Revolving Torsion is a 1972–73kinetic sculpture and fountain by the Russian-bornConstructivist artistNaum Gabo. It was commissioned for theTate Gallery and has been on long-term loan to theGuy's and St Thomas' Charity for display atSt Thomas' Hospital inLambeth, London, since 1975. It was givenGrade II* listed status in January 2016.[1][2]
The sculpture is the culmination of an idea that Gabo developed in the mid-1920s to implement the ideas published in his 1920Realistic Manifesto. He made a series of models and maquettes over the years, including his work ofc. 1929Model for "Torsion", a small 10 centimetres (3.9 in)-highPerspex model; his larger workTorsion from 1929–37, a 35 centimetres (14 in)-high model also in Perspex; and his 1960–64Torsion (Project for a Fountain), an 80 centimetres (31 in)-high bronze maquette.
A commission was suggested by SirNorman Reid, director of the Tate Gallery, when he saw the models on a visit to Gabo's studio in the United States in 1968. Gabo sent his maquette to London and the full-size sculpture was constructed of severalstainless steel plates, creating a stack of intersecting curves, deliberately unadorned and without colour. The sculpture was manufactured in 1972–73 byStainless Metalcraft Limited of London, paid for byAlistair McAlpine, and then donated to the Tate Gallery. Gabo donated his bronze maquette to the Tate Gallery in 1969 and two plastic models in 1977.
The work was installed in 1975 in the centre of a circular pool of water in a square garden at St Thomas' Hospital, with theRiver Thames to the west andWestminster Bridge Road to the north, and new hospital buildings to the east and south. It is a working fountain, with water emitted in streams from some of the sculpture's curved edges. It was originally designed to rotate slowly, once every 10 minutes, but the mechanism has not worked for several years.
Media related toRevolving Torsion at Wikimedia Commons
51°30′01″N0°07′10″W / 51.5004°N 0.1195°W /51.5004; -0.1195
