On the Cambridge Sculpture Trail
My feet with Anthony Gormley's Earthbound: Plant (2002)
This is cross-posted from the Cambridge University Museums blog who kindly invited me to write a post ...
---
Living and working in Cambridge it’s easy to get desensitised to the beauties around you. Thinking about work, head down against the wind or rain, I find I look up all too infrequently at the spectacular architecture. Then, on a day of sunshine, I’ll walk across the river and suddenly remember what a beautiful place Cambridge is. But, the architecture isn’t the only visual treat that I’m missing, for the town plays host to an impressive range of outdoor sculpture in both civic and university sites.
High time, then, to have a proper look at some of these treasures using the Cambridge Sculpture Trails as my guide. The trails have been put together by an independent company, with National Lottery funding, but showcase sculpture at the University Museums among the many works. There are three trails, which separate out routes you can do around the City Centre, South Cambridge, and West Cambridge. You can view these on the website, pick up leaflets at the Fitzwilliam Museum and Kettle’s Yard or, as I did, download the free app onto your phone. I tried out bits of both Trail 1 and Trail 2, as these take in the museums and the town centre.
Some of the works I knew well and have enjoyed seeing almost daily for many years. For example, the beautiful bronze Youth outside the Polar Museum, the striking Abstract by Kenneth Martin near the Fitzwilliam Museum, and Eric Gill’s glorious Cavendish Crocodile on the Mond Building close to the Museum of Zoology. The app, however, taught me new things about each of these. I didn’t know, for instance, that Youth is by Kathleen Scott, wife of the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, and was modelled for by the younger brother of Lawrence of Arabia! Nor did I know that Gill’s engraving is inspired by Lord Rutherford, director of the original Cavendish Laboratory on this site, whose nickname was Crocodile.
The app is divided into trails, then gives you two methods to follow, either ‘Discover’ giving you the numbered lists of the works, or ‘Maps’ allowing you to view your path on a Google map. Each then takes you to a page of details about the work and its sculptor, roughly the length of a standard gallery label, but also with web links on to more information about the artist, subject or relevant institution. This helped me to spot works that I have blithely walked past dozens of times. My favourite is Anthony Gormley’s Earthbound: Plant on the Downing Site close to the Sedgwick Museum, which is a full-size human figure buried upside-down so that only the soles of the feet are visible (cue perfect sculpture trail photo). I’ve, likewise, never really looked at Lawrence Bradshaw’s Doors of the Guildhall right on the Market Square. The app told me the tale of their previous wrong attribution to Gertrude Hermes, and directed me to Bradshaw’s poster designs in the London Transport Museum.
One of the benefits of the trails is that they weave in and out of the University, connecting private and public sculpture. It is easy for me, as a member of the university, to wander into colleges and departments with knowledge and confidence. The app does give information about which sculptures might have limited access and who to contact in advance, but I did wonder whether the complexity of some sites, and the need to request entry from college porters or time visits to coincide with college open hours, might hinder or put off some trail followers. I hope not. These trails provide a pleasant and unusual way to see Cambridge, and to engage with some of the less visible colleges and departments, or the civic art that is hiding in plain site. With the new Smartphone app the knowledge is all at your fingertips. If the trails were advertised near to the sculptures so you could join one on a whim they could be veritably trail blazing.