Astonia by Bryan Kneale, Steel , Unique, 720cm high by 720cm wide, Abstract sculpture
Astonia, the monumental steel public sculpture by Bryan Kneale RA, was lost to the nation after its exhibition in the 1970s. Kneale’s monumental painted steel public sculpture Astonia was commissioned in 1971 as part of the ambitious 1972 City Sculpture Projects. The goal of this national project was to place large-scale contemporary sculptures in busy city centres outside of London for several months. Kneale’s contribution was installed in the forecourt of Southampton City Art Gallery. None of the participating cities decided to keep the sculptures for permanent display, and it must have been after this temporary exhibition that Astonia relocated to the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough, where it had been installed at Robert Smyth Academy, a local school, by 1973. Astonia was long presumed destroyed, but the piece resurfaced when the school consigned it to a regional auction in 2014, where it was acquired by Eddie Powell.