{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O75707"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75707/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV6720/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV6720/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AV6720","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O75707","accessionNumber":"A.1-1981","objectType":"Statue","titles":[{"title":"Mindslave: The Mind in Abject Subordination to the Intellect","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Underwood originally intended his block of marble for a composition called <i>Youth</i>, an idea he abandoned. Partly because of the similarities with Michelangelo's <i>Slaves</i> in the Louvre, Paris, the donor suggested that <i>Mindslave</i> 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, <i>Mindslave</i> 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.'\n\nUnderwood 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.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Underwood, Leon","id":"A7007"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"","id":""},{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Marble","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AV6720"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"21 (VA)","id":"THES49848"},"free":"","case":"WW","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statue","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1934","earliest":"1934-01-01","latest":"1934-12-31"},"association":{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Garth Underwood, son of the artist","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"112","unit":"cm","qualifier":"excluding base","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"450","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"380","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Given by the artist's son, Gareth Underwood, Ruislip, Middlesex in 1981.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Statue, marble, Mindslave: The Mind in Abject Subordination to the Intellect, by Leon Underwood, England, 1934","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bilbey, Diane with Trusted, Marjorie, <u>British Sculpture 1470 to 2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, London, 2002, p. 473, cat. no. 765"},{"reference":{"text":"<i>5th Biennale voor Beeldhouwkunst<i/> Antwerp, Belgium, 1959","id":"AUTH354485"},"details":"no. 99","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Leon Underwood (1890–1977)\r\n<i>Mindslave: The Mind in Abject Subordination to the Intellect</i>\r\n1934, reworked 1948\n\r\nThis 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 <i>Slaves</i> in the figure’s posture and the contrast between rough and smooth.\n\r\nEngland\r\nMarble","date":{"text":"2021","earliest":"2021-01-01","latest":"2021-12-31"}},{"text":"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.","date":{"text":"March 2007","earliest":"2007-03-01","latest":"2007-03-31"}}],"partNumbers":["A.1-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"1","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN4903","2019LT3537","2019LV9214"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-11","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-03","availableToBook":false}}