A Concertina Statue

[Alan Day]

Many years ago I was playing with friends at The Black Horse Pub Nuthurst in Sussex and a chap was in the corner sketching in a note pad and I asked him if I could see it. He said that if I went to Morrisons in Reigate Surrey) , in the square nearby I could see the results of his sketch.

This is me playing the concertina with various friends I was playing with that evening. At least you will know many years from now who it was.

 

 

[wunks]

Actual concertina face left to one's imagination....😊

[Leonard]

Found it on google maps:

In front of The Cage Wine Bar
https://maps.app.goo.gl/SokjHRNyQT3nwX8X7

[Alan Day]

The other people on the statue are Jim (The poet) Farr member of Broadwood Morris Men and Jane Petto , a will known Folk Singer in Sussex and Surrey (Married a Hartley Morris Dancer)  

I must try and find out who did the sculpture.

[DaveRo]

It's called "The Buskers" 1993 by Carole Vincent. It was commissioned by Safeways for Cage Yard Reigate. She won the British Precast "Creativity in Concrete" award in 2002 for her public artworks. She died in 2019.

 

The conical shape is interesting. Perhaps it has practical advantages too: it looks like small children can sit and be photographed on it. It forces the banjo player into an unusual position:

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5749136

 

I can't find a decent set of photos of the whole thing.

[David Barnert]

There seems to be another one in St. Helier, Jersey.

 

 

It has a different title (“Working in Concert”) and is on a different kind of base, but the design looks the same.

 

http://members.societe-jersiaise.org/geraint/statues/jongleur.html (scroll to bottom)

 

I’m guessing it’s in the wedge-shaped courtyard just south of this marker.

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by David Barnert

[DaveRo]

There is a list of her works in the 'ePaper' readable here:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/6459440/boscastle-sculptor-carole-vincent-wins-major-award

It includes 'les Jongleurs' for the Jersey Public Sculpture trust, St. Hellier.

Les Jongleurs, which is in the that URL, means The Jugglers - which it's clearly not! Strange.

[Alan Day]

Thank you for the extra information.

The original sketch was definitely done by a man and I viewed it.

My first thoughts when I saw the recent photos was that the base of the statue had changed and the courtyard cobbled, but annoyingly my photo does not show the base and sorry the others are out of focus..

I have just tried to see if Carole Vincent is still alive ,sadly not.

1939-2019. She was a very famous concrete sculptor and may pictures seem to be available for her work.

Artistic licence calling is "Buskers" as it was a pub session.

Al

Edited August 25, 2023 by Alan Day

[arti]

"Les Jongleurs"

An earlier meaning = Minstrels

[DaveRo]

I thought it might be.

Troubadours, trouvères et jongleurs

Perhaps the word is still current in the Îles Normandes.

[Leonard]

Alan, I'm a bit worried though about what looks like a bodrhán so close to your left ear.....

[DaveRo]

There were actually two works commissioned for St Hellier:

1996 Les Jongleurs - commissioned bythe Jersey Public Sculpture Trust for Snow Hill Junction, St Helier.
1999 The Buskers - commissioned by Peter Blampied and Geoffrey Grime for Abacus, St Helier, Jersey.

(From archive of carolevincent.org)

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/les-jongleurs-274644/search/actor:vincent-carole-19392019/page/1/view_as/grid

(11 photos)

Edited August 25, 2023 by DaveRo

[David Barnert]

10 hours ago, Alan Day said:

annoyingly my photo does not show the base and sorry the others are out of focus..

 

Click the link in Leonard’s post, above (third post in this thread).

[RAc]

It looks as if the sculpture Leonard found on google maps is different from the one Alan took pictures of - in the google sculpture, there is another person's head in between Alan's and the Bhodran?

Edited August 27, 2023 by RAc

[wunks]

20 minutes ago, RAc said:

It looks as if the sculpture Leonard found on google maps is different from the one Alan took pictures of - in the google sculpture, there is another person's head in between Alan's and the Bhodran?

And that person, although in low relief, is playing a second concertina with the left end exposed and the right behind Allan.

[Anglogeezertoo]

39 minutes ago, RAc said:

It looks as if the sculpture Leonard found on google maps is different from the one Alan took pictures of - in the google sculpture, there is another person's head in between Alan's and the Bhodran?

It’s probably how street view works - two picture tiles joined together, but not quite joining properly. 
 

Jake

[wunks]

16 minutes ago, Anglogeezertoo said:

It’s probably how street view works - two picture tiles joined together, but not quite joining properly. 
 

Jake

Ya, I see a ghost image at the very top.  Weird!

[David Barnert]

2 hours ago, RAc said:

It looks as if the sculpture Leonard found on google maps is different from the one Alan took pictures of - in the google sculpture, there is another person's head in between Alan's and the Bhodran?

 

No, it’s the same one, in the same location. Look at Alan’s 2nd picture. Behind the statue is a brick building. To the left is a brick extension with a slanted roof and a rectangular sign hanging over it. The main brick building has two small windows on the left, an arched door in the middle, a double window top right and a wide arched window below  it.

 

All of these structures are visible in the Google Street View image. The trim is painted green, where it is painted white in Alan’s photo, and the signs have been changed, but it is clearly the same building. The Google Street View image was taken six years ago. I expect Alan’s photos are more recent.

 

The 2nd head you see in the Google Street View image is a double image of Alan’s head. See the double image of Alan’s left hand and the left end of the concertina (on the right in the image)? Same thing. Google Street View images are not continuous in their 360 degree view. They are several images taken in different directions and stitched together. Often there are double images (or missing elements) at the joints.