Wikipedia talk:WikiProject London/Public art

Missing articles?

What about commons:Category:Chinatown Gates in Gerrard Street, London? ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:20, 7 January 2018 (UTC)

What about this (indoor) sculpture in the Great Court, British Museum? ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:46, 7 January 2018 (UTC)

What about commons:Category:Bust of Hadrianus nude, Townley (BM Sc1899)? ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:47, 7 January 2018 (UTC)

I've been working to link Commons categories for London's public art to their respective English Wikipedia articles. Does anyone know if there's a way to create a list of Commons categories not associated with English Wikipedia articles? This might help identify missing Wikipedia articles. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:54, 7 January 2018 (UTC)

Possible article(s)?

I wonder if there should be an article for commons:Category:Three Lions - sculpture in the Tower of London? I see there are other sculptures in the Tower of London. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 22:17, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

As with your previous suggestions, if you can find significant coverage in multiple reliable sources for these then go for it. Otherwise, there are more notable works still without articles, such as the Grade II*-listed ones here. I also recently discovered that the statues of 20th-century martyrs on the façade of Westminster Abbey have an article in French, but none yet in English. Ham II (talk) 08:19, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

Three Lions may not be independently notable, but the "menagerie" might qualify for an article as a collection. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 16:04, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

@Another Believer: I think the place to cover the menagerie sculptures would be List of public art in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets#Tower Hill. Ham II (talk) 10:40, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Ok, sounds good! Mostly I was just trying to see if artworks with Commons categories were covered here at Wikipedia in some form, and I'm always trying to identify notable topics without articles for future creation. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 17:50, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Splitting up the list of public art in the City of Westminster

Please see the proposal here. Ham II (talk) 09:40, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

London River Man

I've uploaded my photos (from December 2016) of this statue at commons:Category:London River Man and created a Wikidata item for it d:Q61599152) but both category and item could do with a bit of cleanup from those more familiar with how those for public art are normally structured. Thryduulf (talk) 23:22, 6 February 2019 (UTC)

Wikidata map

I've created a map of public art in London generated from Wikidata here. (To view the map, click the blue button with the symbol ▶.) If anyone's got the coding skills to present this in a more user-friendly way I'd love to hear from you! The same data can be seen formatted as a list here. Ham II (talk) 15:34, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Ham II, Amazing! Wow, I'd love to see this feature utilized elsewhere. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 15:36, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Thanks! I've just discovered "short URL to result", so here's a better link: http://tinyurl.com/y57ycgsc – no need to click the blue button. Stupidly, tinyurl.com seems to be blacklisted by Wikipedia, which is why I've had to put it in plain text here – though fortunately a dedicated Wikimedia URL shortener is coming soon. Ham II (talk) 18:47, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Statue of Clement Attlee

Ham II - Think I shall do the Statue of Clement Attlee as a bookend to Statue of Winston Churchill, Woodford. Just wanting to check on the title. There is another statue of Attlee in the Members' Lobby in Parliament. I’m guessing that doesn’t qualify as “Public Art”? If it does, then the one currently down to be written could be Statue of Clement Attlee, Mile End? But if it doesn’t, then simply Statue of Clement Attlee should be fine. I guess I’ll just go ahead - it can always be moved. Regards. KJP1 (talk) 07:37, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

p.s. - I’m struggling to find an HE listing for this. Are we sure it’s listed? KJP1 (talk) 07:41, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

@KJP1: WP:D2D says that "Disambiguation is required whenever, for a given word or phrase on which a reader might search, there is more than one existing Wikipedia article to which that word or phrase might be expected to lead" – from that I infer that disambiguation isn't needed if there isn't another article from which it needs to be disambiguated. The statue in the Members' Lobby doesn't have an article, but possibly it should – of the four statues there (Lloyd George, Churchill, Attlee and Thatcher), we've got articles on two: Statue of Winston Churchill, Palace of Westminster and Statue of Margaret Thatcher (Palace of Westminster). Until there's an article for Attlee's statue in Westminster, I think Statue of Clement Attlee is the best title for the one at Queen Mary.

I included Attlee at "Articles to be created" so that there could ultimately be a complete set of articles for all outdoor statues of prime ministers in London; it's too recent to be listed, but so is Lloyd George on Parliament Square. I still found some good coverage of it when I was writing its entry in the list of public art in Tower Hamlets; don't miss its page on the old PMSA site. John Blackwood's London's Immortals of 1989 has a whole chapter dedicated to it; I'm happy to add material from there, though I'll be be pressed for time today. I remember one author calling 1988 an annus mirabilis for statues in London, but I'll have to dig around for that reference; possibly that was Blackwood, too. Ham II (talk) 09:23, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Ham - that would be great, as I don't have the Blackwood. But you're quite right, there's more than enough for a Start. All the best. KJP1 (talk) 09:28, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Well, it's there as a Start. Anything Blackwood gives you on reactions to/appraisals of the statue would be particularly good, as the reception section's a bit thin. KJP1 (talk) 11:38, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Ham II - Temptation overcame me, and the excellent Blackwood has now arrived. A very rich source! KJP1 (talk) 13:10, 9 December 2021 (UTC)

@KJP1: Glad that you helped yourself to it! As you doubtless will have seen by now, chapter 10 is about the annus mirabilis, while chapter 8 is about the making of the Attlee. And I see that you got yourself the Folio Society's very similarly named little book at the same time! That's another stylish piece of writing. Ham II (talk) 08:19, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Ham II - They’re both interesting but the Blackwood is better. That came with the bookplate of the Royal Automobile Club, although it wasn’t in the best of condition. I think the members may have thrown it at each other! KJP1 (talk) 13:25, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Equestrian statue of Lord Napier

As and when Lord Napier on his horse is picked up for an article, note that this appears to be one of those odd structures that has two listings. It looks like NHLE 1265357 and NHLE 1224311 apply. This is presumably because the Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea boundary bisects the statue. See also List of public art in Kensington where it appears twice, in Westminster and in South Kensington. As an aside, I wonder if the Notes should make this clear? I’ve seen double designations with bridges that have one end in one county, or country, and one in another, but never with a statue. KJP1 (talk) 08:43, 12 December 2021 (UTC)

@KJP1: I don't see any harm in that – and both listings should be in the infobox as well. I included Napier at "Articles to be created" so that equestrian statues could be something else we might get a complete set of, one day. Ham II (talk) 08:19, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Mural of Elizabeth II

New stub: Mural of Elizabeth II ---Another Believer _(Talk) 16:31, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

Image request

Would someone be able to take an image of the memorial stone of Howard Florey at Westminster Abbey for his article? I believe it is near that of Charles Darwin. If someone could upload an image for me, I would be most grateful. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:46, 13 February 2023 (UTC)

Public Sculpture of Britain series

Does anyone know what's going on with the PSB series? I own most of the existing volumes but Liverpool don't seem to have published any new volumes for a few years and there's no sign of the volumes that are listed as "in preparation" in some of the sleeve notes. I was especially excited about the planned volume for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire but that was "in preparation" nearly a decade ago when the Sussex volume was published. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:55, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

@HJ Mitchell: It seems that the Public Statues and Sculpture Association has taken over publication from Liverpool University Press: see this prospectus about the latest volume. I did once speak to the author of the projected Wales volume which was "in preparation" in 2003, and she said that that one didn't come to pass (funding fell through, if I recall correctly) and the research for it ended being incorporated into the PMSA's old website. It might be a similar story for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, but there may be hope that some of the long-delayed volumes will see the light of day if "a core of people who initiated the project more than 20 years ago" have taken it on at the new publishers. Which London volumes have you got, out of curiosity? I've only got the City of London and Historic Westminster Volume 1; Volume 2 is one I've been waiting for since 2011... Ham II (talk) 19:53, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

Away from home so brief reply. South London (Volume 10) is on order. I have the rest of the London volumes: User:HJ Mitchell/Library#Public Sculpture of Britain series. The rest of the series is on my wishlist. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:22, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

Category discussion

I noticed a user removed Category:Monuments and memorials in London from a lot of statue entries. I've started a discussion at Category talk:Statues in London because I don't think we should assume all statues are monuments/memorials. Sometimes a statue is just a statue. Discussion participation welcome! ---Another Believer _(Talk) 14:37, 11 November 2024 (UTC)