04 July 2007

Art at Bethnal Green

Beside the chair are simply-carved boats with peggy people to put in them -These puppet heads are portraits of Elizabeth, Petra, Joanna and Gordian, children of Eric Gill (sculptor, typographer, engraver - one of the most colourful figures of 20th century art) - made for them byartist, poet, novelist David Jones, who was a friend of the family.
And below is part of The Childhood Cube by Sarah Raphael
An article in 2001, when the artist died, said: "This is a huge vitrine divided up into about 200 separate little cubes. Only glass - sometimes coloured glass - divides one cube-room from another, so you can peer into, and through and through, with the result that the whole thing becomes a kind of never-ending children's story. Raphael got children to model little scenes for many of these rooms, and she uses some of them as the basis for her own ideas. This is pure, childlike Outsider Art, albeit of a fairly graceful, tasteful and unthreateningly charming kind. A tiny clay lion with spiky hair as thick as an iron bar prowls through a jungle of stiff, brilliantly green grass. In another cube- room, there's a wonky table, a lurching TV, and a huge container of popcorn made out of felt and Plasticine. It's rather reminiscent of Calder's Circus."

1 comment:

PaMdora said...

Hi Margaret, that kid's museum looks so awesome. If I ever get to London, I'd love to visit. Thanks for the pix.