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?

[HecatesCats]

@ArabellaScott

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.

Teeny tiny chaps with their chaps out all over the place. Wouldn't undermine our great historical figures at all, would it.

[Lifeaintalwaysempty]

Completely agree OP this was also my first thought, how ironic yet unsurprising that a statue marking the ‘mother of feminism’ would be so objectifying and reductionist. You couldn’t make it up. What a disgrace. All it had gone to prove is yet again what happens when men are making the decisions.

[Escapeplanning]

Yes, men will definitely walk past that and think , "oh look a feminist icon" and not "give us a lift up for a selfie grabbing her tits".

Awful.

[Thelnebriati]

I prefer the runner up. Its meh. The proportions look off (I dont think its just the camera angle) and its going to look dated very quickly.

In any case, Klimt did it better.
english.emmaclit.com/2017/05/20/you-shouldve-asked/

[Thelnebriati]

Oops, thats the wrong link;
uploads8.wikiart.org/images/gustav-klimt/medicine-final-state-1907.jpg

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

@PearPickingPorky

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 hate it when someone responds to criticism (as the artist or the one who commssioned or curated it) with a cheery, "At least it's got people talking!". Yes, but not in a good way.

In this case, wouldn't it be better to have something that people love & feel inspired by? Something that makes them go & find out who Mary Wollstonecraft was? Something that makes donors feel proud that they contributed?

[FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack]

That's such a disappointment.

I read a quote from the artist pouring scorn on the idea of Victorian statues of men on a plinth. Those statues are all about the men and not the artist though, this is more of a giant ego trip for the artist than anything relevant to Mary Wollstonecraft or her life.

[NeurotrashWarrior]

Looks like it'll get people interacting with a fashion range for it.

Liking this sculpture though.

[littlbrowndog]

Here we go then

[dontwantamirena]

So the campaign page states:

"The memorial will be a tangible way to share Wollstonecraft’s vision and ideas. Her presence in a physical form will be an inspiration to local young people in Islington, Haringey and Hackney. And it will send a powerful message beyond that, across the world. Just as the image of Churchill’s memorial statue is used in debates on his legacy, the same is needed for Mary Wollstonecraft."

www.maryonthegreen.org/project.shtml

The statue we got doesn't really fulfil this. It's entirely not based on her likeness but an imagined version. Who is going to be inspired by yet another abstract naked woman?

The BBC article someone linked earlier mentions:

"Writer Tracy King tweeted: "There is no reason to depict Mary naked unless you are trying to be edgy to provoke debate.

"Statues of named men get to be clothed because the focus is on their work and achievements.

"Meanwhile, women walking or jogging through parks experience high rates of sexual harassment because our bodies are considered public property.""

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

It's not enough just poorly thought out, it's harmful.

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

@ArabellaScott

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.

I kept thinking of the robot in Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

dog
Brilliant! Yet weirdly, the head now looks very masculine.

[Thelnebriati]

The idea that all the women who came before her were just some vague, formless mass is offensive. Their names and achievements were not recorded unless they were nobility or royalty, that doesn't mean they did not exist. They were deliberately ignored and concealed, not unformed.

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

Warrior The Virginia Woolf one is gorgeous, especially if you can sit down next to her!

[HecatesCats]

@littlbrowndog

Here we go then

That's better!

Love the Virginia Woolf sculpture Neuro

[dontwantamirena]

Here is Churchill's memorial statue that we are supposed to contrast this with.

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

@Thelnebriati

The idea that all the women who came before her were just some vague, formless mass is offensive. Their names and achievements were not recorded unless they were nobility or royalty, that doesn't mean they did not exist. They were deliberately ignored and concealed, not unformed.

For example, Christine de Pisan 1364-1430.

[DidoLamenting]

@littlbrowndog

What a horrid statue

Conveys nothing about her and seems like she is standing on top of women or shapeless forms

Why is she naked ffs

I will read the rest of the thread but honestly nothing more need be said.

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

dont Too many clothes.

[DidoLamenting]

@NeurotrashWarrior

Looks like it'll get people interacting with a fashion range for it.

Liking this sculpture though.

That's lovely and I don't even like Virginia Woolf.

[DidoLamenting]

@WinterIsGone

Didn't catch the name of the man who was talking but he 'explained' that 'clothes define people' and she is 'challenging the world'.
I thought that was Maggie Hamblin talking???

Maggie Hambling does have a very deep voice for a woman.

[JulesJules]

I hate it, really hate it.

[NeurotrashWarrior]

Perfect littledog 😍 !

The other entry for the Wollstonecraft sculpture looks like you could sit next to her too, which is lovely.

Public sculpture is a different kettle of fish to gallery sculpture. The patronage and audience is different.

[Melroses]

Maggie Hambling does have a very deep voice for a woman.

Apparently she has given up smoking.

[Escapeplanning]

Superdrug could have done the job for 65 quid.

www.superdrug.com/Fragrance/Perfume-For-Women/Women%E2%80%99s-Perfume/Jean-Paul-Gaultier-Classique-Eau-de-Toilette-50ml/p/339713