Etymologist
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my pictures were from very early this morning. They have been wrapped up for the past few days. But they are unvieled now!
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Etymologist
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Yes I'm pretty sure they were removed for renovation in 2019, not 2016
Tricky Skills
Well-Known Member
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
They weren't away for 6 years. The original bronzes may have been bullet proof, but not proof against bird lime and graffiti.
The new one is apparently hollow with a lighter ballast interior. Manufactured by a new 3D printing/casting process. But still screwed down to the platform to avoid being nicked.
Remember the 4 lions surrounding Sir Henry Tate's bust? No - few people were around when they disappeared in 1983.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
No readily available. I read in the SLP back in the mid 80s one had turned up in a railway siding in Willesden Junction.
Google doesn't work (for me at least) pre about 2010 these days.
I'll put in an enquiry to a fellow ex-councillor who is very good with these these things.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Part of what's good about the original ones is that they all have the look of being bored waiting for a train / lost in their thoughts. Maybe aided by the tedium/slowness of the casting process.
Not sure this newfangled 3d scanned one achieves the same.
lang rabbie
Je ne regrette les gazebos
They were on the gate piers into the gardens rather than around the bust itself
Tate Library Garden, Brixton Oval, Central Brixton. Historical Brixton - old and new photos of Brixton, Lambeth, London, SW9 and SW2
Tate Library Garden, Brixton Oval, Central Brixton. Historical Brixton - old and new photos of Brixton, Lambeth, London, SW9 and SW2
www.urban75.org
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CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
Thanks lang rabbie There could have been another two lions on another gate on the library side of course.
I suggest a hypothesis. In one of Lambeth's many moments of madness they decided to remodel the library gardens making them more open.
And when they got rid of the gate they were loath to "waste" the lions, they simply redeployed them - and allowed them to get nicked later on.
People of my vintage will recall there were two raised grassy areas with some shrubs - to the left and right of where this entrance is, held in by a low brick retaining wall.
But there was no entrance, and the gardens were paved over with bog standard paving slabs.
Except for Tate's bust + lions, which I recall as being more centrally located - that is further back from the camera than here.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
Regarding the lions on the gate posts - the Urban75 history page gives a slightly clearer view in the 1965 photo.
Judging by this Tate Library Garden and Windrush Square - Greater London the 1965 picture was taken shortly before the gates were removed.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
The lost Tate lions of SW2
Sorry to bore on about this - but the Brixton Buzz article done by Mike Urban in 2015 has two post card views from about 1905, after the gardens were created but before the Ritzy was built.
The sepia one has 4 lions - one of each gate post
The other shows more clearly the 2 lions on the library side of the gardens.
Unfortunately both these postcards seems to be modern reprints. The originals, if extant would have much better definition.
So the question is this - were are the plans showing the redesign of the Tate Library gardens in 1965? And why no photos of the plinth and bust with the now vanished lions?
It seems to me that the lions fell victim to the same slap-dash approach Lambeth had to town centre modernisation as when they took the Electric Avenue canopy down for "cleaning and restoration".
Of course the theft of public sculpture is not uncommon. Dulwich Park lost a much more significant Barbara Hepworth installation in 2011
www.theguardian.com
Southwark - more arts minded than Lambeth - arranged a replacement: Dulwich Park Gets Replacement For Stolen Hepworth Sculpture
Sorry to bore on about this - but the Brixton Buzz article done by Mike Urban in 2015 has two post card views from about 1905, after the gardens were created but before the Ritzy was built.
Brixton History: over 120 years of the Brixton Tate Library and Gardens in photos
With libraries in Lambeth under increasing threat of closure, we felt it would be a good time to celebrate the essential role Brixton Tate Library has played in the local community for over a hundr…
www.brixtonbuzz.com
The other shows more clearly the 2 lions on the library side of the gardens.
Unfortunately both these postcards seems to be modern reprints. The originals, if extant would have much better definition.
So the question is this - were are the plans showing the redesign of the Tate Library gardens in 1965? And why no photos of the plinth and bust with the now vanished lions?
It seems to me that the lions fell victim to the same slap-dash approach Lambeth had to town centre modernisation as when they took the Electric Avenue canopy down for "cleaning and restoration".
Of course the theft of public sculpture is not uncommon. Dulwich Park lost a much more significant Barbara Hepworth installation in 2011
Barbara Hepworth sculpture stolen from London park
Thieves took bronze work, possibly with resale of the metal in mind, after apparently driving into Dulwich park in the night
Southwark - more arts minded than Lambeth - arranged a replacement: Dulwich Park Gets Replacement For Stolen Hepworth Sculpture
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
The tate library gardens looked really nice in the 1960s - absolute concrete wasteland now.
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Pool is open for adults. But temperature is down.
DJWrongspeed
radio eros
Elm Park Tavern open again & busy tonight.
Tulster218
Well-Known Member
Here's a video of someone complaining Brixton Police park their cars on the double red lines on Gresham Road.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
still ongoing
felonius monk
Well-Known Member
FYI Due to the fatal accident right on the cross roads, pedestrians can't turn left onto Brixton road from Acre Lane (need to go via Trinity Gardens)
it is terrible round there, vans parked all over the place, also on Canterbury Crescent/Wiltshire Road. Makes cycling down Pope's Road north a bit dicey especially when you have to go round the corner blindly
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
let the tires down to teach them a lesson
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
do they still do a quiz there?
BusLanes
Pedestrian
I think they are intending to restart the quiz too
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Books, not bombs
TYRES
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Books, not bombs
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
release your inner pedant
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