Bernard Schottlander

Background

Bernard Schottlander was born in 1924 in Mainz, Germany, and arrived in England in 1939. During the war he worked in structural engineering as a welder. He entered Leeds College of Art in 1942, later studied sculpture for a year in London on a grant from the Anglo-French Art Centre in St John's Wood, and from 1949 to 1951 studied industrial design at the LCC Central School of Arts & Crafts. His welding training played a significant role in his work.

Signature Style

Schottlander defined himself as an interior designer and an exterior sculptor. He set up his workshop in North London with his assistant George Nash, who had trained in the workshops of the British Royal Air Force, and each piece was handmade in very limited series. Movement is the source of inspiration for all of his work: a pivot-counterweight system on flexible but resistant metal rods, topped by a spun aluminium reflector.

Notable Works

• Mantis series of light fixtures (1951), made by an admirer of Alexander Calder
• Sculptures exhibited from 1964, including monumental works at Park Royal, London, in 1972

Legacy

In 1963 he decided to focus solely on sculpture. From 1965 he taught metalwork at St Martin's School in London, and that year he exhibited with the group Six Artists at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. His first solo exhibition took place at the Hamilton Galleries in London in 1966.