RSA Scottish Art
Clown and Atom Bomb
 | Artist: Thomas Whalen |
| Title: Clown and Atom Bomb | |
| Year: c. 1965 | |
| Medium: highland marble | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © the artist’s family | |
| Description: Tom Whalen worked on both large-scale commissions and small individual pieces throughout his career, including this work. Clown and Atom Bomb is a small sculpture measuring 40 cm high. Carved from a water-smoothed piece of Portsoy marble (like a large pebble), Whalen has cut into the surface to describe the piece but without interfering with the overall shape and surface quality of the stone. This may be why the face is flattened and shallow; the sculptor did not have significant depth within the unworked stone to carve a deeply rendered face.The mid-1960s, when this piece was created, was an uncertain time, with the threat of nuclear war never far away. The Cold War, which reached its peak with the Cuban Missile Crisis, created great fear and paranoia about the end of the world. This sculpture refers to these fears by showing a grinning clown with an atomic mushroom cloud in his hands. It is as though the most foolish and idiotic of characters actually controls the destiny of the world. A clown is also quite a sinister figure, and in other cultures a joker or trickster can be a dangerous individual with magical powers. This sculpture may also reflect the concern during the Cold War that one or two very powerful men have the power to destroy the world even by mistake. The execution of the piece displays how a variety of textures and carving techniques have been used. Lines have been incised, textured areas have been created by mottling the surface with small pits, while other areas have been smoothed and polished to a glossy surface. | |
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