British Curators Up in Arms Over Cut-Rate Public Art

LONDON—Curators and public officials in Britain are saying too many commissioned public artworks have gone awry and calling for artistic controls to be imposed upon commissions, the Times (London) reports. Marjorie Trusted, senior curator of sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum called many of the works "disappointing, old fashioned, and awkward," while Tim Knox, director of Sir John Soane's Museum in London said the bulk of the works were "horrors, Frankenstein monster memorials." He complained that lobby groups were deciding they needed statues to commemorate certain people, pressuring authorities into erecting the memorials, and signing on non blue-chip artists to do shoddy work. He singled out the statue of Lloyd George in Parliament Square, the Monument to the Unknown Construction Worker near the Tower of London, and the embracing couple at St. Pancras station as some of the worst offenders. A Westminster spokesman said the council there was concerned about the proliferation of statues and memorials, saying the area has reached its saturation point at 300 sculptures.The council is now stipulating that a person can only be commemorated in bronze or stone if they have made a "serious contribution to society."