| |
Attack on green space
• YOUR article about the sculpture, The Neighbours by Siegfried Charoux, on the Highbury Quadrant estate, which requires repair, did not mention Charoux’s most prominent, albeit temporary, work in the UK (Estate pleads: Save our statue, December 12).
His colossal family group, The Islanders, which formed part of the Sea and Ships Pavilion designed by Basil Spence, was one of the most spectacular features of the Festival of Britain exhibition on the South Bank in 1951.
The whole Highbury Quadrant estate is a fine example of the kind of ‘green’ urban planning that was current in the 1950s but is under attack in Islington, for example in the Barnsbury estate, where the green spaces are currently being built on.
Another legacy from that era, Ashmount School, whose architect, HT Cadbury-Brown, played a major role in the Festival of Britain, is under threat of closure, with the prospect of its being rebuilt – you guessed it – on Metropolitan Open Land.
Cadbury-Brown’s role at the Festival included the placing of sculptures and design of their settings. He went on to teach in the sculpture department of the Royal College of Art, and employed one of his students there, John Willats, to produce the astonishing cockerel sculpture on the boundary wall of Ashmount School.
Willats later wrote a book, Making Sense of Children’s Drawings, and other important texts (he died in 2006). One would have thought cultural links of that kind could be a valuable educational tool in raising the standards of Islington schools.
JAMES DUNNETT
James Dunnett Architects
Barnsbury Road, N1
|
 |
|
|
Your comments:
I HAVE a comment and a question - I can't believe that the sculpture in front of Ashmount School is by Charoux, as I passed it each day as a school girl.
I have two water colours by Charoux, and I would like to know where else I might be able to see his work in this country.
Many thanks,
Ann RD
|
| |
| |
