Cheryl Robson, author, has been campaigning for three years now for the installation of a life-size bronze statue of Virginia Woolf, on the banks of the Thames, in Richmond, a district in the south-western suburbs of Greater London. A long-term project, for which fundraising is not necessarily easy: £ 50,000 is needed for this tribute to the author ofA place of your own.
Sculptor Laury Dizengremel wished to represent Woolf sitting on a bench with her legs crossed and a book under one of her hands, smiling slightly as she watched the Thames flow. ” We had some remarks because she is shown smiling and enjoying the moment, which goes against the stereotype of the tortured artist », Underlines Cheryl Robson. Virginia Woolf, prone to nervous breakdowns during her lifetime, committed suicide in 1941, at the age of 59.
The idea was precisely, through this peaceful statue, to go against the stereotype of the genius author, thanks to her madness. ” If you read her diary you realize that every day she would walk her dog on the banks of the Thames in Richmond, she would sit and enjoy the view. So that’s true to reality, and I think people like that idea of being able to sit next to him. », Adds Robson.
In a few days, fundraising has jumped: the project now has £ 21,000 in its coffers. This sudden craze follows a controversy, that of the statue installed in Newington Green, in north London, in tribute to Mary Wollstonecraft. Completely naked, a female figure is supposed to spring from a whirlwind of assembled women.
An artistic vision that was not unanimous, some reproaching an unnecessary nudity: only 3% of statues in the United Kingdom are women, outside royalty, recalls The Guardian, and thus figuring the pioneer of feminism was not without doubt not essential. ” Clothing defines and restricts people, it limits public reaction. She is naked here and she represents all women “, Justified the artist, Maggi Hambling.
The Woolf statue would respond to this missed opportunity: however, the project and the sculpture will have to be concretized, for the moment in resin, pending a bronze version. It is possible to contribute to the project at this address.
via ArtNetNews
Photography: illustration, ActuaLitté, CC BY SA 2.0
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