Elan Vital in the Work of Michael Pennie: or Coming to Life
in Corsham

Made in Corsham is an exhibition of wooden constructions and loosely figurative carvings that were made by Michael Pennie at his studio in Pound Pill, near Corsham Court, in the 1970s. Recently polished and made ready for public display, these works offer a glimpse into an early period of his artistic production; a period characterized by joyous invention and delight in the making. Pennie says, ‘Whatever view I had of them when I made them, I have a different view now. I think they are wonderful and … surprising.’

On paying attention to this cluster of sculptural forms, one can detect a movement in Pennie’s methods and concerns; for example, from making plank and laminate constructions (see ‘Unique 1973’) towards carving lumps of wood (see ‘Blue Beech 1974’). One can also detect a shift from the presentation of abstract forms to an open engagement with figurative content or symbolic imagery. ‘Good Morning World 1981’, for instance, is an imagist carving that demonstrates a strong sense of vitality and renewed lust for life. Indeed, it speaks of a meaningful personal encounter in the course of Pennie’s life (as well as an ongoing preoccupation with ‘the prop’ and the frontal elevation within sculpture and its discourses).

In this way, Made in Corsham can be encountered as an embodiment of Henri Bergson’s ‘elan vital’, whereby the body of the artist is placed at the centre of creative action, providing the viewer with objects and perceptions that are mindful of the ‘original impetus to life’. Made in Corsham captures this involuntary movement or life force through the means of sculptural form in a way that, as Bergson surmises, ‘affirms the reality of spirit and the reality of matter, and tries to define the relation of one to the other by the study of definite example’. It is a study of the creative impulse.