Lesson sculpture

'Lesson', sculpture group in bronze of 1956-7 by Franta Belsky, installed at the corner of Turin Street and Gosset Street, Bethnal Green in 1959.

This semi-figurative sculpture depicts a mother teaching her infant son to walk. She stands, legs outstretched, learning forward over the child and supporting his outstretched arms. The woman is wearing a dress but barefoot; the child is nude, with his right leg raised in a tentative step. The infant is depicted with rounded, cherub-like features, contrasting with the muscular, angular and more abstract rendering of the mother. The sculpture is mounted on a rough concrete plinth.