Horses Tucked Up in Bruton Place

Above the entrance to Bellamy's Restaurant, in the former mews of Bruton Place, are these carved brick horse's heads.

They are a fine example of carving in brick and also a good example of Tuck Pointing. Now until recently I had no idea what tuck pointing was, a friend explained it to me and now I see examples everywhere. Nearby in Berkeley Square the whole frontage of number 55 is tuck pointed.

The expensive technique of tuck pointing developed in the late 17th Century and became common throughout the 18th and early 19th Centuries. The aim was to give the illusion of perfect brickwork, or sometimes to disguise inferior quality work and materials.

In tuck pointing a regular wall, built with lime mortar, such as the one above is first smoothed. Then a v-shaped groove is cut between the joints. Finally a ribbon of lime putty is placed into the grooves and cut with precision to make all the joints appear perfectly regular. Such a laborious process was reserved for the façades of the most prestigious addresses.

There are numerous examples of tuck pointing throughout London but there are very few specialist companies able to maintain or restore such  facades using this traditional technique. One such expert is Dr Gerard Lynch aka The Red Mason! His website has a lot more detail on this interesting technique. There is also an excellent guide from Historic Brick Pointing available as a pdf here.

Nose for Sale - Is it a Rick Buckley?

Paul Smith's antique shop in Albemarle Street currently have this handsome nose for sale.

 

The price tag is £550 and guesses at a 1960's US origin for the unsigned piece.

To my eye the piece is not stone but resin and seems remarkably like two of the famous Seven Noses of Soho (these were produced, in several sizes and in resin by Rick Buckley before being attached to buildings around Soho in the 1990's, see previous posts for more on them). The tentative attribution to a US artist is based on the fact that a Paul Smith buyer found this nose in Miami.

Now as someone who has devoted a lot of time to researching the noses and even leads guided tours around them, I would bet money this nose is a Rick Buckley ... but I have no proof. Can anyone help? Does anyone know if Rick Buckley produced free-standing noses for sale in addition to his building enhancements? Do you perhaps own a similar nose? Please drop me a line if you can shed any light on any of this.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, including The Seven Noses of Soho, see tabs for details.

Urban Sputnik Free in Mayfair

A small scale art/science exhibition is currently running at the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street.

Urban Sputnik is a show devised by Vanessa Harden and Dr. Dominic Southgate along with scientists from Imperial College London’s Astrophysics Group. It aims to express "the frontiers of astrophysical research in a non-technical, more inclusive way, which uses art and design as its primary language."

There are only a couple of exhibits. This is Shape of the Universe

This beautifully made "copper Pringle" explores Einstein's insight "that matter causes space to curve, and that the curvature of space in turn causes the matter in it to move." The piece deals with the concept through light, as in curved space parallel beams of light may cross or separate according to the curvature.  Looking through the magnifying glass an elemental image is revealed.


The other exhibit is Redshift

This steam-punk like object looks at the Doppler Effect. Placing your head inside the "helmet" one can glimpse red lights at the end of each of the protruding arms. It is as if each light is moving away from you. Were the lights to be moving towards you they would appear blue.

 

The show maybe very small but it is an interesting collaboration between craft, art and cutting-edge astrophysics. It is located in the Royal Institution's Lower Ground Floor Gallery, within their museum. The show, like the museum, is completely free and is open from 9.00am till 9.00pm Monday to Friday. The show finishes on July 29th. There is a free closing event including a talk by the team behind it, on the 28th July at 7pm details here.

If you haven't been to the museum before, it is well worth a visit. It contains Michael Faraday's lab as it was in 1850, as well as a state-of-the art nanotechnology lab, along with original equipment used to discover ten elements, develop the thermos flask, the miners safety lamp and countless other inventions that have helped to shape the world, it also has exhibits on the the 14 Nobel Prize Winners who have worked at the Ri over the years. More details on the museum from the Ri website here.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

Reagan Unsheathed

The protective sheath on the new Ronald Reagan statue was removed today in Grosvenor Square.

The unveiling took place in front of an audience of paying guests and dignitaries. The photo above shows temporary staging being erected yesterday. Heavy security closed Grosvenor Square from 5.30am today.

By around noon I was able to get near enough for a few pictures.

More details about the memorial from a previous post here.

London Doesn't Warm to Sculpture

The newest sculpture in the City of Sculpture series has been unveiled in Berkeley Square.

It is entitled Berkeley Square by sculptor Jeff Lowe and is strangely the first piece to have been created especially for the programme. It is intended as a "Celebration of the London Olympics".

Speaking from his "retreat" in the Algarve,  the artist has claimed  that  “People don’t warm to sculpture easily in London."

I wonder, what on earth could have led him to form this opinion? Perhaps it is born out of a very personal experience.

The artist explains his ambitions in an interview with Unique "I wouldn't be happy knowing that all I’d done in my life was to make good sculpture. I want to do more than that. I need to feel that I’ve come up with something that’s difficult for people to understand." First ambition, highly unlikely; second already achieved?

More on Jeff Lowe, including a variety of carefully selected, but badly scanned, pdfs of his press coverage, from his website here.

Nymph Returns to Carlos Place

The statue of a Nymph that stood outside the Connaught Hotel in Carlos Place, Mayfair has returned.

This somewhat clumsy piece had been removed to allow the installation of the magnificent new Tadao Ando water feature. It's old plinth now stands in Mount Street Gardens. This week the nymph returned to squat in Carlos Place.

The statue is by Emilio Greco and dates to 1973. The inscription reminds us that the fountain and statue were "‘A gift to the City of Westminster from the President of the Italian Republic 20th November 1987. Sponsored by the Italian Banks in London". The good people at London Remembers tell me that an identical statue is located in Padua.

The statue certainly looks happier on it's new marble plinth but somehow it seems to detract from the Ando just a few feet behind.

The Ando fountain, Silence,  was bound to overshadow anything in it's immediate proximity, so perhaps the nymph should have travelled just a few yards further, together with it's old plinth, to Mount Street Gardens?

See labels for links to related posts.

Number One London - More Power, More Torque !

OK, Apsley House hasn't gone all Top Gear but on a walk around Central London today I did spot this.

LDN 1

This must be the ultimate number-plate for a London nerd, such as myself.

It is all a little bit wasted on me, I don't drive, never have, I don't understand the personalised number plates idea and if I ever had a spare £66,445 (plus the cost of the plates) I would probably spend it on wine and books instead, but ...

As a London nerd I really liked it! As a confirmed pedestrian, objector to Chelsea tractors and as a total vehicle ignoramus it still worked for me.

My only question is, is this the best vehicle to bear that set of plates? Are they wasted here on a Range Rover? Shouldn't they instead, be upon a Bentley, a Rolls or even a Ka?

Assuming that one of us wins £105 million tonight on the Lottery, and we want the ultimate number plate for a self-respecting London nerd's chauffeur to drive us around in, to what vehicle should they be attached?

Suggestions please.

Horse's Head Found in Mount Street Gardens

Yesterday morning this new sculpture was delivered to Mount Street Gardens in Mayfair.

It is Fire by Nic Fiddian-Green, the sculptor who also brought us Marwari - Horse at Water at Marble Arch. More on this artist, who has been producing monumental horse's heads for over 25 years, from his website here.

Another of his works is currently outside the Sladmore Gallery in Bruton Place where he has an exhibition running until the 26th August. Details from the gallery here.

The Mount Street Gardens head is the latest piece in Westminster City Council's excellent City of Sculpture initiative.

The programme has so far delivered the temporary public display of major sculptures such as Jelly Baby Family, by Mauro Perruchetti, Vroom Vroom and Force of Nature II by Lorenzo Quinn and Core Femme by Jill Berelowitz as well as the Bruce Denny group in Soho Square.

All these, and many more are planned, have been installed at zero cost to the council. All the costs associated with installing and insuring each work have been met by the participating galleries and patrons.

See the City of Sculpture label below for links to related posts.

London's Newest and Most Beautiful Water Feature?

The fountain and statue that recently stood in Carlos Place, opposite the Connaught Hotel, have had a dramatic upgrade.

Outside the Connaught now, is this!

The kidney shaped infinity pool in the background has replaced the old fountain. The mirror smooth surface of the water plays across glass lenses. The materials and finish are absolutely immaculate.

For most of the time the water calmly trickles serenely over the edge but periodically vents around the two trees, encircled by the pool, begin to emit a beautiful mist. And then this happens:

It is  surprising, exciting and relaxing all at once, quite the most beautiful water feature I think I have ever seen. My video doesn't do it justice and I hear that when it is lit up at night it looks even better.

The work is by Tadao Ando, one of Japan's most respected architects, and a man often referred to as "the world 's greatest living architect." The piece is entitled "Silence". It has been jointly commissioned by the Connaught Hotel, The Grosvenor Estate and Westminster City Council.

Previously the site had been home to another fountain and a statue of a nymph. Both were ""‘A Gift to the City of Westminster from the President of the Italian Republic 20th November 1987. Sponsored by the Italian Banks in London"

The statue of a nymph will shortly be returning to the new plinth you can see in front of the fountain. Whilst the original  base of the fountain is now in nearby Mount Street Gardens.

 

The original statue is by Emilio Greco and dates to 1973. 

More on Tadao Ando here. Is this his only London work?

I will post again, after the official unveiling, when the statue is in place and the ensemble is complete

London Prepares for the Arrival of Another US President

This little building site in the south-west corner of Grosvenor Square in Mayfair will be the site of a celebration on July 4th this year.

The footing for a new statue of Ronald Reagan looks to be complete. The new statue has been paid for by The Ronald Reagan Foundation and is not a US government initiative.

The unveiling is just one event marking the centenary of President Reagan's birth. Details of other events from the Foundation here. The festivities have been partly sponsored by GE.

The cost of the statue, including  a payment to Westminster City Council for maintenance, is expected to be around £250, 000.

The sculptor of the ten foot bronze is Chas Fagan, this will be his only London work. More, on his website, here.

The statue of President Reagan will join two other Presidents in the Square, Eisenhower and Franklin  D Roosevelt.

The magnificent Roosevelt statue, which dominates the centre of the Square, is the work of William Reid Dick and was unveiled in 1948. The audience for the unveiling by Eleanor Roosevelt and the dedication by U.S. Ambassador Lewis W. Douglas, included the Royal Family, PM Clement Attlee and Sir Winston Churchill.

The remarkable thing about the statue was the way it was funded. Individual members of the British public responded to a radio appeal. Such was the public grief in Britain over Roosevelt's death that 160,000 individuals purchased a small souvenir brochure for 5 Shillings, equivalent to 25p. It took just six days from the first appeal to raise all the funds and that in a country still on rationing.

I wonder, if the Reagan Foundation had adopted a similar fund-raising strategy, just how long it would have taken to raise the funds for their new memorial?

Diana and Neptune in Half Moon Street

At the junction of Half Moon Street and Piccadilly are these four sculptural reliefs. From top to bottom:

An Owl In a Tree

Neptune With a Boat

A Harlequin and Guitar

Diana the Huntress

Pevsner tells us that the building dates to the early 1960's and that the sculptor is Keith Godwin (1916-1991). I couldn't find any other images of these panels on the net, any information about why Reed (the company who commissioned the building) chose these themes, or much information on Keith Godwin beyond his teaching posts and a few statues.

Most of his public work appears to be in Manchester. Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester by Terry Wyke, Harry Cocks has a very brief biography for those of you who are interested.

A Mayfair Stik

Just off Piccadilly in White Horse Street, Mayfair, I spotted this example of street art  by Stik.

As I couldn't find another colour image of the piece I have added it here.

Too Many Laws Too Few Examples

Carved into the terracotta facade of a building on the corner of Davies Street and Mount Row in Mayfair, are these three concrete poems.

Les Mots Juste Sont Entendus Par Toutes Les Consciences

Too Many Laws Too Few Examples

Where Man Obeys Without Being Presumed Good There Is Neither Liberty Nor A Native Land

They are the work of the remarkable Ian Hamilton Finlay, CBE (not Findlay OBE as the small, misleading plaque states!). The words come from the French Revolutionary and poet Louis de Saint-Just.

Ian Hamilton Finlay died in 2006, just a couple of years after he completed this work. He is probably best remembered for his garden, Little Sparta, near Edinburgh, where his passions for sculpture, poetry and gardening are expressed on a grand scale. You can read more about him and Little Sparta here.

The building itself , 21 Davies Street, is by Kohn Pedersen Fox 2004.

The Odyssey of Bond Street

Three sculptural reliefs on the facade of  a new gallery at 33 New Bond Street, London.

 

They are the work of Alexander (Sandy) Stoddart who has produced work for the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace and he is the sculptor of “The Pimlico Priapus”, in Vincent Square.

The Richard Green Gallery will be occupying the new building soon. The architects, Adam Architecture say "These pieces illustrate scenes from the Odyssey, chosen as an allegory for the development of Modern art from 1900 to the present day."

More on the artist here.

The Law Society Lions have Brothers in Dover Street

The lions outside the British Museum moved on in 1896. A small and well known pride are to be found outside the Law Society in Chancery Lane.

A less well known splinter-pride are in Dover Street outside Ely House.

 

All these lions are related, they were made for the British Museum's railings by Alfred George Stevens. Still more can be found at the Wellington monument in St Paul's Cathedral. The BM didn't want them so they ended up being purchased by all sorts of people. These are the "Lions Sejan" produced by the artist around 1852. The Victoria and Albert Museum also have an example here.

Has anybody else got details of other groups?

Hay Hill Invader

Spotted another new bit of street art yesterday, this beady-eyed ceramic piece is on the north corner of Hay Hill and Dover Street. There are around 100 of these space invaders in London now. Some more images can be found at Space Invaders

Banksy on Bond Street? No, it's a Rich Simmons and it has Been Stolen!

A new piece of street art appeared a couple of weeks ago on a hoarding almost opposite Sothebys on New Bond Street, London.

Speculation was that this was Banksy's official Royal Wedding image, but in fact it was the work of Rich Simmons and had been commissioned by the Opera Gallery next door. Incidentally they still have one Rich Simmons on sale, HMQ on a throne, that is of the rest room variety.

This hoarding was stolen on Monday night, 11th April 2011, perhaps in the misapprehension that it was a Banksy, or perhaps in the knowledge that a Rich Simmons this size might well be worth £10k in it's own right!