03/09/25
London’s Statues of Women by Juliet Rix
“It has been said you can judge a society by its public statues,” notes the author Juliet Rix in her introduction to this little gem of a handbook to London’s statues of women. Indeed, she continues by sharing the statistics, found in a 2021 survey, that, at that time, just one in six of London’s statues commemorating a named individual was for a woman. In 2022 and 2023, more statues of women than men were installed, and 2023 alone welcomed five new statues of individual women. Since then, the ratios have once again become less favourable, but the balance has at least been tipped.
Organised alphabetically by first name, from Ada Lovelace to The Women of World War II, this book introduces a motley crew of statues – although the organisation here is clear and logical – some with more artistic value, some more lovable for their story, and some historically significant for the achievements of the sitter or of the statue itself (for example, see the “chronology of statues of colour” section, which lists a number of firsts in terms of black, Asian and minority ethnic statues). As well as this chronology, the roll call is interrupted by interviews with artists (for example, Maggi Hambling and Gillian Wearing) and sitters (for example, Alison Lapper of Fourth Plinth fame and Joy Battick, the sitter for the first public statue of a woman of colour in London), as well as by spotlights on artists (for example, Henry Moore), issues (for example, nudity) and muses/characters (for example, Britannia, Justice, Victory and so on). There are also some enjoyable authorial opinions and anecdotes (such as Rix’s discovery that the almost ethereal sculpture, The Awakening, 2002, by Unus Safardiar, in Regent’s Park, is a tribute to Dr Anne Evans, a friend of her mother).
Read my full review here