Mary Wollstonecraft memorial statue provokes mixed reaction

[SpookyFrank]

If she's into that sort of literalism, she missed a trick by not crafting this one from a stone wall.

Or a brick wall, because Brixton is a bit like Bricks-ton and never mind the fact it's not in Brixton I just like bricks so fuck you. Also give me money.

 

[JimW]

t appears to be a self-portrait of Hambling c.1970.

Iiiiii'm every woman, it's all in meeeeeee

 

[discokermit]

i like it.

 

[Thora]

http://islingtontribune.com/article/visions-of-mary

Interesting to see what the other option was...

 

[Sprocket.]

Looking at the figure more closely, it resembles a budget limited pattern for moulding a Action Woman copy.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Iiiiii'm every woman, it's all in meeeeeee

Tbh this sculpture is more like, 'woooooaah bodyform, bodyform for yoooooooooouuuu.'

 

[littlebabyjesus]

http://islingtontribune.com/article/visions-of-mary

Interesting to see what the other option was...

Oh god, gimme Hambling's tiny woman any day.

 

[Thora]

 

[Sprocket.]

Oh god, gimme Hambling's tiny woman any day.

Sadly that is the impression it leaves. Mary Wollstonecraft, tiny insignificant woman.

 

[Pickman's model]

Sadly that is the impression it leaves. Mary Wollstonecraft, tiny insignificant woman.

perhaps mary wollstonecraft, zombie slayer should have been the title which the organisers provided to prospective sculptors

 

[JimW]

View attachment 238224

That's pretty Franklin Mint.

 

[Thora]

Oh god, gimme Hambling's tiny woman any day.

I do kind of understand little naked woman more if it has the quote “I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves” on it. But I’m not entirely keen.

 

[Cid]

View attachment 238224

Also not great. And... er... their other option was designed by a man? I mean...

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Sadly that is the impression it leaves. Mary Wollstonecraft, tiny insignificant woman.

I think that's a bit of a stretch, tbh. My criticism would be more that it doesn't appear really to say anything particularly about Wollstonecraft at all. Which is a pity, and is a contrast with her Wilde thing, which captures Wilde's louche nature rather well. I suspect Hambling probably relates to Wilde more than she does to Wollstonecraft.

 

[8ball]

The bit at the top is quite well done.
When is it going to be finished?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The bit at the top is quite well done.
When is it going to be finished?

Are you my dad?

 

[8ball]

Are you my dad?

 

[salem]

I think the mockup looks better - the everywoman looks more of an everywoman and doesn't have that quite frankly weird bush.

 

[danny la rouge]

I'm not sure Sue . Maybe something super abstract or something more traditionally representational. I'm not an expert on sculpture so happy to be surprised I guess.

I was not expecting a tiny naked silver woman?

It’s fine without the tiny silver naked woman.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I don't see anything weird about the bush. In fact the bush is one of the better bits. Most portrayals of naked female bodies either downplay or remove it. This celebrates it. Yay to the bush!

 

[bimble]

I hate it. Increasingly think ‘public art’ shouldn’t be a thing at all. Somebody in a room somewhere commissions a thing and then everyone else has to live with it forever.
This one looks like pretentious ectoplasm .

 

[JimW]

Maggi misread it as a pubic art commission.

 

[danny la rouge]

I hate it. Increasingly think ‘public art’ shouldn’t be a thing at all. Somebody in a room somewhere commissions a thing and then everyone else has to live with it forever.

Is it near a dock...?

 

[Cid]

I don't see anything weird about the bush. In fact the bush is one of the better bits. Most portrayals of naked female bodies either downplay or remove it. This celebrates it. Yay to the bush!

It’s a token bush. An afterthought.

 

[platinumsage]

Benjamin Huntsman (1704-1776) was an English toolmaker who developed new techniques for coke-fired crucible steel production. It seems like this sculpture was intended for him, but perhaps funding didn't come through so she just plopped the naked woman on top and and repurposed it.

 

[Cid]

It’s frustrating. I’d have got Halima Cassel on the job. But I can think of a few others that would be excellent... it’s just there’s a total dearth of imagination in public art commissioning. Apparently.

 

[trashpony]

Her pudenda is weird -

I really hate it - I heard Hambling on the radio this morning and she said she had no idea who Wollstonecraft was before. For a self-proclaimed feminist, I find that a bit of a troubling admission

 

[Cid]

I hate the finish too... all blended and slick and shiny.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I heard Hambling on the radio this morning and she said she had no idea who Wollstonecraft was before.

tbh that does come across. And it makes her a strange choice. It doesn't particularly look like she really looked into the subject either.

 

[Raheem]

I think the mockup looks better - the everywoman looks more of an everywoman and doesn't have that quite frankly weird bush.

Sort of agree, it looks better. But not good, just better. You just can't have an idealised female form as part of this sculpture, it's plain stupid.

But then, with the more roughly done figure, you'd have the objection that the artist is afraid to show the female body.

Good solution to this dilemma would have been to come up with a better idea for a sculpture.