lobed nut, ignited McWilliam's mischievous humour and allowed him optimize his fanciful and whimsical treatment of gender. This organic motif facilitated McWilliam's playful manipulation of subject matter: nature, culture, myth and eroticism. Most of the Bean sculptures were shown in the Arts Councils of Ireland's retrospective of 1981 and in the Tate Gallery Retrospective of 1989. Anthropomorphic Bean was shown in both exhibitions and in the 2008 inaugural exhibition of the FEMcWilliam Gallery and Studio at Banbridge. Its plaster maquette, is in the collection of the FEMcWilliam Gallery. Two casts, were made, 1/5, by the Galizia Foundry London and 2/5, by the Fiorini Foundry, London. On the base of this work, 1/5, in addition to McWilliam's signature, a plate records that the sculpture was presented to the Lehman Brothers, by H.Dieter Holterboch, a wealthy, industrialist, who died in 2016, aged 95. The work was located at the World Financial Center, New York, until the collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001. As the Financial Center suffered damage, the work was put in storage, where it remained until the auction of the work in Philadelphia in 2009.
Brian Ferran
October 2019
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All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
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