The Lure of the Pan Pipes thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery

The Lure of the Pan Pipes

Relief
1932 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a plaster model for a two-sided relief intended as a garden ornament. The artist, Gilbert Bayes, described the group as ‘something between a relief and the round: perhaps a two-sided pierced relief’.

While its subject matter derives from Greek myth, the stylised treatment of the reeds and water recalls ancient Egyptian art. The relief has an Art Deco feel and represents a strand of early 20th-century British sculpture that ran parallel with Modernist style works by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

The original much larger version is currently on loan to the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. It was produced in cement, one of the new and unusual materials that appealed to Bayes. A bronze version is also in the V&A (Museum no. A.3-2004).


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleThe Lure of the Pan Pipes (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Plaster, coloured to resemble bronze
Brief description
Relief, plaster coloured to resemble bronze, 'The Lure of the Pipes of Pan', by Gilbert Bayes, Britain, 1932
Physical description
Plaster two sided relief depicting two water nymphs and a duck, a figure of Pan on the other side, painted to resemble bronze.
Dimensions
  • Height: 48.2cm
  • Width: 28.5cm
  • Depth: 8.8cm
Styles
Credit line
Given by the Gilbert Bayes Charitable Trust
Object history
Given by the Gilbert Bayes Charitable Trust 2004.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a plaster model for a two-sided relief intended as a garden ornament. The artist, Gilbert Bayes, described the group as ‘something between a relief and the round: perhaps a two-sided pierced relief’.

While its subject matter derives from Greek myth, the stylised treatment of the reeds and water recalls ancient Egyptian art. The relief has an Art Deco feel and represents a strand of early 20th-century British sculpture that ran parallel with Modernist style works by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

The original much larger version is currently on loan to the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. It was produced in cement, one of the new and unusual materials that appealed to Bayes. A bronze version is also in the V&A (Museum no. A.3-2004).
Bibliographic reference
Trusted, Marjorie, ed. The Making of Sculpture. The Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture. London: 2007, p. 159, pl. 307
Collection
Accession number
A.4-2004

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Record createdJune 23, 2004
Record URL
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