| George Orwell | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
 | |
| Artist | Martin Jennings |
| Year | 2017; 9 years ago (2017) |
| Type | Bronze |
| Location | London,W1 United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°31′08″N0°08′34″W / 51.5188°N 0.1429°W /51.5188; -0.1429 |
Astatue of George Orwell by the British sculptorMartin Jennings was unveiled on 7 November 2017 outsideBroadcasting House, the headquarters of theBBC, in London.[1][2]
The wall behind the statue is inscribed withGeorge Orwell's words "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear", from an unused preface toAnimal Farm.[3] The head of BBC history, Robert Seatter, said of Orwell and the statue that "He reputedly based his notoriousRoom 101 fromNineteen Eighty-Four on a room he had worked in whilst at the BBC, but here he will stand in the fresh air reminding people of the value of journalism in holding authority to account".[1]
The statue was funded by a trust established by the Labour MPBen Whitaker, with all funds coming from private donors. Notable donors to the trust includedIan McEwan,Andrew Marr,Ken Follett,Rowan Atkinson,Neil andGlenys Kinnock,Tom Stoppard,David Hare andMichael Frayn. In 2012 the BBC had rejected the offer of the statue, reportedly due to the opposition of the thendirector-general,Mark Thompson,[4] but the project was revived under the next director-general,Tony Hall. Whitaker died in 2014 and the project was continued by his wife,Janet Whitaker, Baroness Whitaker.[1]
Jennings was chosen as the sculptor because Whitaker admired his sculptures ofJohn Betjeman atSt Pancras station andPhilip Larkin inHull. Jennings said that Orwell was "...an ideal subject for a sculptor: loomingly tall, skinny as a rake, forever [with]fag in hand, body leaning in to make a point. He wore the kind of clothes that might have spent their off-duty hours hanging from a nail in the potting shed".[1]
The architectural criticGavin Stamp (under the pseudonym "Piloti"), inPrivate Eye, awarded the statue the "Sir Hugh Casson Award for 2017's ugliest new building" [sic] – "if sculpture is eligible". Orwell "surely deserves better", he wrote. "The great man is depicted holding a fag, dressed in a crumpled suit and standing like amusic hall artist about to crack a joke. The plinth is pathetic. ... No hint here of Orwell's ambivalent relationship with the BBC."[5] Jennings pointed out that "smoking was so much a part of [Orwell's] identity that it would have been unthinkable not to represent him with aroll-up between his fingers."[6] Professor Richard Keeble, then chair ofThe Orwell Society, responded inPrivate Eye's letters page that "the plinth on which the statue stands seems to fit in perfectly with the building".[7] On BBC Radio 4'sFront Row, the critic Sarah Gaventa also questioned the use of a plinth for this "man of the people". Gaventa was approving of the sculpture itself. "You can see he wants to get into the conversation and give you his very honest and forthright opinions. It's Orwell. Who else could it be? When you look at the canon of Martin Jennings's work… it's about brave people who speak out. I'm sure it will become a much-loved addition to the BBC". On BBC News Jennings explained his decision to elevate the statue: "Of course you make aesthetic decisions as well. He's up against a great big cliff of a stone wall and you need to frame it within that space. It couldn't have been at ground level".
In 2018 the statue won Jennings thePublic Monuments and Sculpture Association'sMarsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.[8] This was the first time the prize had been awarded to the same sculptor for two years in succession, Jennings having won in 2017 withWomen of Steel, a sculptural group inSheffield.[8] Ownership of the statue was transferred to The Orwell Society in 2021.[9]
Media related toStatue of George Orwell at Wikimedia Commons
