GLASGOW has a unique public sculpture heritage but does not seem to be very good at looking after it (Row as city statues set sail for the US, June 15). SNP boss John Mason's intervention in the Townhead statues controversy is a welcome reminder that the management of this aspect of our urban inheritance is a political and not just a ''cultural'' issue.
The allegorical figures of Knowledge and Learning that are now on the point of being deported to the USA were created as part of the wave of library building in the early part of this century, financed by millionaire Scots emigre Andrew Carnegie who wanted to give something back to the country of his birth.
Their loss to a modern American tycoon is not just ironic; it shows a shameful ignorance of the true meaning of the historic art of our city.
What is most distressing about the decision to let them go is that they are not just run-of-the-mill works, but statues of exceptional quality. They were carved not by John Fairweather, as your article claims, but by James C Young, an artist responsible for many fine pieces in Glasgow, and one of the team of carvers who produced the decorative reliefs on Kelvingrove Museum.
As it happens, my colleague Gary Nisbet has recently called for the restoration of the lost bronze figures by Archibald Macfarlane Shannan on the towers of Kelvingrove as part of its projected facelift. Let us hope his call is heeded. In the meantime, though, we have to learn to value and properly care for what we still have.
You quote your anonymous ''spokeswoman'' from the council as saying that there is such a surplus of wonderful work in Glasgow that we can afford to allow wealthy American asset-strippers to come in and help themselves.
It is frankly outrageous that council officials should speak about our city in such terms. This is the kind of gung-ho philistinism that we at the Public Sculpture Research Unit at Glasgow School of Art have been trying to overcome for many years now, so far with a depressing lack of success.
There is a massive educational job to be done here, and if the loss of these two beautiful statues does no more than alert the people of Glasgow to what is being snatched from under their noses some good at least will have come out of it.
Ray McKenzie,
Glasgow School of Art,
167 Renfrew Street, Glasgow.
June 15.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article