A stone and steel artwork by Chilean sculptor Francisco Gazitua has been unveiled in a new sculpture garden at a Hampstead development.
Andes Wheel sits in the landscaped grounds of Hampstead Manor in Kidderpore Avenue - part of a public garden curated by the principal of neighbouring Hampstead School of Art, Isabel Langtry.
Working with Mount Anvil, which has created 156 luxury homes and leisure facilities across 13 buildings on the former Westfield College site, Langtry selected work which responded to Hampstead's cultural heritage.
Gazitua recently received the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas (the equivalent of a knighthood) and is influenced by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, who lived and worked in Hampstead in the 1930s.
"Their stone sculptures speak directly to Gazitua's work," said Langtry. "They were also Hampstead artists, Henry Moore was the first and lifelong patron of Hampstead School of Art."
Whether a horse, a tree, a ship or a bird, Gazitua's subjects are rendered in abstracted shapes, and his work is on show all over the world, including parks and bridges in the Chilean capital Santiago.
Andes Wheel is the largest of three sculptures in phase one of the garden alongside Langtry's own bronze Fae.
Opened in 1882, Westfield College was the first to educate women for University of London degrees. For last year's International Women's Day, Mount Anvil commissioned artist Keziah Burt to create a sculpted relief of pioneering scientist Rosalind Franklin who took the photograph which enabled Watson and Crick to discover the structure of DNA.
"New public sculptures are a rare and wonderful addition to our neighbourhoods and Mount Anvil are unique in offering a sculpture garden for the community, creating new culture in Hampstead," said Langtry.
"When designing the garden we considered the community and history of Hampstead. Andes Wheel sits in the garden like a celebration of what brings us together, the visual and material world. Made of a white stone and black steel that echoes the details of both the historic and the contemporary buildings around it, it's a significant and prestigious cultural addition to Hampstead."
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