''Revolving Torsion'' is a 1972–73 kinetic sculpture and fountain by the Russian-born Constructivist artist Naum Gabo. It was commissioned for the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

and has been on long-term loan to the Guy's and St Thomas' Charity for display at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, London, since 1975. It was designated a Grade II*-

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in January 2016. The sculpture is the culmination of an idea that Gabo developed from the mid-1920s, to implement the ideas published in his 1920 '' Realistic Manifesto''. He made a series of models and maquettes over the years, including his work of ''Model for "Torsion"'', a small -high

Perspex Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...

model; his larger work ''Torsion'' from 1929–37, a -high model also in Perspex; and his 1960–64 ''Torsion (Project for a Fountain)'', an -high bronze maquette. A commission was suggested by Sir Norman Reid, director of the Tate Gallery, when he saw the models on a visit to Gabo's studio in the United States in 1968. Gabo sent his maquette to London and the full-size sculpture was constructed of several

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

plates, creating a stack of intersecting curves, deliberately unadorned and without colour. The sculpture was manufactured in 1972–73 by

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Limited of London, paid for by

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, and then donated to the Tate Gallery. Gabo donated his bronze maquette to the Tate Gallery in 1969, and then donated two plastic models in 1977. The work was installed in 1975 in the centre of a circular pool of water in a square garden at St Thomas' Hospital, with the

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to the west and Westminster Bridge Road to the north, and new hospital buildings to the east and south. It is a working fountain, with water emitted in streams from some of the sculpture's curved edges. It was originally designed to rotate slowly, once every 10 minutes, but the mechanism has not worked for several years.

References

''Revolving Torsion''
Historic England
''Revolving Torsion'', Fountain 1972–3
Tate Gallery
''Torsion'' (Project for a Fountain) 1960–4
Tate Gallery
Model for ''Torsion'' c.1928
Tate Gallery
''Torsion'' 1928–36
Tate Gallery {{coord, 51.5004, N, 0.1195, W, type:landmark_region:GB_source:wikidata, display=title 1975 in art Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Lambeth Outdoor sculptures in London Kinetic sculptures Fountains in the United Kingdom