'I am convinced I shall achieve something valuable if I can brighten the lives of the people here': bombsites, housing and art in Lambeth

After the Second World War, artist Peter Laszlo Peri approached the London County Council with the idea of creating sculptural reliefs with a family theme in coloured concrete on two of Lambeth's new housing estates. The results were three reliefs: 'Following the Leader (Memorial to the Children Killed in the Blitz)', 1949, on the Vauxhall Gardens estate and 'Boys Playing Football', 1951-52, and 'Mother with Children Playing', 1951-52, on the nearby South Lambeth estate. After the war, the reconstruction and improvement of housing were crucial. The London County Council planned for large areas of London to be rebuilt: including an ambitious programme of housing. This paper looks at these artworks within the context of the housing they sit amongst. I read these sculptural reliefs, created between 1949 and 1952, within the LCC's post-war housing and community policies and as symbols of Lambeth's renewal. This paper places these reliefs, and their settings, within the wider context of debates surrounding the post-war renewal of London, community participation and placemaking.