Playground (game)

In 1946 Turnbull enrolled to study painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, transferring to the sculpture department a few weeks later where he met life long friend and fellow Scotish artist Eduardo Paolozzi. In 1948 with a grant from the Slade he went to live in Paris. While there he became friends with sculptors Constantin Brâncuși and Alberto Giacometti. 'Playground (game)' was made at this time and shows the influence of Giacometti's surrealist sculptures that contain small simplified figures on bronze platforms.

Returning to London in 1950 and with no funds to cast his sculptures in bronze the original plaster version of 'Playground (game)' was exhibited in 'Kenneth King, Eduardo Paolozzi, William Turnbull' at Hanover Gallery, February–March 1950. The sculpture was cast in bronze in the late 1950s in an edition of 4 plus 1 Artist’s cast. Edition 4/4 is in the Gallery’s collection.