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 will tell you another thing Maggie Hambling did not sculpt this, some anonymous minion did her bidding. She is 75 not physically strong enough to do this herself. It was her concept carried out by others.

I apologise for that, above, I don't mean to swear at anyone.

@Antibles

FFS. Would there be a statue of John Stuart Mill being 'born anew' in the buff?

If Mary Wollstonecraft, famous for her writing, had power over her statued form a couple of centuries on, I reckon she'd want clothes on it . As I would mine (for all my insightful feminist expositions, natch).

From that article: “I hope the piece will act as a metaphor for the challenges women still face as we confront the world.”

Well I suppose it does inasmuch as women still struggle to be recognised for their achievements but are often still reduced to tits and ass.

@Antibles, oh such eloquence, this is just what I came on to say.

@ArabellaScott

I apologise for that, above, I don't mean to swear at anyone.

Been swearing about it all morning

I’m being a bit pathetic today but I actually find it really upsetting. All the millions of ways they could have celebrated her and instead, as always, generic woman with boobs out. Just feels like such a fucking insult.

I agree Pumper.

Fucking hell the irony!

Also agree with Pumper.

@Butterer

This is a monument to Maggie Hamblin not Mary Wollstonecraft Nailed it

On that score I wonder if voters felt they couldn't vote for the male entrant despite his being more appropriate?

@HecatesCats

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...

Pretty certain Wollstonecraft would have something to say about that, and I suspect it wouldn't be in agreement with the artist

Very disappointing. I look at that statue and all I think is “Tits”. The overall concept is ok but why on earth couldn’t she have had some clothes on?

I heard the interview on the radio this morning about how clothes dictate something to the wearer of them (I don’t remember the exact phrase) but she, Everywoman, could easily have had some neutral plain clothing.

It would have been a thousand times better.

patons Dame Fiona Woolf
Shami Chakrabarti
Jude Kelly
and it looks like Bee Rowlatt are prime movers Shami June and Bee are on twitter

Okay. Am buying AVOTROW and reading as a corrective.

I will tell you another thing Maggie Hambling did not sculpt this, some anonymous minion did her bidding. She is 75 not physically strong enough to do this herself. It was her concept carried out by others.

Artists have done that for centuries. Most of the great masters were not painted by the artist themselves.

@chicklingpixies

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.

Can I ask for rough estimates of size like is the weird mary about the size of a sindy doll? and how big is the thing she's standing on? I am trying to knit her a feminist cloak but its really hard juding sizes from the photographs online.

I'm old enough to remember Maggi Hambling as one of the team captains on Gallery, which I loved - a quiz about art that Channel 4 showed when it first started broadcasting in the 80s alongside George Melly as the host. For anyone interested here's a link to an episode I found on youTube, with Joanna Lumley as one of the guests.

I don't think I'd ever seen a woman like her before - hugely knowledgeable, unsmiling, wearing a suit and smoking like a lum - I thought she was magnificent...in fact I'm looking at a photo of her now stuck on my pinboard but sadly I have to agree that this sculpture is not what you'd want to honour Mary Wollstonecraft.

Seems like a lost opportunity to me.

It's not just a naked woman, is a tiny, grumpy naked woman! Which is exactly how the patriarchy views us!

Call me unreasonable but I was actually expecting the statue to be of Mary Wollstonecraft?! Is that asking too much?!

I like that you're knitti g her a cloak, catspaw. Feminists- please #sendmaryclothing

I am trying to knit her a feminist cloak

Oh lovely

Its turning into more of a poncho...

fatblackcatspaw the plinth comes up to my hip (I’m 5’3”), the blob is about 2m and the weird Mary is pretty much the size of a sindy doll (but a bit wider). Hth

This is for scale. Naked woman tiny and the whole thing not even imposing.

I am the Every Woman.
Rising through centuries of pain.
I am the Every Woman....
But whoops! My clothes fell off again!
I'm Venus smiling coyly.
I'm Mary in a strop.
You trapped me on a pedastal,
and its chilly at the top.