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?

@chicklingpixies

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

blood hell thats bigger than I thought ... I might not have enough purple! circumference 50 cm or 100 around the blob?

The scale is weird. The figure, doll-sized, seems like an afterthought as if she wanted to make something abstract but someone timidly asked ‘errr where’s Mary?’ and a whiskey sozzled Hambling said ‘there she is!’ and stuck her on as an afterthought. She’s a formidable woman is Maggie - I wouldn’t argue with her. She’s a fantastic artist but sculpture is not her forte.

Clothes are far less 'defining' and limiting than the notion there's some ideal shape all women would like to be.

I'd much rather look like Dorothy Hodgkin if I could have a fraction of her genius and unstoppable energy.

No apologies for posting this link again!

www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw07497/Dorothy-Hodgkin

I'm so sad about this.

Saying it's to provoke debate is so cheap.

Also saying this is the body we all want?!

So disappointed.

It would be lovely if women made her some feminist clothing.

I'd much rather look like Dorothy Hodgkin if I could have a fraction of her genius and unstoppable energy.

100x this

@SquishySquirmy

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.

@SquishySquirmy

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.

Made my day, this.

That statue isn’t far from me. Am I going to have to knit her a wee jumper?

SquishySquirmy

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.

Love it!

artActivistBarbie will report later...

Squishy

Shall I send ds down with a tape measure?

@ThatIsNotMyUsername

That statue isn’t far from me. Am I going to have to knit her a wee jumper?

yes

My newest project: a campaign to have a doll-sized statue of Charles Dickens with washboard abs and his todger out.

Oh this pisses me off. Mary gets 'celebrated' by a teeny naked statue and Kamala gets a header in the Telegraph about her sodding make up routine.

This is what you get if woman is simply an idea, all tits and makeup. That's what gets celebrated - not our achievements.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-54886813

'Ms Hambling has hit back at those who criticise her art work.

She said: "This sculpture encourages a visual conversation with the obstacles Ms Wollstonecraft overcame, the ideals she strived for, and what she made happen."

The Suffolk-based artist said her critics "are not reading the word, the important word, which is on the plinth, quite clearly 'for' Mary Wollstonecraft, it's not 'of' Mary Wollstonecraft.

"Clothes define people and restrict people, they restrict people's reaction. She's naked and she's every woman.

"Most male historic statues are way over life-size. My point was that the female figure doesn't need to dominate to be powerful."

"It's been compared to a rocket of hope going up to the sky, tracking the fight for female empowerment Wollstonecraft started." '

My newest project: a campaign to have a doll-sized statue of Charles Dickens with washboard abs and his todger out.

I'm in, as long as he's still got his customary neckerchief

So why did she need a figure on it at all?

And sadly it doesn't look powerful, it looks really silly.

It seems especially insulting, because we do know what she actually looked like. And we do know (but mostly can't be bothered to reference) what she thought and wrote about. I'm very annoyed.

My point was that the female figure doesn't need to dominate to be powerful

So much to unpack

I suspect Mary would have been horrified at it.

a doll-sized statue of Charles Dickens with washboard abs and his todger out.

I like this idea. Lots of nude male figures - Adam Smith in a mankini. David Hume in a cheeky turban and nothing else. Churchill with his famous cigar out.

So instead of a representation of an actual woman, we get an 'idea of a woman'...how very 2020

[quote dontwantamirena]Why must women always be nude in the art world. Men don't get naked blobby ~spirit~ statues. They get lifelike representations.

This other design is miles better:
islingtontribune.com/article/visions-of-mary[/quote]
Thanks, I hadn't seen the other design. Yes, much better - dignified & representative.

(I make abstract art, btw, so I'm not afraid of abstracts or art which expresses an idea. I just think the winning design is abysmal.)