Brutalist artworks embedded in Britain’s mid-century estates and civic spaces are celebrated in photographer Simon Phipps’s latest book, Concrete Poetry: Post-War Modernist Public Art.
Many of the stark, geometric concrete works that feature in the book are little known. These include Anderson Charles’s collage-style sculpture at the Bannerman High School in Glasgow and Wendy Taylor’s tri-circular, bone-white Gazebo in London’s Golders Green.
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/kneale_bryan_loughborugh-1024x646.jpg)
Bryan Kneale, ‘Standing Figure’, Loughborough University, Elvyn Way, Loughborough, 1961
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/anderson_charles_baillieston-1024x646.jpg)
Charles Anderson, ‘Concrete Sculpture’, Bannerman High School, Bailleston, Glasgow, 1976-77
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/hepworth_barbara_churchill-1024x646.jpg)
Barbara Hepworth, ‘Four Square (Walk Through)’, Churchill College, Storey’s Way, Cambridge, 1966
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/schottlander_bernard_milton_keynes-1024x646.jpg)
Bernard Schottlander, ‘2MS Series No. 4,’ Fred Roche Gardens, Silbury Boulevard, Milton Keynes, 1970
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/mccarter_keith_glasgow-1024x646.jpg)
Keith McCarter, ‘Abstract Wall Relief’, Charing Cross Station, Elmbank Lane, Glasgow, 1972
Explains Phipps: ‘[these public artworks were] commissioned to enhance the public realm and by extension people’s lives.’
Photographed with their surroundings in view, Phipps shows how these sculptures have a sense of rightness in their locations while shining a light on their fragile futures – many are neglected or have been requisitioned, stored or are simply gone.
![Wendy Taylor, 'Gazebo', Golders Hill Park, Golders Green, London, 1983](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/taylor_wendy_golders_hill.jpg)
Estates and civic buildings have been demolished and the artworks that adorned them have been destroyed or missing, said Phipps. ‘I thought that this was something worth documenting.’
Concrete Poetry: Post-War Modernist Public Art is out now
![Unknown artist, Halifax](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unknown_halifax_bw.jpg)
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/pasmore_victor_peterlee.jpg)
![Harry Noble, 'The Elephant', Coventry Sports Centre, Fairfax Street, Coventry, 1973-77](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/noble_harry_coventry-1650.jpg)
Read next: Go inside Britain’s post-war architecture