| Sculpture | Sculpture is any three-dimensional form created as an artistic expression. Sculpture is primarily concerned with space: occupying it, relating to it, and influencing the perception of it. The artist who sculpts is called a sculptor or sculptress. A sculpted object or material has been worked to resemble sculpture either by human hands or by nature. |
More than fifty years after its foundation, Harlow New Town remains a model for urban design. Much of this is due to the inspiration of Sir Frederick Gibberd, the town's Master Planner. Gibberd worked with Sylvia Crowe, the brilliant landscape architect, on Harlow's design and, together, they produced work of the finest quality. But Harlow has an extra dimension. More than any other new town, Harlow is known for its exceptional sculpture collection. Sited throughout the town is a collection of sculptures of national significance. In the main squares and precincts, in numerous public buildings and at several schools, sculptures by artists, both famous and lesser known, are to be found.
 | | Upright Motive No 2 by Henry Moore |
Henry Moore's Family Group looks out from the foyer of the new Civic Centre onto the Water Gardens where Rodin's Eve and Elisabeth Frink's Boar stand. Close by, in the town centre, are works by Ralph Brown, F.E.McWiliam and Lynn Chadwick. Many Harlow people have watched and participated in the installation, unveiling and periodic re-siting of these works. Harlow's sculpture collection has become as much part of the social history and human geography of the town as its housing, public buildings and open spaces. This is largely the result of the work of the Harlow Art Trust. The Harlow Art Trust continues to commission and site sculpture in Harlow. Sir Philip Hendy, Chairman of the Trust and then Director of the National Gallery, was a valuable contact with the art world and arranged the acquisition of the coveted cast of Eve from the Musée Rodin. He was also instrumental in securing what was to be the most important commission of all - Henry Moore's Family Group.
 | | Solo Flight by Antanas Brazdys |
"A few miles north form my home at Perry Green (now the Henry Moore Foundation) is Harlow, and over the last 25 years I have watched it grow from a small scattered rural population to a thriving new town of over 70,000 people. The Placing of sculptures in a town can have a greater significance than just providing a setting for a work of art. As can be seen in Harlow, when sculpture is related to the space in which it stands. Both the sculpture and the scene itself gain." | "The Placing of sculptures in a town can have a greater significance than just providing a setting for a work of art." | | Henry Moore |
Moore was known to several of the Trustees and the idea of approaching him about a possible commission was mooted at the third meeting of the Trust in February 1954. Hendy agreed to ask him. Moore accepted the commission with enthusiasm and suggested making a group 'conceived on human and classical lines' for a site near St Mary-at-Latton Church - a location which the artist knew well as he lived near Harlow in Perry Green. It was certainly a coup for Harlow but it was also a landmark for Moore as an early public commission for an outdoor site. Despite the Trust's preference for a warmer stone, Moore went ahead with his carving in pale Hadene stone. The Trust's apprehensions were well-founded as later the sculpture proved to be highly susceptible to surface marking and vulnerable to atmospheric pollution and weathering. Although commissioned as an outdoor piece it has now been necessary to resite it within the new Civic Centre where it can also be seen from outside.
 | | Trigon by Lynn Chadwick |
Family Group was unveiled on the 17th of May 1956 by the Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain, Sir Kenneth Clark, who congratulated Harlow 'on behalf of all those who believed in civilization - for maintaining the great tradition of urban civilization in making a work of art a focal centre of a new town.' For many people, this sculpture symbolised the universal aspirations of the postwar generation and, as a reviewer for The Times noted, it was quickly adopted by the residents of Harlow: . . . within an hour of its unveiling, the Family had already entered into the life of Harlow. Small boys were getting up on the pedestal, clambering over the woman and taking occupation of the empty place in the man's lap. At one moment, indeed, the family of three had expanded to one of seven. The theme of the family could not have been more appropriate. Known as 'pram town' in the 1950s, Harlow had a birthrate which was three times the national average. Undoubtedly, Family Group provided a readymade and fitting emblem for Harlow and its image was used to illustrate anything to do with the New Town. | 
