Astrid's Work - Expo 1967

The Expo 67 exhibition at Montreal Canada

Shortly after the Shakespeare exhibition Astrid was approached by James Gardner who had been charged with the design of the British Pavilion for the Expo 67 exhibition in Canada.

After his work for the Brussels exhibition, Gardner clearly had Astrid in his sights as one of those artists that he gathered around him. The theme was to be the British at Home, and this demanded a considerable number of larger than life figures to be created.

It is not clear just how much influence Astrid had over the final choice of figures, but my suspicion is that it would have been rather limited. Gardner appears to have had very directive personality, and I doubt that those working for him would have had a great deal of latitude. I say this, because in later years Astrid was often to bemoan the fact that she had become so embroiled with these large exhibitions that her own work had taken second place. I felt that she had never managed to establish herself independently at an early age, so that much of her work, brilliant though it was, had been created at the whim of others.

Her experience with the Shakespeare exhibition was clearly a valuable asset, since again she was required to gather together a team of suitable people to assist her. Somehow premises for this work were acquired in one of those great arches under the railway lines at London’s Waterloo station. These have long been used for storage and workshops of various kinds, but they are not the most comfortable surroundings. There is no natural light or heating, and one has to be prepared to share the premises with the ever-present rat population. It was not the place to leave food lying around.

Some idea of the place can be gathered from this series of wide-angle photographs, taken when work was well under way.

Astrid can be seen in the top left hand picture wearing the green jumper.

The scale of the completed pieces can be gathered from such images as –

Everything commenced life as a maquette created by Astrid using Plasticine. These were enlarged by her assistants using Astrid’s magic formula made from a mixture of gypsum plaster, mica insulation material and fish glue. In the early days there was also the addition of some asbestos fibres to add strength, but we must remember that in 1966 asbestos had not acquired its now notorious reputation.

Astrid modelling the Student Group. There was meticulous care over the smallest detail.

Work progressed at speed, and it was not always possible to photograph every stage before the work was completed and sent for packing. However, I believe that the maquettes were the most significant part of Astrid’s work, and I was able to photograph most of those. The way in which this work was incorporated into the Expo 67 exhibition can be seen at:

http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/learning/designingbritain/html/expobrittoday.html

And for those needing a more in depth understanding of James Gardner’s influence I suggest that http://www.brighton.ac.uk/designarchives/jamesgardner/index.html is a good starting point.

Returning to the maquettes, here is the series of photographs taken as work progressed.

Many of these maquettes found their way to Astrid’s studio at Warwick Road and later to Willes Road. The nature of the modelling material meant that if they were left untouched they could survive for many years. Plasticine being a mixture of clays and oils has a long life, but eventually the oils do dry out leaving the material very friable. Although a number do survive, there was the inevitable loss, so these photographs do represent a unique record of Astrid’s remarkable abilities.

More recently some of them have been cast, ensuring hat the work will be permanent. Two examples are these, and I am pleased to be able to include these because they are some that were missed in the original photographic sessions.

Photographs anon

I had wondered for years just what did become of those large models after the exhibition closed. By a shear fluke I was approached by someone in Missouri, USA and asked if I knew the value of Astrid’s work. Puzzled, I made further enquiries and discovered that she was referring to two models from the exhibition that had been purchased at auction in St Louis, Missouri. For some reason that I have yet to uncover, all of the models were sent to St Louise to be auctioned to raise funds for their Arts and Education programme.

I was sent photographs of the two in question and they were easily recognised from my own and other photographs of the actual exhibition:

Photographs anon

Curiously, the boy has become separated from the original group that can be seen farther back in this section. His odd stance resulting from his intended leaning on a chair.

I am delighted to know that a number of people had taken them to their hearts and giving them house room, and by an equally odd coincidence I was shortly afterwards contacted by someone in another part of the USA who had the London bus ‘Clippy’ standing in his hall to welcome guests.

Photos anon

The present owner tells me that the ticket machine still works and he further commented on the auction:

"After Expo '67 closed in Montreal, Canada ,Astrid's sculptures were moved to St Louis as a gift to the British Consul General, who in turn gave them to the Arts & Education Council, or so we remember, which may not be what or how it actually happened. If it is ever discerned exactly how the pieces moved from Montreal to St Louis, we would surely like to learn”.

There is little doubt that the work for this exhibition was a major achievement for Astrid, but almost inevitably Gardner now saw her as a permanent part of his ‘team’. Whenever he was commissioned to provide another exhibition Astrid would be called upon to produce work that would ‘dress’ his sets. She had little time in which to work on her own ideas, and it was not until the 1980s that Gardner’s hold finally loosened. There had been moments, (as we shall see), when Richard Buckle managed to find commissions for her that gave her the freedom to work on pieces that were more to her liking, but at times she expressed her concern to me that she was not able to keep up with Gardner’s requests. She never managed to establish her own financial security that would have enabled her to refuse Gardner’s commissions.

For all of the trials and tribulations during the construction of this work, there were lighter moments:

Astrid and myself playing the schoolchildren.

We must also remember that it was for her work on this exhibition that she was awarded the MBE. A fitting tribute for a remarkable display of talent.

There was also a documentary film entitled ‘Variations on a Theme’ made by Cirrus Films in 1967 and Directed by Diggory Kempton. It was 16mm gauge and some 15 minutes in length. I have not seen this, but the British Film Institute holds a copy and researchers wishing to view it should apply to them. Full details at: www.bfi.org.uk/nftva/access/rvs.html