Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 21, The Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries

Mindslave: The Mind in Abject Subordination to the Intellect

Statue
1934 (carving)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Underwood originally intended his block of marble for a composition called Youth, an idea he abandoned. Partly because of the similarities with Michelangelo's Slaves in the Louvre, Paris, the donor suggested that Mindslave attempts to symbolise the struggle to escape from the mental repression prevalent in the totalitarianism of many regimes in Central Europe during the early 1930s. In a Golden Cockerell Press publication of 1934, artists were asked to write a sermon based on a biblical text, which would express their attitude towards life. Underwood contributed one on the Garden of Eden, in which he wrote: 'Our Garden of Eden would be more readily accessible were we equipped with more of the will of the followers of Gandhi from the dark labyrinths of industrial commercialism that threaten us from the West.' In the light of Underwood's pamphlet of 1934, Mindslave might also be viewed as a representation of the limitations imposed on the artist by aesthetic dogma: 'If the future is to hold for him further liberation from the bondage of this earth, it can be secured only by his intuition and imagination.'

Underwood studied at the Polytechnic, Regent Street, London in 1907 before going to the Royal College of Art in 1910. In 1913 he travelled in Europe and then attended the Slade in 1919-20. According to a completed questionnaire sent out by Kineton Parkes in about 1926, Underwood explained that at this date (1926) he had only recently begun to carve.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMindslave: The Mind in Abject Subordination to the Intellect (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Marble
Brief description
Statue, marble, Mindslave: The Mind in Abject Subordination to the Intellect, by Leon Underwood, England, 1934
Dimensions
  • Height: 112cm (excluding base)
  • Width: 450mm
  • Depth: 380mm
Gallery label
  • Leon Underwood (1890–1977) Mindslave: The Mind in Abject Subordination to the Intellect 1934, reworked 1948 This work’s title alludes to Underwood’s belief in the importance of intuition over intellect. He later said the work symbolised the struggle to escape mental repression in totalitarian regimes. The figure’s abstracted form is inspired by African and pre-Colombian art. It also recalls Michelangelo’s Slaves in the figure’s posture and the contrast between rough and smooth. England Marble(2021)
  • Inspired by Michelangelo's unfinished Captive Slaves in the Louvre, this work symbolises the struggle to escape from the mental repression in many regimes in Central Europe during the early 1930s. The smooth carving of much of the figure contrasts with the small area of marble left deliberately rough at the base.(March 2007)
Credit line
Given by Garth Underwood, son of the artist
Object history
Given by the artist's son, Gareth Underwood, Ruislip, Middlesex in 1981.
Summary
Underwood originally intended his block of marble for a composition called Youth, an idea he abandoned. Partly because of the similarities with Michelangelo's Slaves in the Louvre, Paris, the donor suggested that Mindslave attempts to symbolise the struggle to escape from the mental repression prevalent in the totalitarianism of many regimes in Central Europe during the early 1930s. In a Golden Cockerell Press publication of 1934, artists were asked to write a sermon based on a biblical text, which would express their attitude towards life. Underwood contributed one on the Garden of Eden, in which he wrote: 'Our Garden of Eden would be more readily accessible were we equipped with more of the will of the followers of Gandhi from the dark labyrinths of industrial commercialism that threaten us from the West.' In the light of Underwood's pamphlet of 1934, Mindslave might also be viewed as a representation of the limitations imposed on the artist by aesthetic dogma: 'If the future is to hold for him further liberation from the bondage of this earth, it can be secured only by his intuition and imagination.'

Underwood studied at the Polytechnic, Regent Street, London in 1907 before going to the Royal College of Art in 1910. In 1913 he travelled in Europe and then attended the Slade in 1919-20. According to a completed questionnaire sent out by Kineton Parkes in about 1926, Underwood explained that at this date (1926) he had only recently begun to carve.
Bibliographic references
  • Bilbey, Diane with Trusted, Marjorie, British Sculpture 1470 to 2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2002, p. 473, cat. no. 765
  • 5th Biennale voor Beeldhouwkunst Antwerp, Belgium, 1959 no. 99
Collection
Accession number
A.1-1981

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Record createdMarch 3, 2003
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