The new bronze age

A talking point that can inspire passions and transform a landscape, large-scale sculpture is increasingly valued by modern collectors. Anna Tyzack meets the artists bringing grand visions to life

- Anna Tyzack

WITH its swirling horns and omniscient gaze, David Williams-Ellis's 26ft bronze ram will be seen from several fields away. The sculpture, which he created for a collector during lockdown and is now waiting to be cast, is one of many larger-than-life bronze pieces being installed in private gardens and public collections. There has never been a better time to be a sculptor or a foundry,' maintains Alexander Lumsden, an art historian for Bronze Age London, a foundry that has cast works by Antony Gormley. 'People are realising the value that sculpture can bring: it's a talking point; it engages people; it activates space.'

Helaine Blumenfeld, who shared a show with Henry Moore back in the 1980s and whose 16ft bronze Metamorphosis is now in situ at Canary Wharf, London E14, agrees that Britain is in the throes of a bronze renaissance, precipitated by the pandemic. During lockdown, she received emails from members of the public telling her that her sculpture spoke to them. 'Never in my 50-year career have I got so much response; sculpture gives us access to our emotions in a way no other art form does,' says Mrs Blumenfeld.

Mr Lumsden has noted a resurgence in figurative bronzes produced in the age-old lost-wax method, where a metal duplicate of the original clay (or plaster) is cast from a mould created using a wax model, which melts away before casting. He's also seeing more works created digitally using three-dimensional printing processes. 'At foundries, you get to witness the sculptural zeitgeist first hand,' he explains. For a new generation of collectors, bronze resonates: it makes you feel something, it handles being outdoors and you only have to touch it to feel how precious it is.'