Catalogue Raisonné. Anthropomorphic Pyramid I
The Major Periods
1962 – 1965: Early Pop Paintings
As one of the original wave of Pop artists Gerald Laing produced some of the most significant works of the British Pop movement. His paintings reproduced images of popular heroes such as starlets, film stars, drag racers, astronauts and skydivers. His 1962 portrait of Brigitte Bardot is an iconic work of the period and regularly features in major Pop retrospectives alongside Lincoln Convertible from 1964, a commemoration of the assassination of JFK.
1965 – 1970: Utopian Abstract Sculpture
From 1965 Gerald Laing's painting evolved into abstract sculptures using the techniques and materials of car customisation - lacquering, spray-painting and chrome-plating on metal.
View all Utopian Abstract Sculpture
1970 – 1973: Sculpture In The Landscape
A move from New York to the Highlands of Scotland in 1970 saw Gerald Laing's sculpture respond to the beauty, roughness and power of the surrounding landscape.
View all Sculpture In The Landscape
1972 – 2010: Public Sculpture
Public sculptures include the the Bank Station Dragons; the Rugby Sculptures at Twickenham Stadium; the Cricketer at Lords; the Highland Clearances Memorial in Helmsdale, Sutherland and Axis Mundi in Edinburgh.
1973 – 1980: Galina Series
Inspired by the figurative sculpture of the First World War Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, in 1973 Gerald Laing began to model in clay and cast in bronze. The Galina Series and associated sculptures were his first works from this period.
1982 – 2007: Portrait Heads
Gerald Laing's portrait work includes heads and reliefs of Luciano Pavarotti, Andy Warhol, Paul Getty and Sam Wanamaker.
2002 – 2005: War Paintings
The Iraq war and the publication of images of torture at Abu Ghraib prison drew Gerald Laing back to painting for the first time in over three decades. The War Paintings series sees the starlets and all-American heroes of his early paintings take on new, more sinister roles.
2004 – 2011: New Paintings
Returning to the style and subject matter of his early pop art paintings, Gerald Laing's latest paintings feature media images of contemporary celebrities including Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss.
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Anthropomorphic Pyramid I
Catalogue No. 307
Artist's CR 289a
1973
Kinkell
Paint on plywood
8.75 x 15.75 x7.25 inches / 22 x 40 x18 cm
Collection: Private collection
- Arthur Tooth and Sons, London, 1973
- Laing Mylius Scobie, Cleish Castle, near Kinross, 1975
- Gerald Laing: A Retrospective 1963–1993, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1993
- Laing Mylius Scobie, exhibition catalogue, Cleish Castle, 1975
- Gerald Laing: A Retrospective 1963–1993, exhibition catalogue, The Fruitmarket Gallery, 1993
The first piece in the sequence of Laing’s return to the figure was Anthropomorphic Pyramid [sic] which is still a construction although this time of painted wood. It must be directly compared with the divided pyramid and also with 20th Century Monument. The central arch or gap between the two parts of the pyramids has been filled in but the loss of tension is partly made up by the two pilasters with corbel tops at right angles to the face of the pyramid. These support a crowning structure of two struts with a vertical ‘nose’ form joining them, the whole forming together a saluting-base type of structure which, like 20th Century Monument, has a suggestion of the 1930’s epic style. At the same time the piece can and I think should be read anthropomorphically, as a squatting figure supporting its head on its hands. The projecting ridge at the top of the sloping sides of the pyramid is surely accented in this way to indicate shoulders.
Laing Mylius Scobie: Sculpture at Cleish, Douglas Hall, exhibition catalogue, Cleish Castle, near Kinross, 1975, p.9