Hammersmith Pumping Station, London
Hammersmith Pumping Station: Smart Queen Caroline, Sarah Staton
Year
2023
Client
fereday pollard for Tideway
Artist
Sarah Staton
Typographer / Graphic Design
Robert Green
Service
Commission Management
Location
Hammersmith Pumping Station, Chancellor's Rd, Hammersmith, London W6 9RS
A permanent commission for Hammersmith Pumping Station
Sarah Staton was commissioned by Tideway to create an artwork for this operational pumping station.
The permanent Tideway commissions respond to the site-specific narratives set out in the Tideway Heritage Interpretation Strategy. The cultural meander for the West section is – ‘Recreation to Industry: Society in Transition’. Within this concept, the artist considered the site-specific narrative for Hammersmith Pumping Station, which occupies part of the former riverside estate of Brandenburgh House, where Queen Caroline of Brunswick, the controversial wife of George IV, died in 1821.
Sarah’s cast bronze artwork, titled Smart Queen Caroline, presents a quote from Queen Caroline, as pertinent now as it was 200 years ago, set in Doves Type:
‘A government cannot stop the march of intellect any more than they can arrest the motion of the tides or the course of the planets’ — Queen Caroline quoted in The Times, 1820
Queen Caroline became the figurehead and central catalyst in the 18th century Reform Movement, opposing the increasingly unpopular King George. The Reform Movement went on to culminate in the Reform Acts creating ‘universal suffrage’, the right for all to vote. Many revolutionary pronouncements, including this quote, were made in Caroline's name.
Queen Caroline of Brunswick was celebrated and adored by the public, despite being married to the King. Caroline had been physically refused entry to George IV’s Coronation ceremony and suffered mistreatment and inequalities from both her husband and press.
The work responds to the HIS with its site-specific references, but also captures the essence of the overall approach of the HIS to the concept of Liberty, in this instance recalling the relationship between the state and individuals, in a woman’s voice.
Doves Type was created at Hammersmith as a reinterpretation of hand drawn manuscript letters that preceded the creation of print. A bitter feud between the two partners Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker, of Hammersmith’s celebrated Doves Press (named at the Dove’s Pub), lead to the protracted disposal of their unique metal type into London’s River Thames from Hammersmith Bridge. Robert Green, a contemporary designer, began to re-create the Doves type as a digital facsimile in 2013. In 2015, after searching the riverbed of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge with help from the Port of London Authority, 150 pieces of the original type were recovered, which helped Green to refine the font. Doves font is being used in several Tideway commissions, in addition to this one.
For more information on the site’s history see Tideway’s Heritage Interpretation Strategy.
“Queen Caroline’s quote resonates through the ages, it inspires me and I hope others will enjoy it too.”
The artist has conceived the commission to be an accessible work, redolent with current resonances and historic intrigues. The plaque is cast in 3% silicon bronze and is located on the existing pumping station wall. This location has been chosen since it is closer to the river and Queen Caroline Street. The scale and simplicity of the proposal is appropriate to both the pumping station and largely residential context.
The artwork enhances the public realm with the quote in a rich material, contrasting strongly with the Brutalist concrete surfaces of the pumping station. It respects both the location and adjacent conservation area setting and the text directly responds to the site and the River on a number of levels. The artist hopes that it may inspire and engage the curiosity of the local community, as it has inspired and broaden the local knowledge of the artist.
Fabricated by Brass Founders with Adept Contracts Limited who were contracted by BMB JV (Morgan Sindall and Balfour Beatty), the main works contractor for the west sites.
“I was taken with Caroline’s resilience, independence and the progressive circle she ran with. Caroline’s canny perception shines through time, and I am delighted to re-present her words in the enduring format of the bronze plaque. ”
Sarah Staton creates materially rich interdisciplinary work that embraces context, history and social potentials. She has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries in the UK and internationally. She has been the recipient of awards including Henry Moore Foundation, Henry Moore Institute, The Arts Foundation, The Landscape Institute, New York Type Directors Award. Staton’s commissioned sculptures for specific sites include Apples and Pears, Westminster, London, Edith and Hans for University of Bristol, Alphonse for Milton Keynes and Octavia for the Crucible Theatre Sheffield.
Her work is in the permanent collection of the Arts Council England, The British Museum, Folkestone Artworks, Tate Gallery and in private collections in Europe and North America. Sarah is an artist, curator and Head of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London.
Her recent sculpture, Chicken and Egg, can be see in Camberwell, London.
For more information see: https://sarahstaton.com
For more information see:
www.tideway.london
Typographer Robert Green. Based on the Doves Type®, copyright 2017 Robert Green. All rights reserved. The typeface is available to licence via www.typespec.co.uk.