Maquette for Switchback

Artist Clement Meadmore (Australian, 1929-2005)

Date1980

DimensionsH: 27 5/8 in. (72 cm); W: 15 1/16 in. (40 cm); Depth: 9 1/8 in. (23 cm)

MediumBronze.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Patricia McKone

Object number

1996.4

Not on View

Label TextClement Meadmore, an Australian artist who became an American citizen, created this work as a scale model for Switchback, his public sculpture in front of the Libbey-Owens-Ford offices in downtown Toledo. Meadmore was influenced by Minimalism, an artistic movement that attempted to avoid references to anything other than pure form; but he diverged from the Minimalist tradition through the dynamic sense of physical movement with which he imbued his sculptures. Maquette for Switchback is a balanced composition with strong vertical elements that curve into a horizontal midsection. On close inspection, the sculpture reveals itself to be asymmetrical; the upper vertical is slightly longer than the lower one, which gives the feeling that the bronze’s potential energy could either spring it upward or pull it apart at any moment.Exhibition HistoryDonald Morris Gallery, Birmingham, MI, Clement Meadmore Recent Bronzes, March-April, 1981.Comparative ReferencesSee also Toledo Museum of Art, Citywide Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, 1984, no. 6, p. 11, repr. p. 18.