Recently I started thinking about “Ladies who Lounge”. They’re ALL over London.
These two lovelies inspired me to look for more –
They decorate the entrance to the Royal Arcade, the Regency shopping arcade that runs between Old Bond Street and Albemarle Street in Mayfair. I think they represent Plenty and Commerce.
The goddesses below are on the entrance of Caxton Hall in Westminster.
-
- Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruitful abundance. She usually carries ripe fuit and nuts.
-
- Demeter was the Roman goddess of the harvest. Here she holds a scythe and sheaves of wheat.
Below is another pair of goddesses; they are on an arch of the Drapers’ Company that leads from Throgmorton Street to Throgmorton Avenue..
-
- I thought this panel must represent Demeter, goddess of the harvest – but Thalia, muse of Comedy and Pastoral Poetry carries a shepherd’s crook as her attribute, so maybe this represents her. Thalia liked to traipse through meadows and forests. Here she is letting the little putti do all the work!
-
- Iris was the Greek goddess who carried communication from the gods to humans. She is holding the caduceus, symbol of commerce.
The caduceus, held by Iris on the Drapers’ Hall arch, was a winged staff with two twined snakes. It was the symbol of communication and commerce, and usually held by Mercury (or Hermes to Romans). Here Iris is holding the caduceus and seems to have a pretty easy job while the boy does the manual labour, carrying a box of merchandise (perhaps new clothes for Iris?).
Funny how so many of the young ladies in the decoration of Drapers’ Hall are quite undressed – it’s a bit like the Abercrombie and Fitch ads where the young men have almost no clothes on, even though they are in ads for a clothing store.
Here’s Europa and the Bull on the P&O Building on Cockspur Street. She seems very relaxed about being abducted by Zeus (in the form of a white bull).
This must be the Roman goddess Fulgora – Goddess of Lightning. Again, she doesn’t seem to be working very hard – but the sparks are flying. She is on a building attached to the church of St. Mary Woolnoth that was built as a Post Office, and opposite her is the Messenger god Mercury (or Hermes). But this is about LADIES who lounge.
Below are four of the eight lounging or floating ladies on the London Underground HQ that are called “The Four Winds”. The building at 55 Broadway in St. James’s was put up in 1927-29. These ladies were carved by the up and coming artists of the day.
-
- The South Wind, by Eric Gill (1882-1940) a deeply religious man who had a disturbing personal life. He was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and was best known as a printmaker.
-
- The North Wind, also by Eric Gill.
-
- This is the West Wind by Samuel Rabinovitch. I just noticed that Dove that seems to be peering up at her.
-
- Henry Moore became one of Britain’s best known modern sculptors. This was his first public piece.
SHOCK – I just read that 55 Broadway is going to be turned into Luxury Flats! Apparently this iconic building, which was the tallest building in London when it was built, is no longer “fit for purpose”. This is happening all over London!
-
- This woman is in a similar pose to those dreamers on 55 Broadway – but she seems to be floating upwards, or perhaps standing in a shower. She is on top of a tall column in front of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place. James Woodford was the sculptor of the woman and also the figure of a man on the other side of the entrance. They were carved in 1934 – so just a few years after the figures on the Underground HQ building.
-
- Here’s another vertical figure of a relaxed woman. She represents the Sirens of the Sea who tempt sailors or await them in the depths. She is on the Mercantile Marine Memorial for the Second Word War at Trinity Gardens on Tower Hill. The Memorial was designed by Edward Maufe, architect, and the panels representing the Seven Seas were carved by Charles Wheeler.
I had to put the Broadgate Venus into my story about Ladies who Lounge. Looks like she is just waking up. Maybe that’s appropriate for the centre of a large business campus where the workers stagger in at the break of day.
-
- These two relaxed couples are on Victoria House which stands between Bloomsbury Square and Southampton Row. Mother Nature stands in between these couples – but she isn’t lounging.
-
- The scene on the pediment facing Bloomsbury Square, represents Agriculture, but I would imagine that any real farmer would find the lounging around pretty amusing. The pediment on the other side of the building represents Industry but even those figures aren’t working very hard.
Victoria House was built for the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society in 1921-34. Its giant Ionic facade was designed by Charles W. Long, and the pediments on the north and south sides are filled with sculpture by Herbert William Palliser.
I think this sculpture behind Guildhall is very funny. I have named it “The Taxpayers” because it looks like they have given EVERYTHING to the government collectors.
I came across this oddly unbalanced sculpture of a woman on Hammersmith Road. It must have been part of a larger piece or in a pediment.
These lounging ladies are part of the wonderful mosaics created by Boris Anrep in the entrance staircase of the National Gallery of Art. The whole scheme has areas with figures representing The Pleasures of Life, The Labours of Life, The Modern Virtues, and here, the Awakening of the Muses. Anrep used many recognizable faces on these mosaics – like Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, John Maynard Keynes, Winston Churchill, Greta Garbo and Bertrand Russell, but I cannot identify these Muses: Polihymnia (the Muse of Sacred Music) and Eurterpe (the Muse of Lyric Poetry). (For more information read Boris Anrep: National Gallery Mosaics, by Angelina Morhange)
I had to include this memorial in Southwark Cathedral – it’s one of my favourites. It IS a man not a lady – but you must admit, he IS lounging. He looks as though he’s had a long enjoyable night and now has drifted off while reading his Bible. His name was Lockyer, but I call him ‘Mr. Pills’ because the inscription behind him says he was universally famous for the PILLS he sold!
Not all the ladies on public sculpture in London are lounging!
My post on “Girls in Helmets” shows another side of the story.
@Cathey Leitch, 2015