Reproduction Casts

 

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska's 'Duck'

Duck (1914) is an example of the small-scale informal carvings that Gaudier made when he was short of materials. Financial circumstances would often leave him without stone to carve. Then he would rely on off-cuts from Aristide Fabrucci (the Italian sculptor who had a studio next to his on the Fulham Road), on gifts, or on theft from local masons' yards. The small scale and simple rendition of the duck's body suggest that it may have been fashioned from such an off-cut.

Gaudier's practice of making hand-held sculptures for his friends may have resulted from these restrictions. Duck displays Gaudier's affection for animals, but like similar pieces by the sculptor its shape and angularity suggest that it might have been conceived almost as a 'pocket weapon'. The body of the bird is geometrically simplified, with a triangle emphasising the shape of the tail and an incised circle describing the eye.

Jim Ede acquired the original green marble Duck in 1927. In the mid-1960s he commissioned twelve bronze casts from the Fiorini & Carney Foundry in London. Only one of them remains at Kettle's Yard; it has been used by Alistair Burgass to make new moulds for the production of these crystacal casts.

 

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Henri Gaudier-Brzeska's 'Toy'

Toy - otherwise known as Torpedo Fish or Ornament - was commissioned from Henri Gaudier-Brzeska in 1914 by the writer T.E. Hulme, who paid £2 for it. It was one of a number of hand-held pieces made by Gaudier for friends and members of the Vorticist group. These small sculptures were designed to be held, handled, played with and worn. Fellow sculptor Jacob Epstein recalled that Gaudier thought them 'great fun to do' and that Hulme would carry Toy 'about him in his pocket, and would handle it while talking.'

Normally described as carved in brass, it is more likely that it was carved in plaster or some other material and then cast, and finished by hand; indeed Gaudier's 'List of Works' includes mention of a plaster model of the same dimensions. The original is in the Art Gallery of Ontario. The sculptor Michael Gillespie made a posthumous edition of nine bronze casts and it is from one of these that he has made new moulds and supervised the production of these crystacal casts.