Between 1950 and 1955 Austin Wright’s sculptures branched into two district directions: firstly, direct carvings in wood, that had been his mainstay up until this point, and secondly, a series of much smaller cast figures, usually in lead. These figures were often positioned ‘in discussion’ on one single base. Subjects such as The Argument (which would win sculpture prize at the 1957 Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil) The Lovers, and in this case News all depict groups interacting with each other – depicting the ‘electricity of human interaction’ as the artist described it. Wright’s wife Sue concurred, recording in her diaries in 1951:
“A. making lots of exciting groups of figures, bicycles etc. The chief idea being how we overlap and interweave with our fellows – in our relations we become part of a person for a time – part of the same whole anyway.”