"A conversation with Oscar Wilde" sculpture by Maggi Hambling, Adelaide Street (close to the Strand), London, UK.
"It is called A Conversation with Oscar Wilde and depicts the head and shoulders of the Irish playwright carved in bronze, rising out of what looks like a granite coffin. The “conversation” comes about because the coffin is also a bench for you to sit on and share a moment with the famous wit amidst the hubbub of central London. As well as a moment, you might consider sharing a cigarette for, like the true flouter of convention he was, Oscar is defiantly smoking. You may need to lend him one, though, as the interactive element Hambling had not envisaged when she created the statue was the regularity with which the bronze cigarette would get stolen! Around the base of the monument is a line from his play Lady Windermere’s Fan: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”
Size: 2415px × 3624px
Location: Adelaide Street (close to the Strand), London, UK.
Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: bronze, coffin, england, hambling, irish, london, maggi, oscar, playwright, sculpture, uk, wilde, writer
