Subject:
New digital archive celebrates forgotten British sculptor
From:
"[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:23:01 -0000

To:
<[log in to unmask]>


Peter King's untimely death at the age of twenty-nine has meant that he 
has been largely omitted from the history of 1950s British art. Now his 
work is being made available to a wider audience, through a digitising 
project carried out by the artist's son, Dr Mike King, at London 
Metropolitan University, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research 
Council.
 
King was undoubtedly a prolific artist whose exceptional talent was 
recognised by Henry Moore, who appointed him as his assistant along with 
Anthony Caro. King was part of a group of artists associated with 
Moore's studio, with the teaching team at St Martin's School of Art, 
with artists living at the Abbey Art Centre in London, and with Victor 
Musgrave's Gallery One in Soho. He received the Boise Travelling 
Scholarship and funding from the BFI for an animated film, and exhibited 
the film and his work across Europe.
 
King's central theme was the human body. It appears, frenzied or still, 
as standing figures, mother-and-child groups, hybrid or masquerade 
figures; rendered in polished wood with fluid curves, in tough cement 
proclaiming its modernity and in the intricate chunky wood carvings that 
are King's signature pieces.
 
That they contain echoes of art as varied as works by Henry Moore, 
Germaine Richier, Javanese shadow puppets and Cycladic marbles marks him 
as a man of the early post-war years whose work is profoundly eloquent 
of that period's doubts, fears and concern with humanity.
 
A sample collection with 51 entries is now available to search online at 
VADS: http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/search.php
 
When published, the full archive will contain over 1,000 entries, giving 
a detailed picture of the life and work of the artist.
 
For more information about the archive, visit: 
http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/PKA.html