Third in our series of historic photos of Kennington takes us to St. Anselm’s church. This photo was taken during the summer of 1933 and depicts the frieze above the Romanesque doors being carved. The artist is Alfred Gerrard, who at the time was head sculptor at the Slade School of Art and is at the bottom of the photo. Carving must be very good exercise, as Mr. Gerrard lived to be 99, 65 years after this photo was taken.
Charming picture. You mention that Alfred Gerrard was the head of sculpture at the Slade. You might know that Felix Slade, whose endowment enabled the creation of the Slade School of Art, lived his long life (1788-1868) in Kennington Road. His grand house is now gone, and I have never been able to determine exactly where it was…possibly under what is now Wincott Parade (the Kennington Coffee Shop etc.) ! I’d love to find a photograph.