Tower Hamlets council is selling ‘old Flo’ by Henry Moore
Laran Wands reports:
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets has given the green light for the council to continue with the sale of a famous Henry Moore Sculpture, despite fierce opposition.
Critics of the move include Olympic opening ceremony director and Tower Hamlets resident Danny Boyle, director of the Tate Gallery, Sir Nicholas Serota and the artist’s daughter Mary Moore. They and several others wrote an open letter to the Mayor begging him to reconsider the move.
“While we understand the financial pressures that Tower Hamlets faces, we feel the Mayor’s proposal goes against the spirit of Henry Moore’s original sale to London County Council at a favourable price on the understanding that it would be placed in east London. The presence of the sculpture in Stepney was a demonstration of the post-war belief that everyone, whatever their background, should have access to works of art of the highest quality.”
The sculpture is a 1.6 tonnes bronze piece named Draped Seated Woman and is thought to be worth around £20 million. Moore originally sold the sculpture to the council at a fraction of its market value back in the early sixties.
Henry Moore wished for his sculpture to be displayed in a socially deprived area. However the sculpture itself has not been displayed in Tower Hamlets since 1962 when it was removed from a council estate after being vandalised. For the last 15 years the Draped Seated Women, nicknamed ‘old Flo’ has been on loan to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
In a statement on the council’s website yesterday, Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman claimed ‘horrendous’ budget cuts were responsible for the council’s decision to sell.
“We are faced with a stark choice in these times of recession. Do we keep this valuable sculpture in Yorkshire or do we try to sell this globally important artwork in order to release much needed funds to invest in local heritage projects we can sustain, affordable housing, improving opportunities and prospects for our young people and keeping our community safe?”
Though the art world has little sympathy for the council’s plight in this time of austerity, Tower Hamlets councillor Rania Khan claimed that the local authority is “being judged rather harshly”. She maintains that, “We are not the first council to do this in order to benefit our residents and I am sure we will not be the last.”
The Henry Moore foundation issued a statement, commenting on the decision to sell the sculpture.
“We have sympathy with Tower Hamlets’ position, although we think it is very sad that this sculpture may be lost to public display.”