
Bull
Restoration of the statue
(Next to the bus stop) Danebury Avenue, SW15 4PS
'Bull' is a Grade II* listed sculpture by artist Robert Clatworthy, commissioned as part of the London County Council's post-War Patronage of the Arts Scheme. The sculpture was first created in 1953 as a plaster model and exhibited at Holland Park in 1957, before being cast in bronze in 1959 and installed in its current location in June 1961. The inspiration was a bull in the field next to the sculptor's studio in Sussex: Clatworthy wanted to capture 'the sheer physical power' of the animal. The bronze bull is ten feet long, with its head slightly turned towards the road and its body suggested by irregular random geometric shapes: 'A shaggy, expressionistic figure of a bull that seems about to turn its head; a heroic yet friendly image ... and a study in movement arrested.' Clatworthy wrote, 'in most of my sculpture, you will find a series of super-imposed images - as the light changes or the viewer moves around the sculpture so different images of the same figure emerge.'
Robert Clatworthy {1928 - 2015) was head of the Fine Art Department at the Central School of Art and Design in London from 1971 to 1975, and was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts from 1973. In the 1950s he was among the best-known sculptors in Britain and regarded as the 'best sculptor younger than Henry Moore'.
The Alton Estate in which the statue stands was built between 1954 and 1961 by the LCC and incorporates two adapted 18th century landscapes - of Mount Clare and Downshire House. The grounds of the latter are thought to have been landscaped originally by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. The Bull originally stood in an open grassy landscape in front of one of the blocks of housing, which has since been planted up. The housing blocks of the Alton Estate were the LCC's most ambitious post-War development scheme and were at the time considered 'probably the finest low-cost housing development in the world'.
The restoration of the sculpture involved removal of dirt and spray paint, reduction of corrosion, application of a patination solution to reduce the graffiti. The HOLT grant for the project was supported by the Syncona Foundation. Wandsworth Council will carry out landscaping and public realm works to enhance the setting of the statue.
