Page 59 - Studio International - July August 1972

A kind of

urban furniture

Theo Crosby

The problems and pleasures of public sculpture
are always taken out for an airing every few
years and at no time has the subject been more
inappropriate than now. The sculptor's view of
the subject has gradually changed so that the
whole issue is now fraught with
misunderstandings which seem almost
unresolvable.
In the architectural sense the problem
remains much as it was. Sculpture is a kind of
urban furniture and relates to buildings and
spaces in such a way as to create scale, to
manifest a quasi-human presence, to act as an
accent in a composition, or as a distraction from
a particularly awkward piece of detailing. It
really matters very little what the content of
the work is, only that it should function
reasonably in its context.
This view of urban decoration is in effect the
long time conventional view and every public
sculpture to date subscribes to it.
What has changed is the artist's view of his
role, a result of his continual displacement from
the public realm, and his acceptance of the
alternate roles of jester, superstar or academic.
Sculpture has followed painting into an
essentially private world (and architecture is
quite evidently not far behind). The sculptors
works are now expected to be valued for
themselves, as themselves, as a product of a
private sensibility. They are therefore designed
for the museum rather than for a more public
context. In the museum a suitably attentive
attitude is created and the response to the work
is predictable. The self-selected audience is
interested in the personality of the artist and
the helpful attendants ensure that a respectful
distance is kept from particularly dangerous or
fragile objects.
This is entirely not the case with works in a
public setting.
In the past the artist used the materials
common to the building industry: paint, plaster,
stone, wood, and lead or bronze when it could
be afforded. The work of art was thus
technologically integral with the building
process. Modern technology tends to separate
out the various components of a building into
disparate completed elements which can be
made elsewhere and fitted into the building as
the work proceeds. In this sense art was very
soon separated from the construction process by

(Top)
Jardin du Carrousel, Palais du
Louvre, statue by Maillol in foreground
(Bottom)
Britannia House (now Lutyens House)
Finsbury Circus, London
Architect: Sir Edward Lutyens
45