Little Donkey In Sculpture Town

MrQ was snoozing in front of the lunchtime news and I was at the computer. I heard 'Sculpture Town' which is what Harlow has been dubbed. I Googled and discovered that 41 pieces of post-war public art in England have been given Grade II protected status and that three of them are in Harlow. I've seen Elizabeth Frink's Boar at the Water Gardens but not the other two.

I headed for Pittman's Field to see Willi Soukop's Donkey. I've never been to this part of the town before. I asked lots of people for the sculpture's whereabouts but none had seen or heard of it. Eventually a young woman directed me down a narrow no-through road to a grassy area in the middle of a housing estate. I saw it from a distance at first and was surprised by how tiny it is - medium dog-sized.

A woman approached while I was taking photographs and told me how her forty-four year-old son used to play on it when he was a child. I wiped the rain off and sat on its back myself. The bronze of its ears and back have been polished by generations of hands and bottoms. I wish I could have photographed a child with it but the area was deserted. This is its designation:  "Artistic interest: an engaging C20 animal sculpture, of intrinsic artistic value and a rare example of a play sculpture in its original residential setting; * Historic interest: as an early commission of the Harlow Art Trust, unique among the New Towns for fostering a collection of first rate sculpture by leading artists to be placed in public locations."