Iron Baby

A cast iron sculpture, 'Iron Baby', Edition AP III/III, by Antony Gormley, England, 1999.

Sculptor Antony Gormley modelled this dark compact form on his newborn daughter when she was only six days old. With its arms and legs protectively curled up beneath its hunched body and its head turned to one side, the sculpture evokes both the vulnerability of a tiny sleeping infant and the potential of a new life just beginning.

Iron Baby takes its title from its material, solid cast iron, an unusual material in sculpture. Gormley describes iron, one of the main constituents of the Earth’s core, as ‘concentrated earth’, emphasising this work’s innate power. Because of its density and the energy captured within it, Gormley has called this work a ‘bomb’.

At Gormley’s request, Iron Baby is usually displayed directly on the floor, without a plinth isolating it from surrounding space. It is representative of the sculptor’s focus on the relationship of the human body to space, and invites us to reflect on the place of the human in the world.