Bronze
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/mark-gertler-1156" aria-label="More by Mark Gertler" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Mark Gertler</a>
Acrobats
Purchased 1951
acrobat
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
arts and entertainment
circus
leisure and pastimes
male
man
music and entertainment
nudes
people
standing
supporting
suspended
work and occupations
<p>Gertler began to sculpt in the autumn of 1916. He temporarily ceased painting, and on 13 September 1916 started a small plasticine model of 'Acrobats'. A few days later he made the two figures out of clay, using the small plasticine model as his guide. It is not known when this unique bronze cast was made. By November Gertler was making a carving of his painting 'Merry-Go-Round' but this does not seem to have survived. And in January he made a wood carving of 'Acrobats'. He wrote to his friend Richard Carline of his reasons for making sculpture: 'it is a natural and necessary development and it is real pleasure that makes me do it.'</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
sculpture bronze
1 February 2001 – 2 June 2003
2003-06-02
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2001-02-01
Modern British Art II
Collection based display
25 May 2012 – 24 September 2012
2012-09-24
25 May 2012 – 24 September 2012
2012-09-24
2012-05-25
Centre Pompidou, Metz (Metz, France)
2012-05-25
1917
Loan-out
12 February 2018 – 21 October 2018
2018-10-21
12 February 2018 – 21 October 2018
2018-10-21
2018-02-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2018-02-12
Mark Gertler
Collection based display
Acrobats
object: 597 × 419 × 375 mm
Purchased 1951
<p>Gertler began to <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>sculpt</span></a> in the autumn of 1916. He temporarily ceased <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>, and on 13 September 1916 started a small plasticine model of 'Acrobats'. A few days later he made the two figures out of clay, using the small plasticine model as his guide. It is not known when this unique <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/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>cast</span></a> was made. By November Gertler was making a carving of his painting 'Merry-Go-Round' but this does not seem to have survived. And in January he made a wood carving of 'Acrobats'. He wrote to his friend Richard Carline of his reasons for making sculpture: 'it is a natural and necessary development and it is real pleasure that makes me do it.'</p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06033</b> ACROBATS 1917
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Bronze, 23 1/2×16 1/2×14 3/4 (59·5×42×37·5), including bronze base, 1 (2·5) high.
<br/>Purchased from the Leicester Galleries (Knapping Fund) 1951.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Probably given by the artist's widow to his sister-in-law Mrs J. Gertler, who sold it to Rex de C. Nan Kivell.
<br/><i>Exh:</i>London Group, April–May 1917 (94).
<br/><i>Lit:</i>
Aldous Huxley (ed.), <i>The Letters of D. H. Lawrence</i>, 1932, p.403.</p>
<p>That this work was completed by 1 April 1917 can be established from the letters written to the artist by D. H. Lawrence. This is the only known <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>cast</span></a>. It is clear from other letters written by D. H. Lawrence to Gertler that he was working at <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> during the winter of 1916–17 and, though no other work is known to exist, there is a reference to a wood carving in a letter of 9 February 1917 (<i>op. cit.</i>, p.397).</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
acrobat actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults arts and entertainment circus leisure and pastimes male man music and entertainment nudes people standing supporting suspended work and occupations