Statue to honour Wollstonecraft

[MedusasBadHairDay]

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?

A reminder for anyone who appreciates the Virginia Woolf sculpture that they still need to raise money towards it: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/displayCharityCampaignPage.action?campaignId=8549

Dido thanks for that article. It was a good read.

I think the difficulty of executing public art may be the merest bit overstated, in general. In my experience, it's a flimsy excuse after the fact for being wildly out of touch with what the billpayers wanted to see.

I could rant about this at length, but I'll try not to. Suffice it to say, one of my local councils has a history of commissioning projects to beautify the district, getting something ugly in scrap metal with an alluring name, and reproving the public for their smallmindedness when they say, you spent how much of my council tax on this? After the furore has died down, they move the piece to somewhere it won't be seen, wait for people to forget about it and do it all over again.

My other local council has no such problems, and all their art projects are liked, lovely or simply ignored when we walk past, head down in mumsnet, because they engage with the public they have, not the public they think we should be. So projects are kept firmly in the realm of representational statuary.

My #1 favourite statue in London commemorating a powerful woman is the statue of Boudicca by Big Ben. She’s in her war chariot, horses galloping, with her spear in her hand and her daughters riding with her...to burn London to the ground. Love this statue and it’s over a hundred years old.

She may be the angel of peace... but in my mind she is all of the four riders of the apocalypse in one, coming to wreak havoc...

That’s lovely Vole.

Well they’ve definitely not created any monument to Wollstonecraft with this, but ironically seems like a new physical and conceptual site for feminist dissent is now springing up. In spite of, not because of, Hambling’s work or the brief that she was given.

I’m still confused how to memorialising Mary W as a thinker and a writer and making a teeny Bacofoil Barbie perched over the lumpish nameless female hordes (they have been officially confirmed as female- that’s not me assuming) could be thought to hang together as a concept.. but its nice to think some good discussions could happen in the meantime. Hopefully now one day Mary will get another monument.

@ThatIsNotMyUsername
Great statue! I see that she has defeated and killed the four horsemen of the apocalypse, captured their horses and tamed them for her use. :)

We used to drive around her a lot (pre 7 day a week congestion charge). ‘I’m coming for you, ya fuckers...!’

@MedusasBadHairDay

I've been so focused on the nudity I think I'd failed to notice the choice of quote too, "I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves." Of all the quotes they could have used (it's not like there's a whole book of them or anything) they picked one that feels more like a way of pacifying men's concerns?

Yes!!!

There is so much to say about this, but I think it's all been covered by this thread to be honest.

I love Julia Long, she is excellent!

Interesting to compare this statue to that of a political campaigner who did (purposely) appear half-naked in public - Gandhi in Parliament Square. He has been depicted with most of his body swathed in a wrap (historically correct) with only his head, hands, legs and ankles visible. I doubt whether Mary Wollestonecraft spent much time naked even in the childbirth which killed her, certainly not when thinking, reading, writing, disputing. Not in this climate, not in those times.

I also doubt whether she (MW) regarded herself as an 'everywoman' , definitely not one with the face and head of an idealised alien. In my opnion the statue should very much have seated her in her time and context all the better to show that the very idea of Rights of Women is not new and not complete. Not in these times, not in this place, not in any place.

#MaryWollstonecraft seeing her statue for the first time t.co/nsSVUbNG4z

[quote Imnobody4]#MaryWollstonecraft seeing her statue for the first time t.co/nsSVUbNG4z[/quote]
‘Silver tits’

😂

The Mary on the Green website says this:

"Mary on the Green: celebrating the life of Mary Wollstonecraft

Well, I don't see anything here about her life.

...Her life sends a message of encouragement to young people in a world divided along gender and class lines. Wollstonecraft’s work is far from done. The campaign has two goals:

The Memorial: a symbol of her legacy in a public statue/work of art
etc.

I guess they went with "work of art" rather than statue.

If I were a woman with a tendency towards being remarkable I’d be reconsidering my plans to cure cancer, end poverty and reverse climate change, lest I end up immortalised in a park somewhere with my knockers and bush out.

If I was fortunate or talented enough to achieve greatness, to make a significant impact in the political and social lives of women - is this how I would want to see myself on a plinth?

Awkward and naked? With someone having a guess about how my nethers/pubic hair and tits look? And if it's meant to be "everywoman" then the whole name on the bottom of the plinth disagrees. It has her name on it.

that MASSIVE bush/knob/whatever it is. (Is a dick hidden inside there?)

LOL. I guess we can add Bush cultivators to the list of Vulva owners, vagina havers etc.

And indeed, to have such an abundant bush is surely a feminist statement these days - what with all the porn inspired waxing that goes on, to satisfy the aesthetic demands of men who prefer the plucked chicken look.

@WeAreFromThePlanetDuplo

If I were a woman with a tendency towards being remarkable I’d be reconsidering my plans to cure cancer, end poverty and reverse climate change, lest I end up immortalised in a park somewhere with my knockers and bush out.

Women should write this into their wills, refusing permission to ever be commemorated, by/with/for/using any preposition or declension, in the nip.

That twitter video is brilliant!

@WeAreFromThePlanetDuplo

If I were a woman with a tendency towards being remarkable I’d be reconsidering my plans to cure cancer, end poverty and reverse climate change, lest I end up immortalised in a park somewhere with my knockers and bush out.

😂😂😂

[quote Imnobody4]#MaryWollstonecraft seeing her statue for the first time t.co/nsSVUbNG4z[/quote]
I agree this is wonderful. Very short sketch, by Susan Harrison.

Really worth a watch.

@PlanDeRaccordement

I agree it’s a strange choice to commemorate Mary Wollstonecraft. It looks rather like a Classical Venus statue rising out of the sea at her birth. I have no objections to nudity in statues see that often with Greek goddesses and such. But to me this is like the sculptor already had this statue in her garage unsold, and decided to write up some lame explanation to get it sold as Mary Wollstonecraft. I’d much rather have seen her depicted like a Lady Liberty...you know fully dressed, flag held high, leading her troops. The Fawcett statue is terrible. It looks like a woman hanging out the sheets to dry.

I'm actually liking this theory.

twitter.com/anitathetweeter/status/1326611345895256066?s=19
Someone has made her a little vest

I like the Boudicca statue.

This thread has reminded me of this monument in Skopje. Being a mother is not something we really seem to value in our culture, at least not enough to create grand statuary in a key location.

Well, it's certainly gone interactive.

Are we dressing dollies now? Maybe we can get a range of cut out clothes.