Catalogue Raisonné. Maquette for Criterion Horses
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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Maquette for Criterion Horses
Catalogue No. 541
Artist's CR 503
December, 1989
Kinkell
Plaster and wood model, painted, with light box
18 x 18 x9 inches / 46 x 46 x23 cm
Collection: Private collection
Maquette for an unrealised proposal for the corner of Coventry Street and Haymarket, near the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus, London.
My submission consists of three maquettes with associated drawings and preparatory sketches.
The maquettes are:
1. A sketch model at 1:36 scale showing the sculpture in its architectural context and giving an impression of the lighting arrangement.
2. A bronze model at 1:6 scale showing the characteristics of each of the four horses and their composition as a group, mounted on the fountain base.
3. A life-size bronze study of a horse’s head showing the style of modelling to be used in the final version of the sculpture.
I have used a heavyweight hunter of 16.5 hands as a model for the horses. In modelling the sketch composition (maquette No.2 [cat. number 537]) I have referred to the style of horse sculpture from the heyday of the genre; that is, Graeco/Roman (e.g. the Horses of San Marco in Venice) and the Renaissance equestrian sculpture which is derived from it. These horses tend to be heavily built and at the same time extremely agile and expressive, which are ideal qualities for sculpture. Chinese horses of the Tang dynasty have similar qualities.
'The Criterion Horses', Gerald Laing, unpublished manuscript, 1985