Steel
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/theodore-roszak-1869" aria-label="More by Theodore Roszak" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Theodore Roszak</a>
Unknown Political Prisoner Defiant and Triumphant
Purchased 1953
abstraction
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
figure
from recognisable sources
government and politics
organic
persecution
political prisoner
social comment
society
triumph
<p>This maquette was made for an international competition on the subject of 'The Unknown Political Prisoner'. The competition was designed to promote interest in contemporary sculpture as well as 'to commemorate all those unknown men and women who in our time have been deprived of their lives or their liberty in the cause of human freedom'. The artist wrote about this work: 'in thinking about the forms for the maquette, I was strongly motivated by the moral and social values implicit in the subject. In this instance, I envisioned the individual as politically committed either by accident or design against tyranny and oppression.' However, he depicted the individual as ultimately triumphant against this oppression.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
sculpture steel
19 December 2003 – 31 May 2004
2004-05-31
12 December 2003 – 31 May 2004
2004-05-31
2003-12-12
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2003-12-19
The Shape of Ideas
Collection based display
29 October 2020 – 18 July 2021
2021-07-18
29 October 2020 – 18 July 2021
2021-07-18
2020-10-29
Kunsthaus Dahlem (Berlin, Germany)
2020-10-29
Competition for the Monument of the Unknown Political Prisoner
Loan-out
The Unknown Political Prisoner (Defiant and Triumphant)
object: 371 × 476 × 229 mm (16.4 kg)
Purchased 1953
<p>This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/maquette" title="Glossary definition for 'Maquette'"><span>maquette</span></a> was made for an international  competition on the subject of 'The Unknown  Political Prisoner'. The competition was designed  to promote interest in contemporary <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculpture</span></a> as  well as 'to commemorate all those unknown men and  women who in our time have been deprived of their  lives or their liberty in the cause of human  freedom'. The artist wrote about this work: 'in  thinking about the forms for the maquette, I was  strongly motivated by the moral and social values  implicit in the subject. In this instance, I  envisioned the individual as politically committed  either by accident or design against tyranny and  oppression.' However, he depicted the individual  as ultimately triumphant against this oppression.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<strong>Theodore Roszak</strong> born 1907 [- 1981]
<p>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/roszak-the-unknown-political-prisoner-defiant-and-triumphant-n06163" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06163</span></a> <strong>The Unknown Political Prisoner (Defiant and Triumphant)</strong> 1952
</p><p>
Not inscribed<br/>
Steel brazed with nickel-silver, 14 5/8 x 18 3/4 x 9 (37.2 x 47.5 x 23) excluding wood and steel base; height including base 16 1/8 (41)<br/>
Purchased from the International Sculpture Competition (Grant-in-Aid) 1953<br/>
<em>Exh:</em> <em>International Sculpture Competition: The Unknown Political Prisoner</em> (American Preliminary Exhibition), Museum of Modern Art, New York, January-February 1953 (11); <em>International Sculpture Competition: The Unknown Political Prisoner</em>, Tate Gallery, March-May 1953 (35); <em>Theodore Roszak</em>, Whitney Museum, New York, September-November 1956 (12, repr. p.45); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, December 1956-January 1957 (12, repr. p.45); Los Angeles County Museum, February-March 1957 (12, repr. p.45); San Francisco Museum of Art, April-May 1957 (12, repr. p.45); Seattle Art Museum, June-August 1957 (12, repr. p.45)<br/>
<em>Repr:</em> <em>Art News</em>, LI, February 1953, p.20; <em>Art Digest</em>, XXVII, February 1953, p.9
</p><p>
For particulars of the International <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>Sculpture</span></a> Competition: The Unknown<br/>
Political Prisoner see the note on the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/maquette" title="Glossary definition for 'Maquette'"><span>maquette</span></a> by Consagra [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/N06166" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'N06166');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>N06166</span></a>]. In a letter of 28 April 1953 to the Organiser, Anthony J.T. Kloman, Roszak wrote of his entry:
</p><p>
'In thinking about the forms for the maquette, I was strongly motivated by the moral and social values implicit in the subject ... In this instance, I envisioned the individual as politically committed either by accident or design against tyranny and oppression.
</p><p>
'While we have history to attest to the endless forms of human incarceration as a reward for "sinning" against the state, we have, nevertheless, witnessed the slow and hard won gains of those beliefs that have been sustained ... ultimately finding varying degrees of integration within the social structure. This clearly indicates to me not only the vindication of an individual morality, but the force with which ideas break through, however belatedly, and triumphantly assert themselves upon society as a whole.
</p><p>
'In focusing my attention on this aspect of the theme, I tried to arrive at a corresponding equivalent that I hope in some measure has come through in the forms of my submitted entry.'
</p><p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
Ronald Alley, <em>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</em>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.653-4, reproduced p.653
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</p>
Catalogue entry
2004-09-14T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas figure from recognisable sources government and politics organic persecution political prisoner social comment society triumph