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?

Precisely.

If you'd prefer to only donate to a fund with an expectation that it will be decided where the money should go later, subject to a selection process, that's not unreasonable. But it's not a fundraising model that works with crowdfunders where T&Cs can mean you're supposed to have a defined goal and you have to raise all the money within x days.

This time, let it be clear and above board, with all donors being fully cognizant of what they're funding. Definitely a statue of Mary (not for!), looking like this, costing this, by Martin Jennings.

I really like the Jennings statue.

Honestly I think the Maggie Hambling one ( & I can see why they gave a very forthright woman the commission) just looks like something a GCSE class would have come up with ( with funding). As it is for Mary W not of her - I can see the point it may engender debate . But for how long & then what we are left with is - well - that.

No offence to talented teenage artists is meant by this post - In truth I reckon they could have done better , acquainted somewhat with her works. Seriously no offence meant to teenage artists.

That Ana Valens has a platform while the trans activists are doing their utmost to strip all gender critical women of any right to speak tells me everything I need to know about this movement and its acceptance among the wokerati.

@msflibble

I'm angry about this utter shit on so many levels. Why does MW have to represent "Everywoman" anyway? She wasn't everywoman, she was herself, and she deserves to have a commemoration that doesn't reduce her to some banal waifish pornstar-like figure and instead focuses on her specific achievements and talents. We don't see male public figures getting reduced to bland, hackneyed tropes of "everyman", they are allowed to be portrayed warts and all, in all their complexity. And anyway, if Hambling was going to design an Everywoman, that's nothing like the average woman. The female people I know who look similar are generally either adolescents or have eating disorders. Hambling even said it's not a statue of Wollstonecraft, it's just a statue for her. Well what's the fucking point of that then? The project was supposed to even up the amount of female public figures depicted in statuary and it's not even doing that because that's not even supposed to be MW herself. The idea that this represents a break from tradition is laughable, sculptors have been making models of idealised women with their tits out for thousands of years. Venus de Milo anyone? The whole thing is a fucking joke, I hope it gets vandalised beyond repair, preferably melted with a flamethrower into a silvery puddle, and replaced with something that gives MW the recognition and dignity her legacy deserves.

This. Even though I'm not British and don't live in the UK I am still so annoyed by the whole thing. "Everywoman" is every woman; the brief was to commemorate HER and her achievements. We have "everywoman" around us all the time, we don't need to be commemorated as some really fit young thing with a broccoli bush! I am 69 and don't want t body like that. Even though I'd like to lose a 3-5 kilos for comfort, I have the body of a grandmother and have absolutely no desire to be young again, or to even look young again -- I am very happy to be freed from the male gaze. How dare she think she is representing us all with that monstrosity? The ego behind it is mind-boggling.

While we regret having to make this clear, we very clearly want to state that this is an explicitly trans-inclusive project. We state this as we note that frequently a nude female form is taken as a canvas for promoting trans-exclusionary arguments about what constitutes being a ‘woman’; we do not wish to promote these dog-whistles in any way. We as such will not accept any work for this project that promotes trans-exclusionary arguments.

What bollocks. So they want yet another statue of a man.

@BasiliskStare

Honestly I think the Maggie Hambling one ( & I can see why they gave a very forthright woman the commission) just looks like something a GCSE class would have come up with ( with funding). As it is for Mary W not of her - I can see the point it may engender debate . But for how long & then what we are left with is - well - that.

No offence to talented teenage artists is meant by this post - In truth I reckon they could have done better , acquainted somewhat with her works. Seriously no offence meant to teenage artists.

I'm not so sure. For a few years, I had a job coaching artists-to-be at the Arts faculty of Brighton University. I was sometimes horrified with what they came up with, in their desire to be edgy. And the girls were the worst. It was as if they were all falling over each other in their desire to break taboos: knickers on display with blood-stained crotches, stuff with their own poo -- some of it really disgusting, and all very personal. This was in the years 2004-2006 so not that long ago.

I much prefer this statue of Medusa carrying the head of Perseus. A wronged woman turning the tables on her attackers!

news.artnet.com/art-world/medusa-courthouse-statue-1914971

I always liked this one

@ThatIsNotMyUsername

I always liked this one

A Judith and Holofernes. Husband and I have a little game at art galleries of counting how many Judith and Holofernes , Salome and John the Baptists, Susanna and the Elders and St. Sebastians we spot.

I've donated to the Crowdfunder and I'm still angry about 'The Blob'

If it doesn't depict or represent MW and isn't meant to depict or represent her life or work, WHY does it have her name on it at all??

Julia Long is going to be on Jeremy Vine's show on Channel 5 in a minute, talking about this.

Oh heck. Julia can’t hear vine

Julia Long is a legend.

She was great. Also she is local and said she had donated

Loving Julia dismissing the Lib Fem panellist's arguments.

Yeah she bored her right off 😂😂😂🔥🔥🔥🔥

Just watched the chat about this on Jeremy Vine and Julia Long was brilliant! I was really happy with the discussion and the points put across were so great and well made.

Karl Marx's willy!

@TinselAngel

Karl Marx's willy!

Well done Julia, that image will have won over the vast majority of viewers

some of it really disgusting, and all very personal

Yes the line between 'fashionably edgy' and 'self indulgent wankery and really poor work' has long since been lost. Like this, when the basic facts are that the emperor (empress) is stark bollock naked, and the artist's personal self expression is now taking place solely in their heads and to no actual purpose other than their own gratification rather than any meaningful external communication. When they pull out more wankery about 'well it's got you talking hasn't it?' it really proves the point.

My toddler smashing peanut butter all over the floor gets me talking. It isn't art.

Please, please please, do explain about Karl Marx's willy? That sounds right on the... er… button.

I notice this has been set up. A fiver anyone?
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/statue-for-mary-wollstonecraft

Please, please please, do explain about Karl Marx's willy? That sounds right on the... er… button.

Julia said that you wouldn't have a statue of Karl Marx showing his willy. For me this immediately conjured up a mental image of KM with his willy hanging out and judging by the smirks on the faces of Jeremy Vine and Sarah Jarvis, they thought the same. Those in the studio then went on to say it was true that someone like Winston Churchill or Nelson wouldn't have a willy on display. Again it immediately prompted my imagination and I could see Winston playing with himself in Parliament Square and Nelson erect on his column.

That's quite an image So true too.

Thank you!

Some say Marx couldn't keep it in his pants so maybe that's appropriate?

One of the committee basically admitted they chose the Hambling entry over the other (clothed) entry by Martin Jennings because Hambling is a woman.

Great, more ammunition for those who use feminism as a stick to beat women with.

There also seems to have been some sleight of hand slipperiness with what the Committee is saying - the fundraising was billed as 'Mary on the Green', indicating raising funds for a statue OF Mary on the Green this has now morphed into a statue FOR Mary and what she 'represents'. I would be demanding my money back if I had donated on the grounds that the Committee deliberately misled donors as to what their intentions were.

The alternative statue by Martin Jennings is a far superior representation of Mary and what she stood for and 'represents' than the insulting monstrosity they chose, added bonus that people can sit and read a book there, perhaps 'A Vindication of The Rights of a Woman' would be an apt choice.

I'll donate to that crowdfunder and hope the Committee see sense, donate M Hambling's one to an art/sculpture museum and agree to site M Jenning's work on the site of the present statue instead.