Tag: womenstatues

Florence Nightingale

(1820 – 1910)

Waterloo Place, St James’s, London SW1Y

Social Reformer, Statistician and Founder of Modern Medicine

This is the first but certainly not the last tribute to Florence Nightingale.  She stands at Waterloo Place – a short walk from the Stafford but up so high I’m struggling to take a decent shot.  Created by Arthur George Walker, it shows her as ‘the Lady with the Lamp’, a nickname she earned on her nightly inspection rounds in the hospitals of the Crimean war and was unveiled in the midst of the First World War in 1915, with little fanfare, as was appropriate given wartime.

Nancy Wake

(1912-2011)

Stafford Hotel, St James’s Place, London SW1A

We’ve come across Karen Newman’s work before and will see it again.  Yesterday’s Anayat Noor Khan bust and later Special Agent Violet Szabo.  Today it is Nancy Wake hidden to the side of a bar.  I feel conscious that my casual wear signals that I’m not staying in the hotel as I approach the doorman at the Stafford Hotel, but I’m permitted in and start searching.  I find her in the corner and take in the similarity of Newman’s Khan bust, partly because Wake (and indeed Szabo) are of the same era.  In the World War 2 she joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive where she undertook several dangerous missions in the lead up to D-Day on 6th June 1944.

The American Bar at the Stafford was frequented by Wake where she would enjoy a tipple of gin and tonic and had a reserved bar stool.  In her honour, the bar makes a cocktail named, ‘White Mouse’ – the name given to her by the Gestapo because of her ability to evade capture.

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Twiggy

(1949 – )

Bourdon Place, Mayfair, London SW1

I’m staying in the nation’s capital and determined to get some more statue sightseeing done.  I can travel easily around London so whilst here I want to get in as many as I can.  I’m giving myself a year to see all 128 statues so the city gives me a chance to get ahead of myself – or so I think.

Standing in Bourdon Place, is the model Twiggy.  Born Lesley Lawson but better known by her nickname, she is often touted as the first supermodel and was iconic in the 60’s fashion industry and beyond.  She also has an acting and singing career as well as being an ardent animal rights campaigner.  But Twiggy is not the only sculpture here.  The street holds the photographer Terence Donovan plus an onlooker, thus allowing you to gaze at the model through the photographer’s eyes, but also the shopper passing by. 

You can also stand with Twiggy and take in her view.  It’s a lovely concept, allowing you to flit between the pieces of art, each one giving a different angle to the next.  It is part of the Mayfair Sculpture Trail, https://www.bondstreet.co.uk/art-in-mayfair

with artist Neal French http://www.nealfrench.co.uk/ entitling the work as ‘Three Figures’ in 2012.

Noor Inayat Khan

1914-1944
Gordon Square, London

Initially employed as the first female wireless operator in the war efforts, Khan was subsequently recruited as a Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was sent to occupied France 1943.  In October of that year she was betrayed by a Frenchwoman and arrested by the Gestapo.  She was sent to Germany’s Pforzheim prison and was kept in chains in solitary confinement. 

In September 1944 Khan and three other female SOE agents were transferred to Dachau concentration camp and subsequently executed on 13th September, with her last word being, ‘Liberte’.

As I take in the sculpture, a man opens up with information on Khan, what she stood for, and how, as a woman of colour she is rare, particularly in art.  He also says there is a film to be made about her life.  I’m pleased someone is showing an interest.  As I walk away I notice he has a cat on a lead.  Now I don’t know what to believe anymore.

The bust was unveiled in 2012. 

Sculptor Karen Newman. http://www.karen-newman.com/