A small park south of the Thames River welcomed London's newest public sculpture this summer: a bronze statue of Fanny Wilkinson, a pioneering suffragist, public health advocate, and the UK's first female professional garden designer. The 72-centimeter-tall statue stands on a massive, rough-cut granite base in Coronation Gardens in Wandsworth, created by British sculptor Gillian Brett.
Anyone familiar with London's other recent public sculpture honoring a fierce historical defender of women's rights, Mary Wollstonecraft, might be surprised by Wilkinson's small stature. The Wollstonecraft sculpture, designed by artist Maggi Hambling in 2020, also features a tiny female figure. This raises an important question: why must these tributes to such influential women be so small?
A detailed examination of both pieces reveals significant differences, not only in what the artists created but in how these works came to occupy public spaces. They also reflect a recent movement toward better representation of women in public art. A 2021 Art UK Sculpture survey found that of approximately 1,500 monuments in London, 20.5% were dedicated to named men while only 4% honored named women. Remarkably, there were twice as many sculptures of animals as there were of named women. However, in the four years since that survey, more statues of women have been unveiled than during the entire second half of the 20th century.
Journalist Juliet Rix's comprehensive survey of female sculptures in London, titled "London's Statues of Women," reveals little systematic approach to the urban art encountered in daily life. Rix attributes this randomness to high costs and the involvement of numerous different stakeholders with varying interests and priorities.
The first sculpture in London commemorating a named, non-royal woman was installed in 1897, honoring actress Sarah Siddons. Created by French sculptor Léon-Joseph Chavalliaud, it marked a historic milestone. However, it took more than a century for a woman, Millicent Fawcett, to join the men adorning Parliament Square. Feminist activist Caroline Criado Perez campaigned for two years to make this happen, gathering support from around 85,000 people through a Change.org petition, as well as backing from London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Fawcett sculpture was commissioned as part of 14-18 NOW, the nationwide First World War centennial arts program. Artist Gillian Wearing was selected by a commissioning body comprised of arts professionals and campaigners, working alongside Justine Simons, London's deputy mayor for culture and creative industries. This represents one of the more organized approaches to commemorating women in public spaces.
The Wilkinson and Wollstonecraft tributes emerged through much more grassroots efforts. The Newington Green Action Group, a local charity, spent ten years conducting determined private fundraising in a campaign called "Mary on the Green" to erect the Wollstonecraft memorial. Hambling was invited, along with one other artist, to propose ideas for best commemorating the pioneering author. Seven hundred forty-seven members of the public provided feedback on her proposal, and the campaign ultimately raised £143,000 from supporters across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
The final Wollstonecraft sculpture features a gleaming silver figure atop a black stone plinth. It depicts what Hambling calls an "Everywoman" - a tiny figure emerging naked from a much larger organic mass that suggests abstract female forms. Hambling has noted that people react differently to outdoor art because they have less choice about encountering it. "Some people like my work, some hate it," she told Rix in an interview. "The difference is in how people see them. Paintings are safely on a wall in a gallery. You can choose to look at them or not, whereas public sculpture confronts you - it inhabits your space."
Wilkinson's tribute came about in an entirely different way, almost by chance. The Heritage of London Trust (HOLT), as part of its ongoing campaign to restore London's drinking fountains, began restoring the Edwardian drinking fountain at the heart of Coronation Gardens. This granite boulder featured an Art Nouveau tap and basin, plus an empty ledge where a sculpture once stood.
The Putney School of Art and Design, along with its Friends association, organized an open competition to replace the original sculpture depicting a mythological water carrier that had been stolen years ago. Brett proposed a figurative statue of Wilkinson after learning that she had designed the garden. Her winning concept was then realized and funded through collaboration with several local charitable foundations, including the Friends associations of both the park and art school, the Drinking Fountain Association, and London Stone Conservation, as well as the local council. HOLT contributed £15,000 to a total cost of £37,500, though unexpected expenses pushed the project over budget, prompting the park's Friends association to seek additional public support.
While remembrance takes place in the public sphere, it's rarely coordinated or funded at the governmental level. Chance and individual initiative serve as much stronger driving forces than official planning. The exact number of First World War memorials remains unknown because most were erected by private citizens remembering specific people they had lost. Similarly, the women commemorated in London range from obvious candidates like Florence Nightingale or Ada Lovelace to complete unknowns championed by small groups of determined supporters - friends, family members, and local advocates who move mountains to get their projects realized.
In one remarkable instance, "The Awakening" by Unus Safardiar, installed in 2002, came about when a son convinced a local council to lift a bylaw banning new statuary in Regent's Park so that a tribute to his mother could be installed in the garden she had loved most. This demonstrates the personal passion that often drives these commemorative projects.
"We are living in a statue boom," Rix observes. The most recent additions take various shapes and sizes, reflecting diverse approaches and funding sources. In Westminster, a bronze tribute to Ada Lovelace was commissioned by property developer the Berkeley Group for its new Millbank Quarter residential complex. Meanwhile, in Wimbledon, an homage to Sister Nivedita (also known as Margaret Noble), a Northern Irish educator who founded a girls' school in Kolkata, was installed in 2023.
For centuries, female figures in public sculpture were either royal or symbolic - allegories, muses, and virtues that remained unnamed and often unclothed. However, Rix believes the new Coronation Gardens statue reflects current times by replacing an allegorical figure with a real person. Brett agrees, seeing her role as giving Wilkinson a voice. "I immersed myself in the story of Fanny Wilkinson. She became a real person to me," Brett explains. "She didn't seek attention. She wasn't courting publicity. She lived to a ripe old age and ended up in Suffolk, breeding goats."
Public art inherently carries political weight. Whether responses to statues are positive or critical, they trigger essential conversations about representation and history. London's first statue of a named woman of color, Joy Battick, was only installed in 1986. Just six others have appeared since then, highlighting the ongoing need for more diverse representation.
When the most recent addition - a beautiful, life-sized stone depiction of 18th-century well keeper Mary Woolaston by Marcia Bennett-Male - was unveiled in June in a Kings Cross community garden, artist Gaylene Gould emphasized the broader social benefits such projects provide. "Public healing spaces, like the well Mary is said to have kept at Kings Cross, are needed now more than ever," she told the Londonist. "These spaces of public healing are crucial sites of community, bringing us together and encouraging connection in an age of increasing disconnection and loneliness."
