Mary Wollstonecraft memorial statue provokes mixed reaction

[Cid]

Here's a statue in the middle of Sheffield called 'Women of Steel', commemorating the women of the steel works 1914-18 and 1939-45. Actually by the guy who designed the alternate for the Wollstonecraft statue:

Best statue ever? Maybe not. But I think it does exactly what it set out to do, in the centre of Sheffield. Suppose they would be better with no clothes on though.

 

[killer b]

This twitter thread on thid is good, can't really argue with anything she says here

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I sorted the UK’s statues by gender – a mere 2.7 per cent are of historical, non-royal women

If you’re a woman, your best chance at becoming a statue is to be a mythical or allegorical figure, a famous virgin, royal or nude.

www.newstatesman.com

 

[killer b]

Here's a statue in the middle of Sheffield called 'Women of Steel', commemorating the women of the steel works 1914-18 and 1939-45. Actually by the guy who designed the alternate for the Wollstonecraft statue:

Best statue ever? Maybe not. But I think it does exactly what it set out to do, in the centre of Sheffield. Suppose they would be better with no clothes on though.

This kind of leaden stuff is dreadful though. I can understand wanting to get away from strictly representational sculptures of people in old clothes, just... not in the direction Hambling chose.

 

[Cid]

This kind of leaden stuff is dreadful though. I can understand wanting to get away from strictly representational sculptures of people in old clothes, just... not in the direction Hambling chose.

Like I said, I don't think it's the best statue... I'm not a huge fan of representational stuff myself. But in this case, given many of the individuals are still alive, it does make a degree of sense to do something directly commemorative and a bit more literal. My point was more in response to LBJ's 'statues better off in the nud'. Which is ridiculous.

 

[JimW]

Few bog-standard ones here, this is of Cai Chang who was a women's rights pioneer and first chair of the Women's Federation:

Inoffensive I suppose.

 

[danny la rouge]

Everyone loves Andy Scott’s Kelpies. I do too. But some of his other stuff is like tawdry trinkets. It does remind me of tiny silver woman.

His one at Cumbernauld is horrible.

 

[danny la rouge]

“Angel of the ‘Nauld” is the nickname. It’s like RubyToogood ’s flying doll.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Go to the British Museum and you'll see way more naked men.

Ah those wacky Greeks.

Everyone loves Andy Scott’s Kelpies. I do too. But some of his other stuff is like tawdry trinkets. It does remind me of tiny silver woman.

His one at Cumbernauld is horrible.


View attachment 238346

Quite impressed by the arse on that kelpie.

Not sure its much use from an evolutionary or mobility standpoint mind.

 

[Cid]

Ah those wacky Greeks.


Quite impressed by the arse on that kelpie.

Not sure its much use from an evolutionary or mobility standpoint mind.

The kelpies are the horses in Danny’s first link. The er... mermaid... is called Arria.

 

[trashpony]

Edie - according to Hambling, it’s the body every woman wants. Why that’s relevant to Wollstonecraf, god knows.

This is a statue in East Lothian commemorating all the women who were murdered for being witches. I like it.

Apparently there are more statues of horses than women in London.

only a fifth of statues in the U.K. are of women and most of those are nameless and/ or fictional.

 

[danny la rouge]

Edie - according to Hambling, it’s the body every woman wants. Why that’s relevant to Wollstonecraf, god knows.

This is a statue in East Lothian commemorating all the women who were murdered for being witches. I like it.

Apparently there are more statues of horses than women in London.

only a fifth of statues in the U.K. are of women and most of those are nameless and/ or fictional.

View attachment 238353

That looks like an Andy Scott too. I don’t know it though.

 

[danny la rouge]

Quite impressed by the arse on that kelpie.

Ah, i think she’s a Celtic goddess. The kelpies are the horse heads in the link from the word kelpie in my post.

 

[killer b]

The answer isn't more statues of women, but to tear down the statues of men IMO

 

[danny la rouge]

Although, if people are talking about Mary Wollstonecraft, that’s a good thing.

 

[platinumsage]

Although, if people are talking about Mary Wollstonecraft, that’s a good thing.

They're not are they? They're talking about a shit miniature statue of a naked woman.

 

[danny la rouge]

They're not are they? They're talking about a shit miniature statue of a naked woman.

Because it’s a bad commemoration of Wollstonecraft.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Ah, i think she’s a Celtic goddess. The kelpies are the horse heads in the link from the word kelpie in my post.

Ah the Celts, well known for figurative art.

 

[danny la rouge]

Ah the Celts, well known for figurative art.

To be fair, that cape thing is supposed to be a confluence of waters: the Gaelic name for Cumbernauld, “comar nan allt”, translates as “meeting of the waters (or streams)”.

 

[editor]

This kind of leaden stuff is dreadful though. I can understand wanting to get away from strictly representational sculptures of people in old clothes, just... not in the direction Hambling chose.

I imagine most people in the city - including the people its commemorating - are more than happy with it, and would suggest that arty farty critics can do one.

 

[killer b]

I imagine most people in the city - including the people its commemorating - are more than happy with it, and would suggest that arty farty critics can do one.

I've no idea what 'arty farty critics' think about it, it was my opinion.

 

[killer b]

Is popularity the main metric we're supposed to judge are now or something? Jesus christ.

 

[belboid]

I imagine most people in the city - including the people its commemorating - are more than happy with it, and would suggest that arty farty critics can do one.

People commemorated in statues tend to be dead, so they don’t give a shit.

 

[editor]

People commemorated in statues tend to be dead, so they don’t give a shit.

But not in the example I was talking about.

 

[Santino]

Is popularity the main metric we're supposed to judge are now or something? Jesus christ.

I would popularity understood properly is one of the main metrics. Otherwise what have you got - formalism?

 

[editor]

Is popularity the main metric we're supposed to judge are now or something? Jesus christ.

Looks around to see who said that.
Fails to find a single person.

But in the case of sculptures celebrating people who are still living, I don't think their opinions should always be totally overridden by the artiste.

 

[belboid]

But not in the example I was talking about.

Most of them are too, actually, how many steelworkers from 1945 and earlier are still around? Not that many.

 

[killer b]

Looks around to see who said that.
Fails to find a single person.

But in the case of sculptures celebrating people who are still living, I don't think their opinions should always be totally overridden by the artiste.

You said you imagined most people in Sheffield are happy with the statue, which is more important than the opinion of some imagined art critic. I'm not sure what else you could have meant, other than popularity being the important thing here.

I've no idea how you can know the opinion of the majority of people in Sheffield about the quality of the sculpture mind (maybe belboid could give us a steer as a local though).

 

[editor]

Most of them are too, actually, how many steelworkers from 1945 and earlier are still around? Not that many.

Do you think those still alive should be totally excluded from all aspects of the design process about any proposed statues designed to celebrate their work?

I'm not saying that they should get to choose the design, but I absolutely think they should at least be included in the dialogue.

 

[Espresso]

Thinking about it, there is a sculpture (edit - that's not a sculpture. A representation, maybe?) of a naked woman in my town. She's fifteen foot tall and fictitious and the whole thing installation is about the freedom of the sea or somesuch.
The Wave