William Redgrave
William Redgrave(1903–1986) was a British sculptor. His major workThe Eventwas mostly destroyed in the 2004Momartwarehouse fire.
Biography
[edit]William Redgrave was born inLittle Ilford,Essex. He worked for theBBCfor a time. In World War II he was an air raid warden. WithPeter Lanyonhe then ran an art school inSt Ives;Francis Baconrented a studio from them and, in 1957, encouraged Redgrave to take up sculpture.[1]
His girlfriend in the 1960s was Jenny Pearson, who was a feature writer forThe Timesat one stage in her life.[2]In Chelsea she saw him create his major work. This wasThe Event,a bronzetriptych,measuring 56 x 124 "overall, weighing atonneand consisting of 228 figures arranged in 49 different scenes each with a theme, such as flirtation or gang murder. It took the artist three years to make. When it was finished, he said, "" Some great outside thing is happening to these people—something we all fear might be going to happen. "The Scottish poetAlan Boldwrote a poem about the work and said the figures were "forced/To face the judgement of a world they represent."The Eventwas first shown at theRoyal Academyin 1966. TheDaily Telegraphreviewed it as "the most successful piece of sculpture seen at the Academy for many years."[citation needed] Giacomo Manzù's bronze doors forSt Peter's,Rome were cited as a comparison. SirJohn Rothenstein,Director of theTate Galleryalso expressed admiration. It was scheduled for installation in the newKensington and Chelsea Town Hall,but this plan was cancelled because of financial restraints.[1]
In the 1970s, Redgrave did portrait heads of a number of noted people, includingHenry Cooper,Diana RiggandLaurence Olivier.The bust of Olivier is now in the Olivier Theatre Foyer,Royal National Theatrein theSouth Bankcomplex. The bust of Henry Cooper is in the collection of theNational Portrait Galleryin London.[3]
In 1998The Eventwas part of a retrospective at the Roy Miles Gallery in west London. Redgrave's family then put the work into storage withMomart,and were working on plans for a permanent display of it. In 2004 it was in the east London Momart warehouse destroyed by fire, along with works byTracey Emin,Jake and Dinos Chapman,andDamien Hirst,amongst others. CriticBevis Hilliercalled it "by far the greatest loss" of the fire, but it was initially not mentioned in news reports, until publicised by the campaigning art group theStuckistson their web site (billed as a "world exclusive" ).[1]Five days before the fire, the family had paid £5,508 in back fees.[2]
Remarkably, although the left hand side of the triptych was completely destroyed, the sculptor's son, Christopher Redgrave, was able to personally retrieve, in two trips, at least 30 of the 228 figures in good shape[4]– about a third of the central panel, as well as other fragments, though cutting his hands badly on broken glass in the process. He described the experience:
- There was a smell of rotting food, rotting chips, rotting meat from one of the units Momart shared the building with... There were bits of glass hanging from the roof. I had to climb over steel girders. It looked like a twisted rollercoaster that had crashed.
As far as is known he is the only person out of the artists or artists' relatives to have been to the site; he said, "this building was inappropriate for what they are doing. There's no way around that."[2]
References
[edit]- ^abc2004""By far the Greatest Loss "of the 'Saatchi' Fire"stuckism 1 June 2004. Retrieved 15 April 2006
- ^abcMeek, James 2004"Art into Ashes"The Guardian,23 September 2004. Retrieved 15 April 2006
- ^Sir Henry Cooperat npg.org.uk, Retrieved 16 February 2012
- ^2004"The Art that Survived the Momart 'Saatchi' Fire"stuckism 11 June 2004. Retrieved 15 April 2006
External links
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