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Description: | This sculpture, carved from black Indian granite, has affinities with both Egyptian obelisks and the anthropomorphic structure of Native American totem poles. Its five surmounted portrait heads each at a different stage of abstraction are based on Sir Francis Chantrey's neo-classical bust of the Birmingham scientist and inventor James Watt, which is now in the City Museum and Art Gallery.(1) The successive reduction and increasing fine finish visible in the piled up heads allude to the machines that Watt developed late in life for the making of larger or smaller copies of sculpture, each being the same proportion to the one above. Additional Information: James Watt (1736-1819) is chiefly remembered as the inventor of the separate condenser - the greatest single improvement ever made to the steam engine. In 1774 he joined Matthew Boulton, Birmingham's leading manufacturer, in order to market his invention, a partnership which has become one of the most famous in world economic history.The image and title of the work has obvious links to its surroundings (being next to Watt Street) and to the city's history. | Subjects: | Sculpture | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Sculptor: Woropay, Vincent | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=6818... | Go to resource |
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