Tag Archives: sculpture

The town clerk who helped to save a wall built by the Romans

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HADRIANS WALL WAS commenced in 122 AD to fulfil the order of Emperor Hadrian, who wanted to separate Roman Britain from the so-called barbarians who lived in what is now Scotland and parts of Northumberland. The wall stretched 73 miles west from Bowness-on-Solway to Wallsend (next to Newcastle) on the River Tyne. Soon after it was built, it began to decline, and over the years, people used some of its stones to construct their own buildings.

Had it not been for the efforts of people like John Clayton (1792-1890), much of what we can see of Hadrian’s Wall today might have been lost forever. After having had a classical education, Clayton was a Town Clerk of Newcastle-on-Tyne and an antiquarian.

In 1796, John’s father, Nathaniel, bought the Chesters Eastate, through which part of Hadrian’s Wall runs. In its grounds, there stands a mansion, which was built in about 1771. After his father’s death in 1822, John inherited Chesters. John, who was keen on antiquities, excavated the Roman ruins on his land. These included what was left of a Roman fort known as ‘Cilurnum’. He also discovered the remains of a Roman Bridge that traversed to Tyne from the fort. After 1832, Clayton purchased other pieces of land on which there were remains of the Wall and its associated forts.

We visited Chesters, which is maintained by English Heritage. In addition to its well conserved remaims of the various parts of the Roman fort, there is a wonderful museum that contains many roman sculptures and inscribed stone discovered by Clayton. The museum, which is filled with many fine carvings, is delightfully old-fashioned. The museum was built after John Clayton’s death, but I am sure that he would have approved of the way his finds have been displayed.

A marquis and a sculptor and a ruined abbey in Scotland

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 MUCH OF THE ABBEY church in Jedburgh is ruined. Founded in the twelfth century as an Augustinian monastery,  Jedburgh was dissolved in the sixteenth century. Now a picturesque ruin, only one part remains intact. This small chamber contains funerary monuments of the Kerr family  the marquises of Lothian.

 

The fine sculpture depicting William Schomberg Robert Kerr (1832-1870), the eighth MARQUIS of Lothian was carved in 1879. by George Frederick Watts (1817-1904).  

 

By GF Watts at Jedburgh

I was particularly interested to ‘stumble across’ this sculpture by Watts because his sculpture, “Physical Energy”, a huge bronze horseman, which stands in London’s Kensington Gardens is one I often pass while walking in that park, which is near my home.

We went to view the Angel but did not find it angelic

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RIO DE JANEIRO has its tall Cristo Redentore statue with its outstretched arms, New York City has the Statue of Liberty, and Gujarat has its tall Statue of Unity. And northeast England’s Gateshead has the Angel of the North with its outstretched wings.

 

The Angel was created by the sculptor Antony Gormley, and completed in 1998. For many years I had been looking forward to seeing it ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, and today, 22 April 2026, we drove to see it. I am sorry to say that it did not impress me. The angel’s outstretched wings, with a wingspan of 177 feet reminded me not of an angel but of a rusty aeroplane. 

 

Of the many sculptures by Gormley that I have seen over the years, this Angel is not amongst my favourites. Nevertheless,  I am glad that I have seen it, and walked around its base, but I am not sure it is worth going out of your way to see it. We happened to be staying a few miles from it in Washington,  (after which a city in the USA has been named) in Tyne and Wear, so we made a small detour to see the Angel.

It looked like a reflection but that was an illusion

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WHEN WALKING ALONG the north side of London’s Euston Road between Albany Street and Hampstead Road, I passed a metal sculpture of a man, life-size, looking into the ground floor plate glass window of a newish building, part of the Regents Place development.

At first sight, it looked as if the sculpture was being reflected by the glass. As I thought that the sculpture looked like the kind of thing created by the British sculptor Antony Gormley, I took a closer look, and saw a plate embedded on the floor next to the artwork. It read:

“Antony Gormley Reflection 2001 cast iron”.

Then, looking carefully, I realised that what I thought was a reflection was in fact a replica of the sculpture outside on the other side of the window, in the building. And as I looked at this interesting idea, I noticed that the two sculptures differed in colour, otherwise they were mirror images of each other. Simple though the sculptures are, the idea that a reflection need not be a reflection struck me as intriguing.

Architecture as art at a gallery in Bombay

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OUR FRIEND GEETHA Mehra has her art gallery on 2nd Pasta Lane, near Colaba Causeway in Bombay. On one of our visits in November 2025, she had organised an exhibition, “Behind the Façade”, which consisted of works by the contemporary artist Teja Gavankar. The artefacts on display were almost architectural, some using brickwork and others containing other materials, As the gallery’s website explained:

“Gavankar is interested in dual states, in forms that appear rigid, where solidity gives way to softness and movement. A dialogue between natural and built environments unfolds, stemming from the artist’s experience of living in Mumbai’s suburbs. Gavankar observes the contours of the city during her commute, seeing organic forms emerge in its industrial undertones.”

Whereas architects make structures which are functional, Gavanka created architectural structures that were artworks designed to challenge the viewers perceptions of space. Seeing the brickwork sculptures and the patterned brick façade she designed for the gallery reminded me of the brick workshop we saw in progress at the Chitrakala Parishad in Bangalore a few days earlier (see: https://adam-yamey-writes.com/2025/11/20/bricks-and-design-at-an-art-school-in-bangalore-bengaluru/).

By Moore it moved from Chelsea to near Tate Britain

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RECENTLY I NOTICED a sculpture close to Tate Britain but not within it.

When the Chelsea School of Art – now the Chelsea College of Art and Design – moved from Chelsea to Millbank next to Tate Britain, so did this sculpture by Henry Moore (1898-1986). Called “Two Piece Reclining Figure No 1” and created in 1959, this was originally placed in the Chelsea campus of the art school, where for a time in the 1930s Moore was Head of Sculpture. When the college relocated to Millbank, the Sculpture moved with it.

Masks of transgender faces and an artwork in London’s Trafalgar Square

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THERE ARE FOUR stone plinths on London’s Trafalgar Square. Three of them bear statues of noteworthy men of the past. The fourth plinth, which is at the northwest corner of the square, was destined to carry a statue of King William IV, but it was never placed there. For many years, the fourth plinth remained unused, but from 1999 onwards it became used to display works of art. Works are commissioned for the plinth, and remain displayed on it for, typically, a year or two. This year’s artwork, “Mil Veces un Instante” (‘A Thousand Times in an Instant’) is by the Mexican artist Teresa Margolles (born 1963).

At first sight, the sculpture looks like a rectangular box-like framework covered with white ovoid shells, rather like halves of easter eggs. On closer examination, these shapes look like the internal surfaces of moulds taken from faces. Indeed, that is what they are. As an article on Wikipedia explained:

“Casts of the faces of 850 trans people from London and around the world. The ‘life masks’ are arranged around the plinth in the form of a tzompantli, a skull rack from Mesoamerican”.

And a notice by the plinth informed the viewer that:

“The casts have been created by applying plaster directly onto the faces of participants, meaning that as well as recording their features the plaster is infused with their hair and skin cells … The material is important to the work, it is fragile and will deteriorate (although not disintegrate) over time. The fragility of the material is a reflection community, both fragile and strong. The material also has a tendency to pick up other materials into the work. The material retains traces of the participants such as eyelashes, eyebrows, skin cells, makeup etc, they are present in the work.”

Well, what was the artist trying to tell the viewer? On 22 December 2016, Karla, a trans-gender woman, was found murdered in a Mexican city. According to the information panel, the work on the plinth is both a memorial to Karla and an object to raise awareness of the violence and abuse faced by so many transgender and other gender non-conforming people around the world.

Unlike some of its predecessors on the fourth plinth, Margolles’s work, is not particularly visually striking. Its strength lies in the concept that led to its creation. It expresses a message, but it is not one that is at all obvious to the casual passer-by. If one does not read the information panel, this work would make little or no impression on those who happen to notice it. I hope that the next piece to occupy the plinth will be more eye-catching, even though the present one is full of good intention.

Fascinating artworks at a gallery in Cambridge

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ARTSPACE 5-7 IS A small gallery housed in a pre-WW2 Modernist building in Portugal Place, a side street that leads away from Bridge Street in the university town of Cambridge. We visited the gallery in August 2025, and viewed a collection of sculptures and drawings by the London born artist Richard Bray (born 1955). A few years after being awarded a degree in Photographic Arts at the Central London Polytechnic, he was awarded a degree in Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and Design. His exhibition at Cambridge is called “Visible Invisible”.

Whereas kinetic art depends on its movement for effect, Bray’s finely crafted sculptures and prints are static. However, as the viewer moves around his artworks, viewing them from different perspectives, what can be seen changes. Bray’s works seem to acquire internal movement that can only be perceived when the viewer moves past or around them. These effects, which add great beauty to his works, cannot be captured using still photography. Three of the sculptures were on display in the churchyard of St Clements opposite the gallery

Bray spent time in Tanzania during the 1980s. What he must have seen in the way of local design and crafts has clearly influenced the appearance of the works we saw in Cambridge. In fact, when I first entered the exhibition, I saw what I mistakenly thought was a collection of sculptures from Africa.

The gallery because of its Modernist design is worth seeking out when you visit Cambridge. The exhibition of Bray’s works, about which we knew nothing in advance, were refreshingly exciting to see.

A bird of the sea on wheels  in Folkestone

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THE MOBILE GULL APPRECIATION UNIT was created by Mark Dion in 2008 for the 2008 Creative Folkestone Triennial. On wheels, this enormous model of a seagull can be towed to different locations. The seagull can be entered and is used by people trying to persuade viewers to understand and appreciate gulls, which are often regarded as pests. Personally, I have nothing against these creatures.

Folkestone in Kent has become a town filled with art works. Every 3 years it hold an art festival, the Folkestone Triennale. This year it began two days ago. This is one of the permanent works.