Public Sculpture of the City of London


Book Description

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'.




Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster


Book Description

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.




Public Sculpture of South London


Book Description

"In this tenth volume in the Publich Sculpture of Britain series, the varied and important, though often little-known, public sculpture of the Boroughs of Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewsham is illustrated and catalogued in detail."--BOOK JACKET.




Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country


Book Description

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.




London’s Statues and Monuments


Book Description

The streets and public spaces of London are rich with statues and monuments commemorating the city's great figures and events – from Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square and Sir Christopher Wren's Great Fire Monument to the charming Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, the range is glorious. Some commemorate events, while others celebrate people real or fictional; some take the form of small reliefs, while others are huge bronzes on pedestals, larger than life-size. Executed in stone, bronze and a range of other materials, London's statues and monuments include work by some of the world's greatest sculptors, and this book is a fully illustrated guide to the pieces and their stories: sometimes surprising and occasionally controversial, but always fascinating.




Public Sculpture of North-East England


Book Description

Documents some 450 public monuments and sculptures of the northeast of England. Entries on each piece contain bandw photos and details on materials, physical conditions, ownership and commissioning, and use and interpretation at various times in history. From this emerges a picture both of the development of public sculpture and monuments in the region and of the contribution these objects make to ideas of local identity. Material is arranged geographically. Includes bandw maps, a glossary, introductory essays, and brief biographies of sculptors and architects. Distributed by ISBS. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR




Fourth Plinth


Book Description

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.




Sculpture and the Garden


Book Description

Although the integration of sculpture in gardens is part of a long tradition dating back at least to antiquity, the sculptures themselves are often overlooked, both in the history of art and in the history of the garden. This collection of essays considers the changing relationship between sculpture and gardens over the last three centuries, focusing on four British archetypes: the Georgian landscape garden, the Victorian urban park, the outdoor spaces of twentieth-century modernism and the late-twentieth-century sculpture park. Through a series of case studies exploring the contemporaneous audiences of gardens, the book uncovers the social, political and gendered messages revealed by sculpture's placement and suggests that the garden can itself be read as a sculptural landscape.




London’s Statues and Monuments


Book Description

The streets and public spaces of London are rich with statues and monuments commemorating the city's great figures and events – from Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square and Sir Christopher Wren's Great Fire Monument to the charming Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, the range is glorious. Some commemorate events, while others celebrate people real or fictional; some take the form of small reliefs, while others are huge bronzes on pedestals, larger than life-size. Executed in stone, bronze and a range of other materials, London's statues and monuments include work by some of the world's greatest sculptors, and this book is a fully illustrated guide to the pieces and their stories: sometimes surprising and occasionally controversial, but always fascinating.




Art and the City


Book Description

Artistic practices have long been disturbing the relationships between art and space. They have challenged the boundaries of performer/spectator, of public/private, introduced intervention and installation, ephemerality and performance, and constantly sought out new modes of distressing expectations about what is construed as art. But when we expand the world in which we look at art, how does this change our understanding of critical artistic practice? This book presents a global perspective on the relationship between art and the city. International and leading scholars and artists themselves present critical theory and practice of contemporary art as a politicised force. It extends thinking on contemporary arts practices in the urban and political context of protest and social resilience and offers the prism of a ‘critical artscape’ in which to view the urgent interaction of arts and the urban politic. The global appeal of the book is established through the general topic as well as the specific chapters, which are geographically, socially, politically and professionally varied. Contributing authors come from many different institutional and anti-institutional perspectives from across the world. This will be valuable reading for those interested in cultural geography, urban geography and urban culture, as well as contemporary art theorists, practitioners and policymakers.