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High Street West, WALLSEND, NE28 8HU

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.

Set in the arcade of the Hunter Memorial Hall, the war memorial and the hall were erected in “memory of members of the staff and workmen of Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. who fell in the Great War 1914-18”. The war memorial, by sculptor Roger Hedley, which was unveiled on the 15th August 1925, contains, to either side, bronze life size figures of a seaman and a gunner, with rifles reversed, and, as stated in the 1992 edition of Nikolaus Pevsner's book, 'The Buildings of England Northumberland', "has particularly appealing industrial scenes in low relief". The Hunter Memorial Hall and the War Memorial are Grade II Listed. For a selection of detailed free to download walking routes in the area visit www.northtynesidewalks.co.uk

This statue stands in The Forum Shopping Centre in Wallsend. Construction of the centre commenced in the late 1950s after the clearance of old houses, a cinema and a pub.

This is the eye catching 'Market Woman' by artist and sculptor Hans Schwartz. Born in Vienna in 1922, Schwartz was orphaned as a teenager when his father died in Auschwitz concentration camp. Eventually settling in England, he became a full time artist in 1964 and was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint the portraits of Nikolaus Pevsner, Joe Gormley and Tom Jackson. The 'Market Woman' was installed in 1966 and Schwartz wanted her to "appear as a tough hardworking peasant and not a graceful girl". At the time of unveiling the work was greeted by a storm of criticism. These days the bronze work is much better loved and deservedly so. This poem, which first appeared in the 2019 book, 'Tyne Anew Celebrating Public Art in North Tyneside', was inspired by this sculpting: DO THEY SEE YOU STANDING THERE: FOR HANS SCHWARZ (MARKET WOMAN) 1 Market Woman Do they see you standing there in that busy forum trading your quartet of squabbling hens a bare-footed peasant trapped in an alien world. Do they know whose nimble hands cupped those ample breasts gave shape and form whose fingers moulded those strong broad hips. Do they know whose rough-hewn bronze penetrates the heart of this northern town. 2 Artist Do they know, the shoppers and the snackers the gamblers and the drinkers the skateboarders and the home-heading workers that Austria was your motherland Vienna once your home. Do they know that your father died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The poem was written by Geoff Holland For a selection of detailed free to download walking routes in the area visit www.northtynesidewalks.co.uk

Built as a memorial to the employees of Swan Hunter who lost their lives in World War I.

Interior towards the great east window Image The outside of the church is shown here Image Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Luke%27s_Church,_Wallsend

'Crucifixion' by Wilhelmina Geddes (1922) - a memorial to the men of the parish killed in the First World War. 'One of the top ten best stained glass windows in the world.' 'One of the finest windows north of the Alps'. 'Of exceptional high quality and having a far deeper glow and colour and a far more violent expression than by any other artists of that time anywhere else in the country.' (Nikolaus Pevsner). 'To see this Geddes is to recognise, like scales falling from the eyes, that nothing quite matches the highest quality stained glass for intensity of artistic experience. I stared at and absorbed it for a good ten minutes. Only a personal visit can suffice, photographs cannot convey the way it commands the whole interior.' (Mathew Saunders). The Irish stained glass artist Image, Wilhelmina Geddes (1887–1955) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_Geddes was described as ‘the greatest stained glass artist of our time’ (Times obituary 1955) Wallsend Local History Society - Tower of Glass http://www.wallsendhistory.btck.co.uk/Campaign/Articles Times Higher Education - Wilhelmina Geddes: Life and Work, by Nicola Gordon Bowe https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/review-wilhelmina-geddes-nicola-gordon-bowe-four-courts-press