Painting of Notting Hill Adventure Playground, London, by Maurice Ben Rose, 1964

Painting on canvas, in plain wood frame. The painting depicts the wooden tower built in Notting Hill Adventure playground. It is a tall, improvised structure of reclaimed materials, mostly brown but with bright red and green elements. The tower fills nearly the whole image, with a dusty ground and bluy sky framing it. There is the figure of a child on the right hand side of the image, wearing blue shorts and white t-shirt.
The canvas used is a heavy, coarse hessian material, and the frame was made using reclaimed wood from the adventure playground.

Given by Donne Buck

Given to Donne Buck by the artist in about 1964.

Maurice Ben Rose visited the Notting Hill Adventure Playground in 1964 and made a series of paintings of the locally famous wooden tower. He gave this painting to Donne Buck, who helped to run the playground.

Rose was a local resident, who worked as a dustman during the day, and painted in his evenings. He held at least one show of his works around the time of this painting. He was untrained and could be considered part of the Outsider Art movement, which celebrated artwork by those from outside the traditional academy training.

More information about Notting Hill Adventure Playground can be found in the Donne Buck Archive, reference no. MOC/BUCK/7/1/17.

The tower at Notting Hill Adventure Playground seems to have been the subject of several of Maurice Ben Rose's paintings. Images of him painting the tower can be found in the Donne Buck Archive, specifically MOC/BUCK/7/1/17

Maurice Ben Rose visited Notting Hill Adventure Playground in 1964, struck by the tall, improvised tower which had been built there by the children of the 'venture. Donne Buck, who helped to run the playground at the time, agreed that Rose could set up his easel in the playground, and in return, Rose presented him with one of the finished canvases.

The Adventure Playground movement in London made use of abandoned urban spaces to provide play space for children. Notting Hill was one of the first in the city, and became an internationlly renowned example of Adventure Playground design and practice.

B.118-2014