''The Barbican Muse'' is a sculpture of a woman, holding tragedy and comedy masks, by

Matthew Spender Matthew Spender (born 1945) is an English sculptor. He is the author of ''From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky'' (1999), a biography of his father-in-law, the artist Arshile Gorky, and ''A House in St John's Wood'' (2015), about his father, ...

, and was installed on a wall near the Silk Street entrance to the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in 1994. The long illuminated sculpture called ''Muse'' was cast in

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

and then

gilded Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...

. It was commissioned, in 1993, by architect

Theo Crosby Theo Crosby (3 April 1925 – 12 September 1994) was an architect, editor, writer and sculptor, engaged with major developments in design across four decades. He was also an early vocal critic of modern urbanism. He is best remembered as a found ...

to 'float, glow and point the way' to visitors arriving at the centre on the walkway from Moorgate Station. As part of the 1993–1994 refurbishment, Crosby also commissioned nine gilded fibreglass muses by British sculptor Sir Bernard Sindall, but these were removed in April 1997, and sold to

Dick Enthoven Richard Enthoven (1937 – 2 December 2022) was a South African billionaire businessman who was the owner of the casual dining chain Nando's, the Hollard Group of insurance companies, and Spier Wine Farm. Early life Richard Enthoven was the so ...

in 1998.

References

External links

1994 establishments in the United Kingdom 1994 sculptures Fiberglass sculptures in the United Kingdom Sculptures in London Barbican Estate {{UK-sculpture-stub