Peter Haden - Almost Forgotten

28 techniques of sculpting, but in his own values and his own rather sensual and sensitive personality. From his ‘paper-weight’ figures (as one critic called them), he escalated into willowy bronzes, elongated verticals, delicate and vigorous. At the same time his more solid compositions took on an airier aspect while he dipped into the problems of using space to create the illusion of volume. An example of this is his ‘Double Heads’ – a bronze work crammed full of space which he will exhibit at the Redfern Gallery’s ‘Summer Show’ in London in June. The opportunity to feature in this leading gallery (along with types such as Picasso and Miro) is a factor in his decision to leave South Africa and as soon as he gets to Geneva – his first base – he will be preparing for this exhibition. And those that are to follow … Haden has no illusions about his move. He knows full well there is a struggle ahead, but he is fortified by his talent and the remarkable art consciousness of Europe generally. There one is not treated as a ‘crazy kook doing something bizarre’. Besides there is this huge market which provides the financial attraction. For Haden the meaningful thing about Europe is the environment. It might mean, as someone has already suggested, that he will lose the African quality of his work. (‘In Search of his Art Soul, Peter Haden Leaves S.A. Backwater’, The Star , 24 April 1971). Guenther had huge misgivings about Haden moving overseas and is undoubtedly the ‘someone’ referred to in the quote above. On 5 January 1976, Guenther returned all remaining casts of the sculptures still in his possession to Haden’s mother Sybil and ceased to act as his agent after that date. New territory – Switzerland, 1971 to 1997 Despite his growing reputation in South Africa, Haden decided to leave South Africa for Europe in 1971, and settled in Switzerland. Marshall Lee wrote of the decision: There is a South African tradition that sends South African sons away: to search, as Antony Delius has written, ‘other countries for their cause or soul’. They leave our ‘cruel glaring sun and savage weathers to bask, reflect in other people’s glory’. Peter Haden, sculptor, is one of those who suits the syndrome, who has found the South African way of life wanting. Or at least, the urge to return to the warp and woof of Western Art too strong. He left yesterday for Europe and a full-fling at his ambitions. For fame and fortune and fulfilment of his art soul. Possibly forever. If Haden does feel all this, and to some extent he does, he is not the first to do so. Still, this is not to say the art movement in this country is completely stagnant. After all, if it were, we would hardly throw up talent and Peter Haden himself would not be a sculptor. As it is, Haden’s home-grown work reflects a reaching for real maturity. It has already won recognition overseas and he leaves in the security that he is ‘very good’ and that he can only gain by the experiment. The ironic thing is that Haden at 32, is something of a late starter … By 1965 his work had reached the critics and one suggested his paintings were more acceptable than his bronze figurines, which in their bumpiness were inclined to crudity. He soon ironed out a lot of the bumps with their literal overtones and moved steadily into more abstract concepts. Largely self- taught, Haden has absorbed the influences around him, and his development shows an increasing confidence, not simply in the