Wilde expert Merlin Holland, grandson of the author, has described the new sculpture of Oscar Wilde as ‘terrifying’.
He said, ‘I am in favor of any innovation in modern art. But it seems unacceptable to me, it looks absolutely terrible.’
The sculpture was designed by the late Scottish artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. The sculpture depicts Wilde as a dismembered head and was placed in a park in Chelsea, southwest London, near Wilde’s old home.
“It looks like a monument to a man who has been beheaded by society,” Holland added.
How do we want to remember him? …as one who was beheaded for breaking the laws of time?…’
Wilde was imprisoned after pleading guilty to gross indecency. He died in poverty in Paris in 1900 at the age of 46. He is immortalized for ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey’.
Artist Paolozzi submitted designs for the model to the committee in 1995, arguing that Wilde’s sculpture should be conceptual rather than representational. At that time the sculpture was rejected and a different model was selected.
“Everyone has a right to an opinion, including Oscar Wilde’s grandson,” the Paolozzi Foundation said in a statement.
There are many monuments to Wilde’s memory, and his grave at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is visited by thousands of visitors each year.
