Bernard Meadows

Pointing Figure with Child on display at Churchill College, Cambridge

Bernard Meadows (born 19 February 1915, Norwich, England; died 12 January 2005, London) was a British modernist sculptor. Meadows was part of the Geometry of Fear school,^[1] a loose-knit group of British sculptors whose prominence was established at the 1952 Venice Biennale.^[2]

Early life

He was educated at the City of Norwich School and Norwich School of Art and became Henry Moore's first assistant. In the Second World War he initially registered as a conscientious objector, but when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941 he withdrew his objection. He was called up to the Royal Air Force and served in the Cocos Islands.

Career

After the war he found acclaim. His Elm figure for the 1951 Festival of Britain went to the Tate. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale a year later. He exhibited from New York City to Tokyo and produced a stream of public and private art in Britain and beyond. His edgy pieces often based on animals and seemingly carved from shrapnel could imply Cold War menace. But teaching commitments came at the expense of his own work. He returned to assist Moore from 1977 and continued to help his mentor's estate. He became Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art London between 1960 and 1980.

Public sculpture

Meadows' work titled Public Sculpture, a controversial assembly of stone blocks and balls of dripping and dimpled metal, was commissioned for the Eastern Daily Press in 1968 at Prospect House, Norwich.^[3] The sculpture is on permanent display outside the building together with prints and drawings in the Prospect House foyer. Also on display an illustrated panel telling the story of Bernard Meadows and Public Sculpture.

References

1. by critic Herbert Read
2. Peter Davies, Independent Obituaries, 17 January 2005
3. Eastern Daily Press news item Retrieved 19 May 2011