Displaying items by tag: monument

The stories behind some of London’s most radical public sculptures are traced in a display drawing on the Henry Moore Institute’s rich collection of sculptors’ papers in Leeds, England. The exhibition sheds new light on sculpture in the capital, charting the creative process, political debates and critical responses surrounding realized and unrealized works from the early twentieth century onwards.

Highlights include Laurence Bradshaw’s (1899-1978) iconic Karl Marx Memorial (1956) which stands in Highgate Cemetery in north London. A pilgrimage site for international socialist leaders and politicians over the past 50 years, the monument has also been a target for attacks and demonstrations, including damage from homemade bomb explosions in the 1970s.

A Chinese organization has appealed to Japan's Emperor Akihito to return a 1,300 year-old stele taken from China over a century ago, state media reported.

The Honglujing Stele was "looted by Japanese soldiers early last century from northeastern China", the official Xinhua news agency said, and now sits in "virtual seclusion" in Tokyo's Imperial Palace.

The stone monument, 1.8 metres (six feet) tall and three metres wide, shows that the first king of the northeast Asian Bohai kingdom was given his title by a Chinese emperor from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the report said.

Sited at the heart of France's main business district at La Défense, the enormous and impressive Grande Arche was always more than a monument to the triumph of humanitarian ideals over military glory.

The 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe – a marble and glass cube measuring 110m high by 110m wide and 110m deep and big enough to fit Notre Dame cathedral in its archway – stood as a totem to French economic clout.

When Gudmund Vigtel was named the High Museum of Art’s director in 1963, it was a sensitive time for Atlanta’s art world. More than 100 members of the Atlanta Arts Association and their family members had died the year before in a tragic plane crash. The city’s civic leaders hoped that Vigtel could turn the museum into a living monument of sorts.

Vigtel came to the High Museum from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington where he served as the assistant director. Civic leaders turned to Vigtel to spearhead the fund-raising campaign they started with hopes of remaking the museum. As it turns out, they chose the right man for the job.

During his 28 years at the High Museum, Vigtel transformed it from an unsuspecting, modest institution to one of the U.S.’s most renowned art museums. Vigtel oversaw the museum’s move from a small brick building to an architecturally groundbreaking 135,000-square-foot postmodern structure designed by Richard Meier. While the relocation happened in 1983, Vigtel began fund-raising and seeking out an architect in the mid-1970s.

Vigtel tripled the size of the High’s permanent collection and implemented an art appreciation program for children. He also started one of the country’s first African-American art collections. The decorative arts collection he opened at the museum has gone on to become one of the finest in the country. After acquiring hundreds of works by 19^th- and 20^th-century American and European artists, Vigtel left the High Museum with a $15 million endowment, which has since grown.

Vigtel died at his home in Atlanta at the age of 87. His wife, two daughters, four grandchildren, and a profound legacy survive him.