London statue made by Czechoslovak Jewish refugee to undergo renovation
A famous London avant-garde sculpture created by Karel Vogel, a Jewish refugee from Czechoslovakia, is set to undergo a major renovation. The concrete figure of a reclining woman, considered to be one of London’s most important pieces of modernist sculptures, was in urgent need of repair.
‘The Leaning Woman’, located in London’s district of Hammersmith, is the work of Karel Vogel, who was forced to flee Czechoslovakia in 1938.
The semi-naked figure, nearly twice life size, appears to float, despite being cast in concrete around a metal armature. The statue was part of a post-War programme to bring art to Londoners and also to thank locals for the disruption caused by the Great West Road.
Over the decades, however, the concrete started to cracked and the internal structure got rusty, putting the whole structure at risk. The Heritage of London Trust has now raised more than 50,000 pounds to fund its renovation, says its director, Nicola Stacey:
“Concrete is actually quite hard, but over the years the outer layer of concrete has eroded, and some of the iron armature is now exposed. And of course, once that happens, the whole thing starts to corrode and it is very vulnerable.
“So it has been on the heritage at risk register since 2017. We have been trying to restore it since 2018, but it has taken quite a long time for people to really understand how important it is that we have it restored.”
It took Karel Vogel a whole year to finish his concrete statue and according to Mrs Stacey, it is one of the most interesting examples of post-war, abstract, figurative art:
“I think it is reflective of this really interesting 1950s period when artists were becoming more interested in experimenting with industrial materials. It has clearly got that classical style. It is semi-naked with a sort of draped cloth. It’s a really beautiful piece.”
Today listed as a grade-II monument, the Leaning Woman caused quite a stir at the time of its unveiling, with critics calling it ‘a modern monstrosity’ and an ‘insult to women’, says Mrs. Stacey:
“There was a huge uproar when this beautiful statue was created and unveiled, all these kind of really fierce and obviously unwarranted criticisms to an artist who had just worked on it for a year.
“And Karel Vogel was so gracious to all of those people and said: Yes, I do realize it is a little more daring for the times, but I do think that they are beginning to understand and appreciate it.
“He was immensely gracious to his critics. And of course, his work still stands as one of the most beautiful sculptures in London, I would say.”
The woman who stood model for Karel Vogel was Jutta Zemke, an immigrant from Eastern Germany, who fled to London in the 1950s. Her son, Alex Cardew, says it was a way to earn money for her university studies.
“She worked as a model at Camberwell art school where she met my father. There was an art teacher there who my father very much admired, Dr. Vogel.
“He had a commission from the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to do this piece for outside this church right here. And my mother just happened to be the art model at Camberwell, so he chose her to be his model for this piece.
“She is leaning forward quite extensively — they used an upturn broom and they had a music stand with a book on it so she could read, because it's obviously very boring being a model. So that's how she came to be the muse for this piece.”
Karel Vogel, who studied art in Prague, Munich and Vienna, was 40 years old when he fled to Britain to escape the Nazis. Apart from creating his own artworks, he also taught at several schools. The restoration of his last, and perhaps most famous work, The Leaning Woman, should get underway before the winter.
