When the school was built, the
statue was one of the most controversial aspects
of the design. It was a bit modern for
the mid-50s. It depicted three youths balancing
on each other in order to reach a higher level -
very appropriate for a brand new school
determined to set itself a high standard. I guess
that most Poundswickians got quite attached to it
over the years.
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rather controversial, it often had fun
poked at it as in this rendition by Frank
Mitchell, the Art Master, of the
programme for the School Sports Day in
1958. The statue
was certainly absolutely unique to
Poundswick. Now that it has gone, lots of
questions spring to mind: Who
commissioned it? Who sculpted it? What
happened to it?
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The statue was commissioned by
the Manchester Education Committee and under
funding terms of that era the Committee was
permitted, at its discretion, to use up to 0.5%
of the school's capital budget for art works. It
was decided to commission an outdoor sculpture
for Poundswick and the sculptor Maurice Lambert
was approached, but his idea of a human figure
holding a bowl was not considered suitable.
Eventually a committee, whose members included S.
D. Cleveland, Director of Manchester City Art
Gallery, John Holden, Principal of Manchester
regional College of Art and Leonard Howitt, the
City Architect, decided to commission a work from
the York-based sculptor, Austin Wright.
Austin Wright
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Austin
Wright was born in Chester in 1911 and
spent his childhood and youth in Wales.
From school in Cardiff and Somerset he
went up to Oxford to read Modern
Languages and subsequently trained to be
a schoolmaster, teaching French, German,
Maths and Art in Malvern, Tunbridge Wells
and York. He became interested in
sculpture in his twenties but it was not
until he was 44 that he was able to
pursue this interest full-time. During
his sculpting career he worked in a wide
range of materials, including wood,
stone, terracotta, lead, plaster,
concrete and aluminium. |
Poundswick's sculpture was of
concrete and fibreglass and it comprised
three skeletal figures, two of whom were
being supported by the third; they were
intended to symbolise the vitality of
youth. Wright called the work Acrobats
and it was one of his first large
public commissions.
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Like
many of his larger works, he
preceded it with a much smaller maquette
to help him formulate his ideas
and to get a feel for the
subject. Here's the one for Acrobats.
It was made of wire and plaster
and stood but sixteen inches
tall. By no means all of Wright's
works are of human figures but
many of those that are, have the
block-like head which, despite
the different natures of the
sculptures makes them
unmistakably Wright's work. |
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| It was only after the
school had opened that Acrobats appears
to have attracted wider public attention.
Some councillors expressed concern about
the commissioning process and also about
the cost, which was £800. Modern
sculpture in the setting of a modern
school did not suit all tastes and one
critical councillor described the work as
being "like a well-plucked turkey
standing on its tail end". Turkey or not, Acrobats
graced Poundswick's grounds for over 20
years and generations of Old
Poundswickians doubtless remember it with
more or less affection. The very nature
of its construction inevitably tempted a
few of the more agile, bold and
mischievous pupils to climb it, despite
this being absolutely forbidden. Tales of
items of ladies' underwear and even a
member of staff's bicycle being hung from
its upper limbs have passed into
Poundswick folklore but in the main these
were no more than occasional harmless
pranks.
Sadly, however, the
statue suffered serious and deliberate
vandalism during the late 70s and it was
dismantled sometime in late 1977 or early
1978; I trust the vandals are proud of
their achievement. Its remains were
stored for a while in Kinsey's Cottage
but no-one seems certain what happened to
it then. Certainly no-one seems to have
cared and, like Kinsey's Cottage itself, Acrobats
eventually passed, un-loved, into
oblivion. For some years the vacant
plinth remained and the drained pond
assumed the role of a receptacle for
discarded crisp packets and drinks cans.
Eventually the pond was filled in and
slabbed over in an attempt to tidy up
this desecrated corner of the school
grounds.
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Regular visitors to the
Poundswick website will be aware that this page
previously mistakenly attributed the statue to
the local sculptress Mitzi Cunliffe and I
apologise to relatives of both Mitzi Cunliffe and
Austin Wright for making this error. The truth
emerged when I was contacted by Terry Wyke,
Senior Lecturer in History at Manchester
Metropolitan University, and I am grateful to
Terry for permitting me to quote from his book
about public sculpture in Manchester. Terry also
brought to my attention James Hamilton's
excellent book The Sculpture of Austin Wright
and I would like to thank James, and Austin's
widow, Susan, for permission to reproduce
photographs and text from it.
| It is,
however, perhaps appropriate to record
here that Mitzi Cunliffe was
commissioned by the M.E.C. to create a
sculpture for a school in Wythenshawe and
that the result of her endeavour, unlike Acrobats,
survives to this very day. The school in queston is the
erstwhile West Wythenshawe Technical
School, now known as Brookway High
School. The sculpture, of a man holding a
torch, is situated in a prominent
position in front of the school and is
readily visible to anyone passing along
Altrincham Road.
Not discernible in this
photo are inscriptions on the two
pillars. The right-hand is inscribed
"Mitzi Cunliffe sculpsit" and
the left-hand "MCMLVII" (1957).
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Back to Acrobats,
this photograph, the only one we have in
colour, shows its position in the centre
of the ornamental pool adjacent to the
school hall. It was taken by Mr. W. H.
Nicholson (staff, 1957-82) in the early
sixties. Inside the hall you can just
make out the bamboo canes at the front of
the stage and also the original 1950s
chairs with fabric seats and backs. |
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Having
digressed somewhat onto the subject of
chairs, here's a photo of one. This
particular example is not the genuine
Poundswick article but is, as far as I
can recall, identical to it. You don't
see them very often these days; I came
across this one in the crypt of
Gloucester Cathedral! |
| Conundrum Take a look at this
photo. Notice anything strange
about it? If in doubt, compare it
with the one on the Poundswick
Images page entitled Enjoying
the summer sun, sixties style,
which was taken in 1963 from
almost exactly the same spot.
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Yes, you're right - there's
no statue! So when was this photo
taken? From what's written on this page
you might assume that it was taken in the
late 70s or early 80s, after the statue's
demise, but you'd be wrong; this photo
appeared on page 19 of the Spring 1962
edition of ARGO.
And it shows a bike in the original
bike sheds. Note also that the tree on
the left is considerably smaller than in
the 1963 photo; this photo is much
older.
In his book, James
Hamilton asserts that Austin Wright
recorded that Acrobats was not placed
until 1957. I assumed that Wright must
have got the date wrong and James
Hamilton admitted that this was a
possibility, but this photograph makes me
wonder if he was right.
What we need is an Old
Poundswickian from the 1956 intake with a
sharp memory to tell us whether or not
the statue was in place when the school
opened in September 1956. If not, when did
it arrive? It was certainly in place by
September 1957.
O.K., problem solved!
Robert Senior (1956-63) e-mailed in January 2006 to
say he clearly remembers that when he started at
Poundswick in 1956 there was no statue and that it
arrived during a holiday - probably the summer holiday
of 1957, which fits in exactly with the above.
When the school re-opened in September 1957 I remember
a fire-and-brimstone speech from Hutch warning of
torture worse than death to anyone getting within
spitting distance of the statue. I assumed at
the time that this warning (which was given to the
whole school) was for the benefit of the new intake,
but it was clearly for everyone!
If you have have any
other memories of the statue that you
think would be of interest, let's hear
from you.
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