Sculptors Papers from the Henry Moore Institute Archive

Really interesting small exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at seven public sculptures in London from conception to public reception, through the artists papers taken from the Henry Moore Institute Archive.

I had never heard the story of the Epstein figures for the old BMA building on the Strand which were controversial when they were unveiled and which were deliberately damaged when the Rhodesian High Commission took over the building in the 1930s. The display looked at this controversy and at more recent campaigns to get hem restored.

I had not imagined that the statue of the First World War general Haig on horseback on Whitehall which I pass nearly every day had been controversial or that it was the last equestrian monument in the UK.

There was also a section on the Karl Marx memorial in Highgate Cemetery which has become an icon and rallying point.

All in all a fascinating little show.

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