The sculptor Lynn Chadwick, CBE, was first encouraged to pursue a more practical career as an architect. “What it taught me was how to compose things, a formal exercise in composition,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the building it represents.” He soon became dissatisfied with the work and trained with the Royal Navy as a draughtsman during the Second World War. At this time, he began to craft his first mobiles of wood and wire, which he approached in architectural terms. Chadwick subverted the traditional sculptural process, opting to start from abstraction. He later imbued his figures with movement. A new exhibition at Houghton Hall presents some of his rarely shown works among more famous sculptures, such as pieces from his “Couple” series. The 30 sculptures gathered here comprise the largest showing of Chadwick’s work in the two decades since his death in 2003. —Maggie Turner