This film is part of Free
Art Is Long - But Oratory Is Longer!
Passions run high as the campaign against a sculpture dubbed "the Hyde Park Atrocity" gathers pace
Overview
Think the arts controversy is a modern phenomenon? Think again. Sculptor Jacob Epstein's 'Rima' - a tribute to author WH Hudson - was branded a "nightmare in stone" and "the Hyde Park Atrocity" in the media when it was unveiled in 1925. This Topical Budget newsreel commemorates the 12-hour nonstop condemnation by another artist, J. Edward Homerville Hague, and ends on a close-up of a clearly bemused Epstein.
Vandals later daubed the sculpture with green paint. But despite the title of this item, 'Rima' long outlived its critics - it still stands in Hyde Park today.
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