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?

I feel like I ought to agree with all of this but unfortunately I bloody worship Maggi Hambling so I can't agree, sorry. It's a moral failure on my part but she's one of my modern heroines. There's a fantastic BBC doc about her on iplayer at the mo.
Feminist fails through having big crush on woman artist. Funny old world.

I just went to see it and it’s also TINY. And rather than having a nice bench or steps or seating area to sit and contemplate the quote (or for the school kids of the Newington Green School which is on the site of the girls only school Wollstonecraft founded) it has been plonked right next to the massive puddle which always appears as soon as it rains.
Jeremy Corbyn was there, too. I didn’t pluck up the courage to ask him what a woman is.

It will definitely promote comment and debate and that’s good, that’s what Mary did all her life.

What did she do all her life - get her tits out?

Comment and debate for all the wrong reasons which do not celebrate her life at all.

What utter cretans.

Yeah, she provoked debate through words, not tits.

The statue is debasing, degrading and foul. It diminishes the memory of a wonderful woman and great scholar. It is a travesty.

I'm really depressed by this. I love Maggi Hambling (not all of her work, but she's a great, inspiring presence) and I was really excited about this statue.

But it's ugly, and yes, why on earth is it a naked woman? It's supposed to be 'everywoman', not Wollstonecraft herself. But still -

I guess the being born anew explains the nudity?

• nobody is born a fully matured woman.

This is incredibly ironic because in her 'Vindication', Wollstonecraft stirringly writes about how women aren't just sex objects or mothers or wives but are capable of being scholars, mayors, soldiers - anything they want to be. She has entire chapters demolishing Rousseau's concept of women as pretty coquettes and 'mistresses'. Her work, to me, resonated with the idea that women are fully fledged people - human beings - not just generic 'WOMAN'. This statue doesn't understand her at all.

OK well let us just even things up. Let us see Darwin naked, do not think he would complain. I know just the person who could do this too.

nickelphicksculpture.co.uk/public-commissions

Yes, I can sort of see that point, Butterer. But nothing about the pose suggests something just born or new, to me. The figure is stiff, rigid, weird. It's a body that's been 'worked on' or worked out, it's honed and toned and perky. The face is - well, it's glaikit. Staring eyes, hollow. Empty.

I'm afraid it's just a really rubbish sculpture.

Italic fail. Excuse me.

Wollestonecraft reduced to a pair of perfectly pert tits tells you everything you need to know about liberal feminism. MW sought to free women from beauty's cage, not fashion a pretend freedom from it.

I've got some concept art for a new Dickens statue.. twitter.com/KatMallowArt/status/1326152260922077184?s=19

It’s appalling😡 For those who don’t know what Mary wolstencroft did all they’ll see is a naked woman on some swirling mass. That’s not going to make them say “who was this Mary wolstencroft and why does she have a statue” which is surely the point of a person being “immortalised” as a statue in a public place : to keep the memory of what that person did alive. Nothing here places Mary as a pioneer of her time and her extraordinary and brave approach to challenging the norms of her times. It won’t educate anyone who does already know about what she did. And those few that do are just going to be annoyed that she is being “shamed” in perpuity in her nakedness. As previous poster says who would want to be immortalised in the buff for ever-many of us would be horrified. Man or women. And they sure don’t immortalise “important” men in the buff
Agree with comments that this is all about the artist and nothing to do with educating and promoting what Mary did. It annoys me that we’re all now so annoyed by what she’s done were talking about it- and that’s what she wanted as “ that’s what arts about” 😡

Why does her vulva look like a monkey's bum?
(That's a sentence I've never typed before).

Is there anyone we can write to, to express disappointment and annoyance...can we petition to get a refund for whoever paid for it? 🤣

I had the birth of aphrodite/venus somewhere in the back of my mind, I think

The Birth of Venus is a beautiful painting, but it typifies woman as seen through the male gaze: submissive, arousing and hiding her modesty coquettishly. If this were a subversion of Renaissance art, you'd at least expect her to have realistic boobs.

www.facebook.com/MaryWOnTheGreen

I am hugely disappointed, did I say that already? I was so looking forward to this. A great idea, a great artist, so much work put into it ...

I’m sorry to be picky about this because I think it’s wonderful to have had a campaign to memorialise Mary Wollstonecraft in a place relevant to her life, but the actual image chosen looks disappointing. I do wonder a bit about the brief given.

www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/11/09/mary-wollstonecraft-sculpture-unveiled-decade-long-campaign/

I'm so cross and disappointed about this on so many levels. My teenage dd knows more about politics and the history of feminism than I do these days, so we won't be making a little trip to have a look, but a few years ago it would have been the kind of thing we might have done. The idea that one of the very few statues of notable women in London is yet again all about the tits enrages me. What message does that send out to women and girls? Quite apart from the fact that it's tiny and faintly comical.

www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/11/09/mary-wollstonecraft-sculpture-unveiled-decade-long-campaign/?fbclid=IwAR1yK5wclyPwSIAoQaUJIF6ThVTyonlrI1WWoQ0aFPxlMbwtfYGIDZyPMQ8

This article shows the full length sculpture. It's not quite so much fanny-in-your-face, but it's still a bit odd, I think. I also prefer the maquette (presumably?) shown in the top image - softer and less Tamara De Lempicka -esque.

MH explanation in the standard:

"As far as I know, she's the shape we'd all like to be"

I, I don't know what to say...

FFS

Oh, fuck off, Maggi. Come ON.