Harlow Sculpture Town

In September when I wrote about Harlow's sheep trail I was fairly scathing. I will defend my judgement of the odd painted-plastic sheep but it is unfair to dismiss Harlow's sculpture collection. Including works by Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin and Barbara Hepworth it certainly has the weight to justify its new status as 'Harlow, Town of Sculpture'. My only question is, who is interested? And will anybody come to visit 'pram town' now it has been renamed 'Sculpture town'?

Sir Frederick Gibberd was the town planner for the new development in Harlow in the 1950's. He conceived his modern town with a sculpture collection at its heart. Located in main squares, precincts, public buildings and schools the sculpture trail offers an alternative map of a dilapidated town in Essex.

Henry Moore, The Family Group, at the Civic Centre

Moore's sculpture was a special commission from the town planners of Harlow. The Family Group became a symbol of civic pride. In the 1950's when the sculpture was made Harlow had a birth rate that was three times the national average and so gained its status as 'pram town', as a town of families and community. In 2010 'pram town' has developed an added irony as the shopping streets are filled with teenage mothers. In recent years Harlow notched up the highest teen pregnancy rate in Essex, the UK and Europe. The original message of the sculpture in this post-war town has been lost and obscured. Harlow has a very different reputation now.

"A few miles north form my home at Perry Green (now the Henry Moore Foundation) is Harlow, and over the last 25 years I have watched it grow from a small scattered rural population to a thriving new town of over 70,000 people.

The Placing of sculptures in a town can have a greater significance than just providing a setting for a work of art. As can be seen in Harlow, when sculpture is related to the space in which it stands. Both the sculpture and the scene itself gain.

Auguste Rodin, Eve

I can't help feeling, as I pull a wet paper bag from her cleavage, that Harlow Town has given Eve reasons to feel lost and dejected which Rodin had not intended. Clutching herself before a backdrop of fast food she is an anachronism, a molested outcast on the fringes of the Water Gardens. The Harlow Art trust and the council are right, there is something beautiful here which deserves resurrection. I just believe that its resurrection with the contemporary residents of Harlow would be something of a miracle. So send your prayers to the Art trust and Rodin's Eve, they need them!

Counting Sheep in Pram Town

Remember the bears in Berlin? And the Elephant Parade in London? Well if you missed them there is no need to worry, Harlow Town is offering a second chance. The Harlow Town Sheep Parade has arrived.


Harlow has a bit of dodgy reputation, and in my opinion justifiably so. I spent many a bleak weekend shopping in Harlow town, wandering the park on summer days and slipping through fences to get to the park at night. I remember nights out at the Square which began, because we were underage, with value bottles of cider in the hosiptal car park. When it got to cold for that we used to sit on a heater at the back of the building before we were drunk enough to go in. 'Bleak' is the word that comes to mind.



Harlow has decided it is high time to change its reputation and that the way to do this is through its sculpture. Harlow does have some surprisingly brilliant sculpture; Henry Moores, a Rodin, and a Babara Hepworth are among just a few of the gems you will find strewn across the town. Fair enough, it's time we acknowledged the sculpture, but the sheep that are dotted about the town? I just can't figure them out. If they want people to take sculpture seriously these sheep are not the answer. I see the Moore-sheep connection, and somebody was clever enough to realise that Henry Moore is the celebrity of the sculpture collection, but perhaps a more subtle approach would have been better. The average high-pony Harlow shopper comes out of the BHS cafe and blankly stares at an orange sheep, baffled. It looks like Harlow Town Council have embarked on a wild sheep chase.