In the mid 1960s, the sculptor Bernard Meadows (1915-2005) began to use abstract shapes in his sculpture to express human fear and anxiety. The crushed sphere in this work appears to cry for help. Meadows was interested in the philosophy of Existentialism and this work reflects some of the themes in the work of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) and Albert Camus (1913-60), such as the individual's fundamental isolation and the belief that human life has no purpose.