As the financial capital of the British Empire, the City commissioned imposing statues of those who had made it what it was. More surprising is the wealth of architectural sculpture, including the friezes of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the most important of the 'New Sculpture'.
London is one of the world's great cities for the visual arts. This book has been put together for everyone curious about London and about the place of modern and contemporary art in it. It takes you on a walking tour of public works of art created by famous and by less well-known artists. It introduces you to places connected to art - museums and galleries housing great collections, public squares and parks, churches, secular buildings, and sometimes more hidden locations. And it walks you by some of the places where the artists lived, worked, studied, and socialised.
The Westminster Borough of London, which includes much of the city's fashionable West End, boasts a large concentration of public sculptures, including war memorials, commemorative monuments, fountains, and other prominent works of art. Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster: Volume I documents nearly three hundred of these works, with illustrations and details of construction, selections of artists and sites, and conservation history. In the case of statues commemorating public figures, a brief biography is also provided focusing on the achievements celebrated. Additional sections discuss the use of Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, and the Victoria Embankment as sites for commemoration.
The vacant plinth in the north-west corner of London's Trafalgar Square has provoked controversy for generations. Originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, it remained empty because of a lack of funds. For a century and half, debate over the plinth's fate raged until 1998, when it was decided to use the spot as a site of temporary commissions of contemporary art by leading artists. A marble statue of a heavily pregnant disabled artist, a scale model of Nelson's HMS Victory with African print sails inside a huge bottle and a giant cockerel in striking blue are just some of the controversial and political art works that have added a modern and provocative element to the famous square. This book tells the story of the ongoing Fourth Plinth program from its inception to the very latest commission. Individual chapters present the background and genesis of each work, with behind-the-scenes views of the fabrication, contributions from some of the many individuals involved in the projects, including the artists, and in situ shots of all the installed works. And just as every commission reflects varied aspects of London's past and present as a global capital, the book, too, celebrates the impact of contemporary art on the vibrant, creative and multi-cultured city that it is today--one that has created the smallest but the most-talked-about sculpture park in the world.0.
Situated on the scenic River Avon, the West Country city of Bristol, England, has an abundance of public sculpture adorning its historic streets, buildings, and squares. This volume draws attention to over two hundred of these works through illustrations, biographical entries, and essays, including a detailed survey of Bristol's church monuments. Dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, Bristol was a major regional center as infamous for its slave trade as it was renowned for its sherry and manufacturing, and its fascinating history lives on in its monuments. The wealth of information that Public Sculpture of Bristol makes available will entice visitors to this vibrant city as well as encourage its guardians to plan for the conservation of its rich heritage.
The "Black Country" is an area historically known as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution—a thriving regioin built around deep coal seams, conjuring up images of fiery red furnaces by night and black, sooty citadels by day. Yet today the resource-rich region also features many striking public sculptures. This volume provides a comprehensive catalog to all of the historic sculptures and public monuments in Staffordshire and the Black Country. George Noszlopy and Fiona Waterhouse catalog each individual sculpture in detail, including information about the sculptor, the sculpture's historical and artistic significance, the commissioning agent, and the date of installation. The volume also features 350 black-and-white photographs that document the diverse and rich beauty of the region's public monuments. The ninth volume in the widely acclaimed, award-winning Public Sculpture of Britain series, Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country is an invaluable resource for British historians, art scholars, and travelers alike.
This volume contains important sculptures by most of the greatest British sculptors and some continental sculptors - John Flaxman, Auguste-Nicolas Cain, John Gibson, Francis Chantrey, Carlo Marochetti, Hamo Thornycroft, George Frampton, J. H. Foley and many others." "The study of architectural sculpture, falling between the history of art and the history of architecture, has been until very recently generally neglected - even by that great pioneer, Rupert Gunnis. Ray Mackenzie has in this volume for the first time demonstrated the importance of Glasgow's architectural sculpture and explained its function with a wealth of detail."--BOOK JACKET.
A journey through Johannesburg via three art projects raises intriguing notions about the constitutive relationship between the city, imagination and the public sphere- through walking, gaming and performance art. Amid prevailing economic validations, the trilogy posits art within an urban commons in which imagination is all-important.
In this sixth volume of Public Sculpture of Britain, the reader is presented with some dramatic contrasts in public sculpture. Public Sculpture of Warwickshire meticulously catalogues the vast array of work that exists in this region. Richly illustrated, the book reveals how Lady Godiva in Coventry and William Shakespeare in Stratford proved in different ways irresistible subjects for public sculpture, resulting in inspirational masterpieces by Reid Dick and Ronald Gower. Close scrutiny is also given to the modern sculpture. The post war reconstruction of Coventry symbolized the whole nation's recovery on both a social and economic front, and demonstrated through some of the most dynamic and innovative sculpture of modern times. The Public Sculpture of Britain series is profusely illustrated and catalogues in great detail sculpture in Britain available to the public. It is the published outcome of the National Recording Project of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, and it will eventually cover the whole of Britain. Earlier volumes in the series covered Liverpool, Birmingham, North-East England, and Leicestershire & Rutland.
An elegant survey of 80 of the best and most interesting statues throughout the capital, featuring 250 specially commissioned images by photographer Dennis Gilbert.