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South Bank Sculpture Walk: new guide to public art by the river

A local artist has written a guidebook featuring 17 of the public sculptures along the South Bank between St Thomas' Hospital and the National Theatre.

South Bank Sculpture Walk: new guide to public art by the river

Waterloo resident and sculptor Tim Hollins has written The South Bank Sculpture Walk: London's Unknown Sculpture Park to catalogue and critique some of the public art that has arrived on the riverside since the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Hollins has written a short commentary on each of the 17 sculptures which are accompanied by elegant line drawings by Ines Tetris.

The sculptures featured in the book are:

1. South Bank Lion by WF Woodington
2. Revolving Torsion by Naum Gabo
3. Mary Seacole by Martin Jennings
4. Crossing the Divide by Rick Kirby
5. King Edward VI by Thomas Cartwright
6. South of the River by Bernard Schottlander
7. The Dance by Nasser Azam
8. Spirit of the Thames
9. Sturgeon Lamps by George Vulliamy
10. International Brigade by Ian Walters
11. Jubilee Oracle by Alexander
12. Nelson Mandela by Ian Walters
13. Frederyk Chopin by Bronislaw Kubica
14. Zemran by William Pye
15. Laurence Olivier by Angela Conner
16. Arena by John Maine
17. London Pride by Frank Dobson

As he notes, "the South Bank's sculptures are here for a variety of crazy reasons, totally un-curated and of very mixed quality" – but the book serves as a manifesto for the creation of a sculpture park stretching from Westminster Bridge to Tate Modern at Bankside.

Hollins notes the planned permanent return of The Sunbathers and alludes to the proposal for a memorial to humanitarian aid workers intended for Bernie Spain Gardens, as well as the prospect of more public art in new developments such as Southbank Place.

You can buy the book at Amazon.co.uk (£6), at the Travelling Through... bookshop in Lower Marsh and Foyles at the Royal Festival Hall.

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