The city of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
has a greater number of public sculptures than any other location in the United Kingdom aside from
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
. Early examples include works by
George Frampton
Sir George James Frampton, (18 June 1860 – 21 May 1928) was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combinin ...
,
Goscombe John
Sir William Goscombe John (21 February 1860 – 15 December 1952) was a prolific Welsh sculptor known for his many public memorials. As a sculptor, John developed a distinctive style of his own while respecting classical traditions and forms of ...
,
Thomas Thornycroft
Thomas Thornycroft (19 May 1815 – 30 August 1885) was an English sculptor and engineer.
Biography
Thornycroft was born at Great Tidnock, near Gawsworth, Cheshire, the eldest son of John Thornycroft, a farmer. He was educated at Congleton ...
,
Charles Bell Birch
Charles Bell Birch (28 September 1832 – 16 October 1893) was a British sculptor.
Biography
Birch was born at Brixton in south London, the son of the author and translator Jonathan Birch (1783–1847) and his wife Esther (née Brooke). As a ...
,
Richard Westmacott
Sir Richard Westmacott (15 July 17751 September 1856) was a British sculptor.
Life and career
Westmacott studied with his father, also named Richard Westmacott, at his studio in Mount Street, off Grosvenor Square in London before going t ...
,
Francis Chantrey
Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...
,
John Gibson,
Thomas Brock
Sir Thomas Brock (1 March 184722 August 1922) was an English sculptor and medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
His mos ...
and
F.W. Pomeroy, while
Barbara Hepworth,
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911.
He often produce ...
,
Mitzi Cunliffe and
Elisabeth Frink
Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993) was an English sculptor and printmaker. Her ''Times'' obituary noted the three essential themes in her work as "the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; and the divine in ...
provide some of the modern offerings. More recently, local artist
Tom Murphy has created a dozen sculptures in Liverpool.
While statues and sculpture are dotted throughout the inner city, there are four primary groupings: inside and around
St George's Hall; in
St John's Gardens;
[dubbed "Liverpool's alfresco ]Valhalla
In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...
", every statue inside is listed, together with the walls and gatepiers around the
Pier Head
The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...
; and around the Palm House at
Sefton Park. Smaller groups are found in Old Hall Street/Exchange Flags and in and around
The Oratory
The Oratory stands to the north of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in Merseyside, England. It was originally the mortuary chapel to St James Cemetery, and houses a collection of 19th-century sculpture and important funeral monuments as part of the ...
.
The ''
Queen Victoria Monument'' at Derby Square, an ensemble of 26 bronze figures by
C. J. Allen, is described in the Liverpool ''
Pevsner Architectural Guide
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published b ...
'' as one of the most ambitious British monuments to the Queen.
NB: the following list does not include the comprehensive collections held by
National Museums Liverpool
National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...
, or the countless ornate features of many Liverpool buildings.
Royalty
Statesmen and politicians
Military and war memorials
Business and inventors
Sports
Artists and entertainers
Religious figures
Explorers and geographers
Educationists, scientists and philosophers
Philanthropists and clergy
Fictional, poetical and allegorical characters
Animals
Abstract sculpture
See also
*
Architecture of Liverpool
The architecture of Liverpool is rooted in the city's development into a major port of the British Empire.Hughes (1999), p10 It encompasses a variety of architectural styles of the past 300 years, while next to nothing remains of its medieval ...
References
;Bibliography
*
External links
''Liverpool Monuments''website of Friends of Liverpool Monuments Civic Society
Public Art Research Archive, Sheffield Hallam University
The Victorian Web
website of Bob Speel
''Pure sensory overload in Liverpool''Modern Masters, BBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Public art in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
Liverpool-related lists
Monuments and memorials in Merseyside
Lists of buildings and structures in Merseyside
Culture in Liverpool