Description

TQ 3582 ROMAN ROAD, E3
(North side)
788/10/10085
Blind Beggar and his Dog,
Cranbrook Estate

- II*

Heraldic sculpture. 1958 by Elisabeth Frink, sited 1959 temporarily in Roman Road and on its present and intended site by May 1963. Commissioned by Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough, with the financial assistance of the London County Council. Bronze, c. eight feet, on high and stepped concrete plinth. Two elongated and very rigid figures, the man with outstretched arm being hesitantly led by the very geometrically expressed dog. The group is one of Frink's earliest commissions, and achieves considerable emotional pathos. The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green is a noted local mythological figure, dating back to at least the seventeenth century and much represented locally in stained glass and reliefs, eg. in the borough's major civic buildings and in local public houses which bear the name. Bethnal Green MB were justly proud of their enterprising housing policy, of which this formal garden surrounded by bungalows for the elderly is a centrepiece. Though the subject was thus dictated to Frink, it fits well in her oeuvre. She was profoundly affected by her experience as a civilian during the War, and her work explores the themes of aggression and vulnerability - 'the geometry of fear' - fashionable amongst the more radical sculptors of the 1950s.

Listing NGR: TQ3571483025

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Blind Beggar and His Dog at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17531634

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)