Introduction
Peter King was a controversial but now largely forgotten British sculptor of the 1950's. He died very young, but was poised to become one of the UK's foremost sculptors. He had worked for Henry Moore, had been given one-man shows by Victor Musgrave at Gallery One in London, had exhibited in Paris and Rome, and had work purchased by many private collectors as well as the Arts Council and the Contemporary Arts Society of Great Britain. This Web site is dedicated to his memory, and to the purpose of restoring his work to its rightful place in the history of postwar British sculpture.
Peter King in his studio at the Abbey Art Centre, circa 1955
`Man with Cloak' Wood, 120 x 80 x 25 cm
Endorsements
Sir Anthony Caro: "In the 1950's Peter King was undoubtedly one of the most forward-looking and inventive artists working in England."
"--- a real loss to English sculpture."
Alan Davie: "--- his art lives in the timeless sphere of the best creative things of our time."
Frank Martin: "A public showing of Peter's works would undoubtedly help fill an important historical passage in British sculpture … His untimely death obscured his importance in the setting."
Art Critics
C.A.Burland (Art News and Review): "The technique in wood is full of understanding of its possibilities. The results are not beautiful, nor are they intended to be so, but they arouse thought and present problems which they answer in themselves."
James Burr (Art News and Review): "Complex in design and device they are never ornamental, but speak in a firm, clear, durable language that is never fustian or prolix. Nor is it artfully contrived for effect without plastic validity; hence this attitude is no antiquarians' backward glance, but an expressive renewal."
Obituary in the Times
(Victor Musgrave): "All his best work, much of which was done under unusual difficulties, reflected the warmth of his nature; it expressed the rich variety of an inquiring mind, imbued at times with great dignity, or tinged occasionally with a delightful sense of humour. He was one of those rare people of whom it can truly be said that to know him was to love him."
All Enquiries
Mike King, 13 Spanby Road, Bow, London E3 4EW
Tel/fax: 020 7515 4583
email: mike@jnani.org
Monotype, 73 x 48 cm
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Introduction ** Biography ** Events
The Collection ** Sculptures ** Miniatures
Prints ** Film ** Links