The sculpture project

The Sculpture Project: Three Years On

As the Art UK Sculpture Project draws towards a conclusion, we recount its progress and the important role volunteer photographers have made to its success. R. KEITH EVANS FRPS

A little over two years ago, in June 2018, the first Training Workshop was held for the photographers – many from the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), including members of the Archaeology & Heritage Group – who had volunteered to take part in the Art UK ‘Sculpture Project’ https://artuk.org/about/ sculpture-project. I described the early days of this ambitious venture in the Spring 2018 issue of Heritage Photography, now, with the programme scheduled for completion in February next year, I’m pleased to record its success so far, and what remains to be done. Aim of the project, organised by Art UK and The Public Monuments & Sculptures Association, has been to record all of the nation’s sculptures and monuments in the public domain, and place descriptions and images of these on a freely accessible website for all to see and study. Most of them, around 50,000, are held in museums, galleries, universities and similar organisations. The volunteer programme has been to photograph and record those outdoor sculptures open to public view. Close to 400 volunteer photographers have taken part so far, with around 150 active at any one time, and it’s pleasing to record that a majority of them have been members of the RPS. Today, three years after the project’s inception, some 22,000 records of public sculptures, twothirds of them with photographic images, have been digitised and can be viewed on-line at https:// artuk.org/discover/artworks/view_as/grid/search/ work_type:sculpture. An estimated 10,000 more sculptures will have been recorded by the time the project ends next February. As one of the lead partners in the project, the RPS and its volunteer members have made an important contribution to its success. Since the earliest ‘trial runs’ in which Essex photographer/lecturer Nikki Hazelton and I, and London professional photographer Colin White, undertook the photography and documentation of a small number of public sculptures in Bath, Essex and Kent, the photography has covered all parts of the United Kingdom. Encouraging artistic appreciation

25 project teams were established, each with a Regional Coordinator; the latters’ work has now been completed and they have left Art UK. 25 project staff remain in post to complete digitisation of the images, and to work on the Learning and Engagement Programme for schools which Art UK sees as an important part of the overall project. Its goal is to help introduce young people to the wealth of artistic sculpture available throughout the country for them to see and enjoy. The programme has delivered 94 projects, including 59 Masterpieces in Schools loans; as an example, one of the most recent, in early March, saw two L. S. Lowry paintings and a bronze head of Lowry by Leopold Solomon loaned to the Cardinal Langley High School in Rochdale.

Typical record image taken for the project: Statue of General James Wolfe, Westerham, Kent.

Typical record image taken for the project: Statue of Winston Churchill, Westerham, Kent.

During the Covid19 lockdown, most volunteer photography has come to a standstill. As a result, additional volunteers are now being sought in specific locations: the Isle of Man, Hampshire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire, and the cities of Edinburgh, Hull, Leeds and Leicester, plus some London Boroughs. If you feel able to assist in the remaining photography and recording of public sculpture in these areas, for which Art UK will provide appropriate training, contact anthony. mcintosh@artuk.org. To conclude the programme and sum up how it has succeeded in its aims, Art UK has arranged a two-day Conference in Leeds on 12-13 March 2021. Speakers are being invited from all of the participating organisations, who will describe in detail their involvement throughout the life of the project.

The Story behind the Pictures

Readers of my earlier article will recall that as well as taking a number of photographs showing every aspect of a sculpture, recorders were also required to provide detailed notes such as its location, artist, material and date of installation. The bronze statue of Sir Winston Churchill pictured above, by the renowned sculptor Oscar Nemon, was cast at the Art Bronze Foundry in London and installed in 1969. The boulder on which it rests comes from the former Yugoslavia, donated by the government of that country in recognition of Britain’s support of its partisan fighters in World War II. The statue’s location on the green at Westerham, Kent, acknowledges Churchill’s close link with the village during his and Lady Churchill’s many years of living nearby at Chartwell. My other picture shows an equally noteworthy statue in Westerham, that of General James Wolfe, erected in 1911. Wolfe was commander of the British Army which captured the city of Quebec from the French in 1759, effectively securing Canada for the British; he died in the battle. Born in 1727 in Westerham’s Old Vicarage, Wolfe is also commemorated in a memorial window in the adjacent St Mary’s Church, by Edward Burne-Jones.