Stevenage sculpture | The Family Group by Henry Moore - Stevenage 75th anniversary magazine | biz4Biz - Magazine - Page 32
Stevenage sculpture | The Family Group by Henry Moore
Art
STEVENAGE SCULPTURE
The first notable sculpture in
Stevenage was The Family Group
by Henry Moore, commissioned
after the Second World War for one
of the first new schools, now called
Barclay Academy. It is insured for
£20 million, making it the jewel in
Hertfordshire County Council’s art
collection.
Fun sculptures by Simon Axford
Jones were created during his
time as Stevenage Development
Corporation’s town artist in the
1970s. He returned to Stevenage 40
years later to oversee their restoration
in 2016.
One of the best known and best
loved sculptures is the Polar Bear
by Mark Harvey, there is a picture of
him carving it in 1963. It has been in
several locations before its cleaning
and installation at The Glebe in 2011.
Most of his local work was made of
wood, and commissioned in the 1960s
by Gordon Patterson, Stevenage
Development Corporation’s landscape
architect. Not expected to survive
more than 10 – 15 years without
annual maintenance, the donkey
and the fish gave great pleasure to
local children and were intended
as a contrast to hard buildings and
landscape.
Franta Belsky’s bronze Grade II listed
sculpture, “Joyride”, has become the
symbol for Stevenage. Commissioned
by Stevenage Development Corporation,
it was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant
of Hertfordshire, the Honourable David
Bowes Lyon, in 1958.
More recently, David Harber’s stainless
steel “Sundial” was installed in the town
centre in 1999. It was presented by the
developers Richardson Condwell and
includes latitude and longitude directions
towards Stevenage’s twin towns. David
Harber has won several awards at the
Chelsea Flower Show.
In 2012 Stevenage Borough Council
architects replaced the old raised beds
with brightly coloured stainless steel
columns in the courtyard of The Living
Room, the local centre for addiction
rehabilitation.
[CAT], BY DENNIS HEATH
Knebworth House
FAMILY GROUP, BY HENRY MOORE
Barclay School, Walkern Road
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[NAMELESS ABSTRACT], BY JOSE DE ALBERDI
The Forum