Barry Flanagan

Waddington Galleries are delighted to announce an exhibition of recent bronzes by Barry Flanagan, spanning the period of 2001–2008. 

The exhibition comprises 23 bronzes; a medium Flanagan took up at the end of the 1970s and that inspired him to return to the figurative, predominantly in the form of animals.  Most of the works exhibited are hares, which have become his trademark theme since casting his first Leaping Hare in 1979.  Inspired by the sighting of a hare leaping through a snowy field, he chose to work with hare because of its energy, muscular physicality and grace.  The hare has been a symbol of life for civilisations from the Egyptians to the Chinese, and in Western culture is associated with Christ and the resurrection.  In an interview in 2006, Flanagan stated that he found in the hare a rich and expressive form that could carry the conventions of the cartoon and the attributions of the human into the animal form. As a result of this Flanagan's hares are anthropomorphic; they resemble human physique and characteristics.