Biography
Peter King (b. London, UK 1928 -d. 1957) attended Wimbledon School of Art and afterwards signed up with Guidici, the monumental stonemasons, helping restore the House of Commons. He also worked for the sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler (1892-1974) and moved to the Abbey Art Centre, started by the collector and founder of the Berkeley Galleries, William Ohly (1883-1955), as an artists’ commune. While at Abbey, King became employed part-time by Henry Moore, initially on the fourth component of the Time-Life frieze in Bond Street, which led to regular work for Moore. In 1953 King was appointed by Frank Martin as a part-time sculpture lecturer at St Martin’s School of Art, recommended by Anthony Caro.
King had a first solo show at Victor Musgrave’s Gallery One in 1954, whenthe Contemporary Art Society acquired a group of his draiwngs in cahrcoal which they presented to Birmingham Museums and art Gallery. He was awarded a Boise Travelling Scholarship and a grant from the British Film Institute to make an animated film. Difficulties in King’s personal life led to experiment in his work, some of which reflected this disturbed state. A suicide attempt led to a period in hospital, shortly after which he died in a motorcycle accident. King’s work was also shown in galleries in Paris and Rome; he was represented at the Holland Park Exhibition, 1957; Middelheim Exhibition, 1959; and in 1960 his oak Figure with Cloak was shown at Battersea Park. The family retained a sizeable collection of King’s work, which is also held by the Arts Council, British Council. A collection of King’s sculptures and coloured, jazz-influenced drawings was offered by Rosebery’s, West Norwood, in a 2002 sale.
