Waddington Gallery, London
Sale, Christie's London, 5th December 1996, lot 85, where acquired by the previous owner
Private Collection

London, Waddington Gallery, Barry Flanagan, 31st May - 22nd June 1985, unpaginated, illustrated (another cast);
Tokyo, Fuji Television Gallery, Barry Flanagan, 8th October - 2nd November 1985, cat. no.11, unpaginated, illustrated (another cast);
Cologne, Museum Ludwig, Europe/Amerika, September - November 1986, cat. no.49,  illustrated p.122 (another cast); 
Brussels, Palais des Beaux Arts, Europalia, 5th December 1985 - 26th January 1986 (another cast);
London, Serpentine Gallery, The Vessel, 5th September - 11th October 1987 (another cast);
Clermont-Ferrand, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Aspects de la Sculpture Contemporaine, 5th July - 18th September 1994, cat. no.13, unpaginated, illustrated (another cast).

Barry Flanagan, Sculptures (exh. cat.), Newcastle, Laing Art Gallery, 1987, illustrated p.60 (another cast).      

The hare and ceramic is loose on the bronze base. There is very minor dirt and dust to the crevices, with further traces of surface matter. There are areas of flaking, chipping and loss to the rim of the ceramic element, caused in part by the positioning of the bronze. There appears to be a very tiny hole to the hare's right hand from the casting process. This excepting the work appears in good overall condition. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Thematically the choice of the hare is quite a rich and expressive sort of model; the conventions of the cartoon and the investment of human attributes into the animal world is a very well practiced device, in literature and film etc., and is really quite poignant. And on a practical level, if you consider what conveys situation and meaning and feeling in a human figure, the range of expression is in fact far more limited than the device of investing an animal -a hare especially- with the expressive attributes of a human being. The ears, for instance, are really able to convey far more than a squint in an eye of a figure, or grimace on the face of a model.' (Barry Flanagan, interview with Judith Bumpus, quoted in Barry Flanagan: Prints 1970-1983, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London, 1986, p.15).

This playful hare, with its sensitively rendered gestures, transformed into a potter bent over his wheel, epitomises Flanagan's expressive play with anthropomorphism, which was a major preoccupation throughout his career. The artist's early notebook sketches and etchings of various fowl and house pets experimentally used animals as vehicles for the direct and economical display of human attributes, but it was not until this interest coincided with Flanagan's return to bronze casting in 1979 that the theme took on primary focus in his work.  This change also marked a departure from the abstract and theoretical 'soft forms' of the 1960s and 1970s, as the latter part of Flanagan's career was dominated by representational work. Especially in his Hares, Flanagan sought to push the definitional boundaries of figurative art and expand upon established rhetorical modes.

Flanagan cast the first hares in 1979. The animal held an important place in his own imagination, but Flanagan was also intrigued by the significant position of the hare within the wider cultural context. He was particularly affected by The Leaping Hare by George Ewart Evans and David Thomson, which was first published in 1972. This study delves into various cultures' legends and mythologies, touching on the hare's metaphorical and symbolic significance throughout history. The Egyptians and Chinese associated the hare with the concept of life itself, and the animal has been a symbol of volatility, rebirth, and renewal. In an interview on BBC Radio, Flanagan explained how he became fascinated with these notions: 'The fact that the hare, culturally, has a particular sort of place in the imagination; I share this. And having sighted the hare, on the last big snows, bounding quite relaxedly, East to West by the Sussex Downs, it's very nice to know that friends have all stood around one of these bronze hares produced, and they've decided that the anatomy is a complement to the mind's eye of appreciation of the lilt or run of this leaping hare, which is very gratifying' (Barry Flanagan, Kaleidoscope BBC Radio 4, January 1982).