The Anonymous Widower

What Do We Do With The Henry Moore?

Tower Hamlets council have a problem about what to do with a Henry Moore sculpture that they own. It’s all here on the BBC.

In some ways, the problem has been brought on, by the success of public statues. Look at most big stations these days and they have large sculptures.  St. Pancras has two. So there are a lot of them about and because many are made from valuable bronze, they are just too tempting for thieves. But I’ve never heard of one being nicked in even a moderately-sized railway station, as the security is just too high. Or even it actually isn’t high, railway stations tend to be busy places with a good mobile phone signal and someone would probably call the police.

So perhaps, one of the first places to place a valuable statue is in a suitable railway station. but there are only four stations in Tower Hamlets. Only Shoreditch High Street station would probably be large enough. But it would probably be impossible to place a very heavy sculpture now, the station is built.

So it’s a real problem.

A practical idea might be to keep it indoors in a special museum, paid for by the money, that would otherwise be used for insurance. I have a feeling that some of the famous statues in Florence and other places in Italy have been moved indoors, not to protect them from vandals and thieves but the weather. This happened to Michaelangelo’s statue of David.

But whatever happens, we must make sure it is not stolen and melted down.

October 3, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | News, Transport/Travel | Art, Italy, Sculpture, Stations