Page 15 | Statue to honour Wollstonecraft

MedusasBadHairDay · 2020-11-10T01:08:17+00:00

[[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/10/mary-wollstonecraft-finally-honoured-with-statue-after-200-years]] It's a naked woman.. Currently reading A Vindication of the Rights of Woman for an OU course, and - unless the tone changes dramatically in the second half of it - I'm not seeing how an idealised nude is the right statue to convey anything about her?

Malahaha · 11/11/2020 16:45

The Critic has a good article and a lovely close-up of that MASSIVE bush/knob/whatever it is. (Is a dick hidden inside there?)

thecritic.co.uk/a-metal-barbie-on-the-crest-of-an-143000-turd/?fbclid=IwAR3kFeZp3VQofZSRIup-SqHNimMuAcWreIdevRozjSfYjP1431e9l0gHLEI

anon444877 · 11/11/2020 16:26

Hate it. I was so excited about the statue and then I saw what they'd done, put a naked aspirational female body on top of a faceless mass of others. Horrid.

ThatIsNotMyUsername · 11/11/2020 16:22

I’ve just realised what it reminds me of... give it a cigar and it’s a slightly skinnier version of the buck angel silver statue... (without the tats).

WhereYouLeftIt · 11/11/2020 16:18

"This is a monument to Maggie Hamblin not Mary Wollstonecraft."

Absolutely this ^ .

ThatIsNotMyUsername · 11/11/2020 16:14

I went to art school. I dinnae like it...

Malahaha · 11/11/2020 16:13

I suspect it will become an object of derision moving forward. People clothing her in all kinds of stuff, leaving message, defiling it.

The artist put herself in the centre of this work. And her repudiation of the public's critique is all about "you hoipolloi don't GET my art. You are too literal. You need a fine, creative and deep mind to appreciate all the subtleties of ART."

fatblackcatspaw · 11/11/2020 16:05

snork! at least it was not totally useless then!

VoleClock · 11/11/2020 15:57

I have just been to see it - worse in real life than in the pictures. What was actually lovely in these Covid times, and as I live alone, was to spend twenty minutes or so chatting to different people who had come to see it too (everyone I spoke to disliked it)

littlbrowndog · 11/11/2020 15:47

Thank you sandy draws badly

DidoLamenting · 11/11/2020 15:36

@Malahaha

Has the Independent article been posted yet? www.independent.co.uk/voices/mary-wollstonecraft-statue-maggi-hambling-criticism-b1721059.html?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2fRcIMSUaM8YFwHUOxa8ncGUXWaAZduHF7iGhM3Xe8sVCKMhQDMhY8IWo#Echobox=1605100378

Wollstonecraft is not the protagonist here; the spectator is – and the feminist remains faceless among London’s statues, her ground-breaking achievements diminished. It’s less a vindication of the rights of woman, more a vindication of the right to see woman naked.

That's an excellent article.

DidoLamenting · 11/11/2020 15:32

It’s notoriously difficult to get public art right, that difficult balance of nuance, freely expressed creativity and one-shot impact

Which the writer of the article below thinks was not achieved here

www.standard.co.uk/culture/mary-wollstonecraft-statue-nude-b63009.html

Well yes it is, but there are at least 3 examples on here where it actually looks quite easy (even allowing for the dictum that the art conceals itself) - the Prestonpans witch, the seated Virginia Woolf and the woman and children in Govan.

Off the top of my head James Joyce's statue in Dublin is equally engaging as indeed are several others in Dublin. Stavanger has taken the same approach as Dublin and has several interesting and quirky statues of famous and real people. It’s over 30 years since I was in Stavanger and 20 since I was in Dublin yet they are still memorable.

Malahaha · 11/11/2020 14:49

Has the Independent article been posted yet? www.independent.co.uk/voices/mary-wollstonecraft-statue-maggi-hambling-criticism-b1721059.html?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2fRcIMSUaM8YFwHUOxa8ncGUXWaAZduHF7iGhM3Xe8sVCKMhQDMhY8IWo#Echobox=1605100378

Wollstonecraft is not the protagonist here; the spectator is – and the feminist remains faceless among London’s statues, her ground-breaking achievements diminished. It’s less a vindication of the rights of woman, more a vindication of the right to see woman naked.

Butterer · 11/11/2020 14:27

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TinselAngel · 11/11/2020 14:16

@Escapeplanning

And mimmymum's first off the block hauling along one of her usual threads of bitterness and spite. Is she going to have to love the statue on principle?

Those pictures of Janice and Julia generally being ace on Mimmy's tweets!

I loves them both

Butterer · 11/11/2020 14:09

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Butterer · 11/11/2020 14:05

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Butterer · 11/11/2020 14:04

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dontwantamirena · 11/11/2020 14:00

Pictures 5 and 8 show the statue from behind and it looks quite masculine with short hair, albeit with a round bottom:

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/mary-wollstonecraft-naked-sculture-maggi-hambling-b63158.html

The arm proportions being wrong are also more obvious.

AcornAutumn · 11/11/2020 13:56

@PhoebeSnow

I like what a previous poster said about Mary being a woman of words, she should be clothed in words. Anyone out there who could start a big blanket with her words embroidered on it? I’m not in London but would happily contribute a square to that.

Lovely idea

Unfortunately, post lockdown I’m more likely to go there with some of Mary’s words written on a bin liner which I will then put over the statue.

Butterer · 11/11/2020 13:56

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Escapeplanning · 11/11/2020 13:56

Let's ask Tracey Emin to make a tent for it.

Mollyollydolly · 11/11/2020 13:56

It's appalling but it's going to get dressed and stickered to death which is a good thing. It's going to become a symbol of feminist resistance to shitty depictions of great women. Make shit art and we'll show you what we think of it.

PhoebeSnow · 11/11/2020 13:54

I like what a previous poster said about Mary being a woman of words, she should be clothed in words.
Anyone out there who could start a big blanket with her words embroidered on it? I’m not in London but would happily contribute a square to that.

HecatesCats · 11/11/2020 13:54

@lingle

perhaps it was important to commemorate that Mary Wollstonecroft did not shave her pubic area?

I'm pretty sure it's what she would have wanted

Escapeplanning · 11/11/2020 13:54

And mimmymum's first off the block hauling along one of her usual threads of bitterness and spite. Is she going to have to love the statue on principle?