''Brick Man'' was an
Antony Gormley
Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...
sculpture proposed in the 1980s for the city of
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.
History and description
A male human figure made of clay
building bricks, standing around high, it would have stood on a triangle of land bounded by railway lines in the
Holbeck
Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is t ...
area of the city, greeting travellers arriving at
Leeds railway station
Leeds railway station (also known as Leeds City railway station) is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Ro ...
. It would have cost £600,000 and been the largest sculpture in the UK at the time. Visitors would have been able to enter via a doorway in the heels, climb stairs, and look out through the ears.
The sculpture was one of twenty designs produced in response to a competition to find an artwork for the site, but the proposal was ultimately rejected by
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...
in 1988.
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
councillor Richard Hughes-Rowlands said at the time: "If Mr Gormley is talking about it
'Brick Man''going somewhere else, my eyes won't exactly be weeping tears."
Gormley has blamed "lack of nerve" for the rejection of his idea, adding: "I think of it still as my best attempt to allude to the collective body."
The idea of an iconic landmark sculpture of the human form later saw the light of day in Gormley's ''
Angel of the North
The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is seen by an estimated 33 million people every year due to its proximity to the A1 road (Great Bri ...
'', which is tall.
A plaster
maquette
A ''maquette'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch.
Sculpture
A maquette ...
– cast from Gormley's own body – for the sculpture can be seen in
Leeds City Art Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brick Man
1986 sculptures
Sculptures by Antony Gormley
Buildings and structures in Leeds
Outdoor sculptures in Leeds