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Description: | A female figure seated on a stone block. She is holding doves in her hand. Other doves are placed on the stone pedestal. Description: The Labour-controlled City Council's declaration in 1980 of Manchester as the world's first nuclear free city was part of a wider campaign to adopt a national policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament. It was followed by a number of initiatives aimed at promoting awareness and understanding of the issues involving nuclear power locally. These included the establishment of peace parks and the provision of public sculpture. In 1985 a 'Sculpture for Peace' competition was organised by the City Council to select a sculpture to be placed in the Peace Garden at the rear of the Town Hall. Out of the 44 entries received, five were shortlisted and displayed in the Town Hall in June 1985. The shortlisted works by Barbara Pearson, Michael Lyons, Ted Roocroft, Robert Scriven and Paul Mason, were assessed according to criteria which included ease of understanding and durability. The panel of judges, including the chairman of the council's planing and arts committees, and representatives from the City Art Gallery, decided that the £13,000 commission would go to the Manchester-born sculptor Barbara Pearson's design of a seated female in bronze. The message of this earth-mother figure surrounded by doves was easily understood. Originally it was intended to have a much larger number of doves on the pedestal but in the end only three were included. "Messenger of Peace" was unveiled in April 1986. The unveiling of Manchester's first peace sculpture and its first modern outdoor public sculpture by a female sculptor, might have passed off with little public comment had it not been for Barbara Pearson, who elaborating on why she had selected a female figure to represent peace, stated that it was her belief that male and female traits were distinctive: the male being essentially belligerent whilst the woman was more understanding with a more deeply rooted desire for peace. It was a controversial view and one that had the potential to embarrass a council that was publicly known for its pusuit of equal opportunitie. Councillor Arnold Spencer, the chairman of the Planning Committee, atempted to close ant further discussion by declaring that the council very much welcomed the sculpture and the ideas it represented, but that it was not the council's opinion that all men were `aggressive.Correspondence with Barbara Pearson, 1990 Description: Manchester Evening News, 4 April 1986.Correspondence with Barbara Pearson, 1990 Additional Information: Manchester Evening News, 4 April 1986. The three doves on the pedestal were stolen shortly after the sculpture was unveiled. These were replaced with much stronger fittings. | Subjects: | Sculpture | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Sculptor: Pearson, Barbara | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=7558... | Go to resource |
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