''The Meeting Place'' is a , bronze sculpture that stands at the south end of the upper level of St Pancras railway station. Designed by the British artist Paul Day and unveiled in 2007, it is intended to evoke the romance of travel through the depiction of a couple locked in an amorous embrace. The statue, which stands in the

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operate ...

terminal, is reported to have cost £1 million and was installed as the centrepiece of the refurbished station. The work, commissioned by

London and Continental Railways London and Continental Railways (LCR) is a property development company owned by the Government of the United Kingdom for developing former railway land. The company was originally established in 1994 as a private consortium to own European Pa ...

, is modelled on the sculptor and his wife.

Critical response

The sculpture received a poor critical reception, being cited by Antony Gormley as "a very good example of the crap out there", comparing it to other examples of public art in the UK, and later referred to as a "terrible, schmaltzy, sentimental piece of kitsch" by Tim Marlow of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Jeremy Deller Jeremy Deller (born 30 March 1966) is an English conceptual, video and installation artist. Much of Deller's work is collaborative; it has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the devaluation of artistic ego through th ...

dismissed it as "barely a work of art". Day commented that " lot of people will no doubt detest it because it is not violent or controversial". Further controversy was caused by Day's 2008 planned addition of a bronze

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

around the plinth. Originally depicting a commuter falling into the path of an

Underground train Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...

driven by the

Grim Reaper Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...

, Day believed the piece to be a "tragi-comic style and was supposed to be a metaphor for the way people’s imaginations ran wild" but revised the frieze before the final version was installed. Despite harsh criticism from major figures in the British art world, the statue has become popular with the public and contributed to its perception of St Pancras. In 2011, an edition of "The World’s Most Romantic Spots" by ''

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'' described the station as one of the most romantic meeting places in the world, citing the statue as a key reason.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meeting Place Bronze sculptures in London English contemporary works of art St Pancras, London 2007 sculptures

Critical response

References

Further reading

External links