Reconstruction of Vladimir Tatlin's 'Complex Corner Relief, 1915'

Martyn Chalk began his reconstructions in 1966 after persuasion from his late friend and art dealer Annely Juda, who mentioned to Chalk the lack of Tatlin originals and requested he assemble some replicas of his lost era for her gallery. Chalk accepted the request and proceeded with a project that was to conclude 30 years later. Chalk was originally under instruction but soon assumed it his own practice, his research developed personal aesthetic choice through the restoration of another's misplaced practice. Many of Chalks Relief reproductions are single entities from 1913/14 but one piece in particular, Complex Corner relief, 1915 has been replicated more than once during the process. Chalk formulated an edition of five replicas between 1966-1994 displaying replication integral to his practice of sculpture: "History is not data but conquest, renewed in time and space by a thorough knowledge, unceasingly continued, unceasingly supplemented" (N. Leleu, "The Model of Vladimir Tatlin's Monument to the Third International: Reconstruction as an Instrument of Research and States of Knowledge", Tate Papers, https://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/). Chalk's reconstructions can be witnessed as an historical product made in a particular context. His sculptures are not copies or reproductions as such, they are the reinterpretation of a missing era represented by the artists own natural continuation of his working practice, artistic commitment and aesthetic judgment.

Other examples of this work are held in the Australian National Gallery and the Greek State Museum of Contemporary Art.