sculptural metaphors for the essence of animality

Chadwick learnt to weld in 1950 and in 1953 created Idiomorphic Beast, a web of welded iron rods filled with a substance called Stolit, a mixture of iron powder and gypsum that forms a hard, glassy substance. The spiky, animalistic form won him the sculpture prize when he represented the UK at the 1956 Venice Biennale, beating the Italian artist Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966).