The Sunbathers by Peter Laszlo Peri was exhibited on a wall of the Waterloo station entrance on York Road during the festival but was feared lost.
However, following a visit to Historic England’s exhibition Out There: Our Post-War Public Art at Somerset House last year, a couple recognised the artwork and alerted Historic England to the sculpture that had been languishing in the garden of The Clarendon Hotel in Blackheath.
The heritage body then launched a crowdfunding campaign to help restore the piece and after meeting its initial £15,000 target, it now hopes to raise £27,000 to find a permanent home where The Sunbathers can be on public display.
The pair of figures is made from a special kind of concrete known as Peri-crete, invented by the artist as a cheaper alternative to casting in bronze.
The Clarendon Hotel owner, Joseph O’Donnell, bought the sculpture at auction in the 1960s and laid the figures on a patio in the hotel gardens.
'The Sunbathers' by Peter Laszlo Peri was exhibited during the 1951 Festival of Britain and was later found languishing in the garden of The Clarendon Hotel in Blackheath.
Peter Peri, grandson of the artist, said: “The Sunbathers rediscovery now is a wonderful, even miraculous event… It is a great example of my grandfather's unique mixture of Constructivism and Realism.”
Granddaughter Jean MacIntyre said that for Peri the most important thing was to have his art on public display.
Historic England’s director of communications Celia Richardson said: “The Sunbathers is a remarkable survival. It speaks of a time when the festival gave hope, optimism and colour to a battered and bruised post-war nation. We are asking the public to help us recreate that spirit and contribute to the restoration of The Sunbathers, so it can delight visitors to the South Bank once again.”
