Wednesday 26 March 2014

Horton House, Meadow Road SW8

Peter Peri, the sculptor who executed this charming group of a mother playing ring o'roses with her children about 1952, made a long journey as an artist from a stonemason's apprentice in Hungary, becoming an Expressionist before the First World War, flirting with Constructivism between the Wars and ending up as a figurative sculptor. It reflected his political journey through left-wing activism to Communism and back - as the true enormity of Stalin's regime became clear, turned his back on ideology and became a Quaker, devoting his energies to bringing accessible art to the lives of ordinary people.
Which is what he does at Horton House. The medium is concrete applied wet to metal mesh secured to the wall, a system that appealed to him (he was perpetually skint) and to Lambeth Borough Council, who had no money either. 
The use of colours brings the composition vividly to life.
Note the sensitively-located security light, the sort of thing that happens when a work is not listed.

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