An exhibition opening next month in London will show how postwar public art is being lost, damaged or destroyed.
Out There: Our Post-War Public Art, at Somerset House from 3 February to 10 April, has been developed by Historic England to tell the story of public art created between 1945 and 1985.
Historic England recently revealed a list of lost, destroyed, sold or stolen postwar public artworks, and appealed to the public to help recover them. The organisation used its own research to create the list as well as information from the Twentieth Century Society, the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, historians and the artists themselves.
“Part of England’s national collection of public artworks is disappearing before our eyes,” said Duncan Wilson, the chief executive of Historic England. “Historic England’s research is only the tip of the iceberg as it’s almost impossible to trace what has happened to every piece of public art since 1945.
“What we do know is that this art work was commissioned and created for everyone to enjoy, and it should remain accessible to all. We want to raise awareness of just how vulnerable these works can be and we want the public to help us track down lost pieces.”
Out There follows the fate of site-specific sculptures and reliefs by artists including Ralph Brown, Geoffrey Clarke, Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Paul Mount.
These include a bronze sculpture by Moore that was stolen and supposedly melted down for scrap metal from the Henry Moore Foundation’s estate in Hertfordshire in December 2005.
Historic England argues that the price of scrap metal, the need for many public bodies to fill funding gaps, pressure from redevelopment, and vandalism are all reasons why such artworks are going missing.
Out There: Our Post-War Public Art, at Somerset House from 3 February to 10 April, has been developed by Historic England to tell the story of public art created between 1945 and 1985.
Historic England recently revealed a list of lost, destroyed, sold or stolen postwar public artworks, and appealed to the public to help recover them. The organisation used its own research to create the list as well as information from the Twentieth Century Society, the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, historians and the artists themselves.
“Part of England’s national collection of public artworks is disappearing before our eyes,” said Duncan Wilson, the chief executive of Historic England. “Historic England’s research is only the tip of the iceberg as it’s almost impossible to trace what has happened to every piece of public art since 1945.
“What we do know is that this art work was commissioned and created for everyone to enjoy, and it should remain accessible to all. We want to raise awareness of just how vulnerable these works can be and we want the public to help us track down lost pieces.”
Out There follows the fate of site-specific sculptures and reliefs by artists including Ralph Brown, Geoffrey Clarke, Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Paul Mount.
These include a bronze sculpture by Moore that was stolen and supposedly melted down for scrap metal from the Henry Moore Foundation’s estate in Hertfordshire in December 2005.
Historic England argues that the price of scrap metal, the need for many public bodies to fill funding gaps, pressure from redevelopment, and vandalism are all reasons why such artworks are going missing.
