SCHOTTLANDER, BERNARD

SCHOTTLANDER, BERNARD (1924–1999), sculptor. Schottlander was born in Mainz, Germany, but emigrated to London in 1939. Initially trained as a metalworker, he first took up art studies in 1946, and continued to administer his own engineering works before devoting himself wholly to sculpture in 1963. The influence of this occupation is fully evident in his monumental, ambitious metal constructions, superbly fabricated and based on simple, near-geometrical forms. His gaunt abstract shapes suggest symbolic undertones, like huge Easter Island idols, but he represents them as forms without literary or religious programs. Schottlander has rapidly achieved considerable prominence both in England and abroad. He was invited to the 1967 Sculpture Symposium in Toronto, Canada, and to many other important international gatherings. He formerly exhibited regularly at the Anely Juda Gallery, London, but to solve the problem of displaying his enormous works, he took to exhibiting them in public spaces. He taught at the St. Martin's School of Art, London. (Charles Samuel Spencer)