Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/15 ...

... and so to the sound of much cheering, sighs of relief and the odd muttered "Thank God that's it ..." we reach the last sculpture in 'Beyond Limits' at Chatsworth.

Fortunately we end with a good one, Nijinski Hare ...

It has been sited so that Chatsworth House provides the backdrop ... 

 

... and this provides a great contrast ...

 

I do feel though that it looks as though Nijinski Hare is playing football rather than ballet dancing ...



The slight haziness in the photo above was due to the water vapour drifting across from the Emperor Fountain over my right shoulder.

If you want to visit 'Beyond Limits' this year you'd better hurry ~ it ends tomorrow, Sunday, the 28th October 2012.

I end with Nijinski Hare getting in a cross from the wing dancing off into the autumn night.

 

 I'm not quite finished though. Overall I found this year's 'Beyond Limits' the most disappointing since I first started to view them. Much as I love Barry Flanagan's work you can have too much of a good thing and this year I had too much of Barry's work. Lets hope that next year's 'Beyond Limits' has a little more variety.

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/14 ...

Size matters ! At least when it comes to Barry Flanagan's hares ...

We're down to the penultimate exhibit ~ 'Large Nijinski on Anvil Point' ... 

 

... and I love this ...

I said it was large didn't I ...

 

Here's a question, are these bronze sculptures solid ?

I think they got the positioning of this sculpture right too ~ at the far end of the Canal Pond. At the other end is the house itself ...

 

There this Nijinski Hare stands, balanced on an anvil point ...

 

... dancing ...

 

Excellent.

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/13 ...

A change from the hares ! 

Exhibit No. 13 is Barry Flanagan's 'Bronze Horse' ....

Once again though the 'line that mustn't be crossed' gets in the way and spoils some of the photos ...



Just think how much better the photograph above would have been without the chain and metal pegs.

The horse isn't quite life sized ...



... or even lifelike ...



Even so I rather like this horse ...



You could almost imagine him springing to life.

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/12 ...

'Drummer' is exhibit number 12 in the 'Beyond Limits' exhibition at Chatsworth ...

 

... and with this sculpture a bit more mischief is injected into the exhibition ...



... there's a bit more menace ...



You wouldn't want to mess with this particular hare ...



... would you ?

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/11 ...

Just four more to go after this one. Will this last handful of sculptures save the day ? How many hares will feature ? 

To start the last third of the exhibits we have Empire State with Bowler - Mirrored ... 

 

Once again I am underwhelmed I'm afraid ...



I can see that they're 'fun' ...



... but now the hares look half-starved ...



The position is wrong for them too, in my opinion. They should be in front of a large privet hedge so they contrast with the hedge. Instead they're in front of a busy background ...



I keep wondering if we're supposed to compare them with King Kong ...



... but all I can do is post this final photograph so that you get some idea of the scale of the actual sculptures.

 

I'll never make an art critic ...

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/10 ...

This is a bit more like it !

This is Barry Flanagan's Leaping Hare on Crescent and Bell ... 

We start off with what appears to be where birds perch overnight.

So, moving on swiftly, the tenth exhibit is positioned by Strid Pond at Chatsworth ...



 

This sculpture just seems so lively. The hare seems as though it's running around the garden ...



 

I think the fact I like this is reflected in the number of photos I took and the number of angles I took them from. This sculpture excited me.



 

At one stage he even jumped right over me ...



Probably one of my favourites, if not the favourite, so far.

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/9

OK, before I push my mouse to one side for the evening here's Exhibit No. 9 of the Beyond Limits exhibition at Chatsworth.

It's called Elephant and yes, it's by Barry Flanagan ... 

I rather like where this is positioned too ... there's no clutter surrounding it.



It's in between two lines of rather attractive 'wavy' hedges ...



Is it me or is its tail out of proportion though ?

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/8

Exhibit No. 8 of the Beyond Limits exhibition of Barry Flanagan's work at Chatsworth is Six Foot Leaping Hare on Steel Pyramid.

This one took a bit of time to find. I had the map showing the location of all the exhibits but it was rather tucked away ...



Since my last posting about Barry Flanagan's exhibits I have watched the BBC programme about his work. It's called 'The Man Who Sculpted Hares: Barry Flanagan, A Life' and it is still available on BBC iPlayer for another four days.

Whether you will enjoy it depends on you I think. I did learn that whilst the film was being made by Peter Bach during the last year or so of Barry Flanagan's life the sculptor was suffering from motor neurone disease which had rendered him incapable of speech. He would communicate by writing in a notebook though at one stage when describing his situation he wrote "It's a pisser.".

I took the photograph below through the surrounding bushes ...

 

Peter Bach spoke to many friends of Barry Flanagan one of whom described him as a "maverick". Peter Bach also spoke to a number of people who were looking at the sculptures in different countries ~ the US, the UK and the Belgian/Dutch border amongst them.

He showed some of the film to Barry Flanagan who was seated in a wheelchair and who seemed engrossed by people's reactions to his work.

Towards the end of the film Peter Bach spoke to an Irish sculptor that Barry Flanagan had helped and Peter Bach asked the Irishman if he had ever talked to Barry Flanagan about his hares. The Irishman thought for a moment, and with a smile simply answered "Yes ...".

We never learned why Barry Flanagan seemed so preoccupied with them.

The final photograph is a fairly straightforward image ...

 

Barry Flanagan died in August 2009 in Ibiza where he lived.

Since watching the film I probably like Barry Flanagan's hare just that much more.

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/7

We're nearly half way through ... and the theme is still largely hares.

Exhibit No. 7 is 'Sculler' ...

There is something rather absurd isn't there about a hare in a boat ... but I can see the fun in it ...

  

I went for a reflection initially before getting in a little closer ... and I did wonder whether it is a hare. 



I decided Sculler looks worried, possibly because he finds himself in a boat on the Ring Pond at Chatsworth ...

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/6

Exhibit No. 6 of the Beyond Limits exhibition at Chatsworth [which is still running] is 'Composition' by Barry Flanagan ...

'Composition' didn't inspire me as you may be able to tell from these photos ...

 

 

 

... or perhaps I'm just not quite in the right frame of mind just now.