Idol 2

myminifactory

Between 1955 and 1957, William Turnbull crafted a series of five comparable free-standing sculptures titled Idol. Among them, Idol 2 stands out as the second piece, cast in an edition of four. Like its counterparts, it is slightly shorter than the average height of an adult. Unlike the Renaissance tradition continued by artists like Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, where a sculpture gradually reveals itself as one walks around it, these flat works share similarities with Archaic Greek and Ancient Egyptian sculptures - their focus is emphatically frontal. Patrick Elliott has pointed out that this characteristic guarantees that 'the work must be perceived immediately rather than interpreted over time' (William Turnbull: Sculpture and Painting, p.34).