Market Woman

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Market Woman by Gerald England as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Market Woman

Image: © Gerald England Taken: 19 Oct 2022

The Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1437357?section=official-list-entry sculpture by Hans Schwarz was commissioned in 1966 by J Seymour Harris and Partners to stand in the contemporary Forum shopping centre precinct. The intriguing statue is of a robust, female Roman-era peasant whose stoical pose contrasts with that of the flapping live hens balanced in a heavy basket on her head. Schwarz explained his thinking behind the sculpture in a letter to a local schoolgirl. He said that he was looking for a realism and wanted the woman "to appear as a tough, hardworking peasant, not a graceful girl". He made a plea against conventional thought, urging her to think honestly and carefully about art. The finish was deliberately rough to give the work a hand-finished appearance, and also to give the impression of age. Schwarz objected to a romantic interpretation of sculpture, which he saw as inappropriate given its location, referring to "a Hadrian of grandeur, who in point of fact based his rule on subjugation of subject races". His sentiment was not shared by the local community at the time who greeted its unveiling with a storm of criticism. Some regarded the sculpture as "shameful" in its blunt portrayal of a working class woman. However, attitudes have softened over time and the sculpture has proved its resilience, remaining an integral feature of central Wallsend. Hans Schwarz (1922-2003) was an Austrian Jewish émigré who was forced to flee Vienna to escape from the rise of Hitler; his father died in Auschwitz. Aged only 16 when he arrived in England, he was interned as an enemy alien. On his release Schwarz trained at Birmingham College of Art. He then worked as a freelance illustrator until 1964 when he became a full-time painter and sculptor. As well as sculpture, Schwarz worked in a wide variety of media, oil, acrylic, watercolour, and even household paint. His paintings are found in many collections; his most frequently seen work is probably a portrait of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery. The sculpture was originally sited on a low brick base, but was moved to its present location in a flower bed to one side of the shopping precinct when the area was redeveloped in 1993.

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Image Location

coordinates on a map icon
Latitude
54.991114
Longitude
-1.533918