The Barbican Muse

The Barbican Muse
The Barbican Muse
	The sculpture in 2014
Artist	Matthew Spender
Year	1994; 30 years ago
Type	Sculpture
Medium	Gilded fibreglass
Subject	Woman with tragedy and comedy masks
Dimensions	6.1 m (20 ft)
Condition	Good
Location	London, EC2; United Kingdom
	51°31′11″N 0°05′35″W / 51.51962°N 0.09297°W
Owner	Dick Enthoven

The Barbican Muse is a sculpture of a woman, holding tragedy and comedy masks, by Matthew Spender, and was installed on a wall near the Silk Street entrance to the Barbican Centre in the City of London, England, in 1994.^[1]

The 20 feet (6.1 m) long illuminated sculpture called Muse was cast in fibreglass and then gilded.^[2]^[3] It was commissioned, in 1993, by architect Theo Crosby to 'float, glow and point the way' to visitors arriving at the centre on the walkway from Moorgate Station.^[4]

As part of the 1993–1994 refurbishment, Crosby also commissioned nine gilded fibreglass muses by British sculptor Sir Bernard Sindall, but these were removed in April 1997, and sold to Dick Enthoven in 1998.^[5]^[6]

References

^ Oxford, Esther (31 May 1994). "Facelift reveals heart of Barbican tourist trap". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
^ Owen, Richard (14 October 1998). "Chins off the old block". The Times.
^ Binney, Marcus (9 February 1993). "Architecture with art at its heart". The Times.
^ "Arts Briefing: Barbican Brighter". The Times. 26 August 1993.
^ Krouse, Matthew (19 December 2003). "Eighth wonder". Mail & Guardian. South Africa. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
^ "Stock Photo: An ex-Barbican muse on the move requires careful handling". Alamy. 1998. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.