Leaning Woman Statue

From 1956 onwards, the London County Council (LCC) sited approximately fifty artworks around housing estates, schools and public buildings, as part of its Patronage of the Arts scheme. This sculpture was commissioned by the LCC in 1958, designed to compensate the people of Hammersmith for the enlargement of the Great West Road.

Dr Karel Vogel arrived in Britain from Prague in 1938. His pre-War work was conventionally classical, but like other artists of the time he began experimenting with industrial materials. The Leaning Woman, a semi-nude idealised figure nearly twice life size, was cast in concrete around a metal armature. Her arms rest lightly on an absent surface and her weight is cantilevered from the base. Her floating appearance linked her surroundings 'in neo-classical calm with the swiftness of the fast modern world'. It was one of Vogel's final works and took a year to complete.

Over last decades the concrete had cracked and there was sign of rust where the armature had been exposed. Past repairs in smooth cement were inappropriate to the work and had failed. The statue was put on the Heritage at Risk Register in 2017.

HOLT and the local community led a crowdfunding campaign in 2023 to restore the statue, and raised £37,000 with the generous support of Hammersmith & Fulham Council and many individual donors and supporters. Our grant was supported through the generosity of CMS law firm.

Our Proud Places youth engagement programme included 752 site visits, heritage skills training with conservators and creative workshops with young people from alternative provisions, young refugee groups, primary and secondary schools.
 
Restoration was completed in summer 2024 with Sally Strachey Conservation and included reversing and stabilising the corrosion of the iron armature, repairing all cracks and open seams, restoring the concrete surface to its original appearance and improving its setting and landscaping so it can be better understood and appreciated.


The restored statue was unveiled by HRH The Duke of Gloucester in July 2024, as part of a public event to celebrate the completion of the project. Read about the event here: https://www.heritageoflondon.org/post/the-leaning-woman

In October 2024, Heritage of London Trust received the Tom Ryland Award for Conservation for this project.
https://www.heritageoflondon.org/post/tom-ryland-award-for-conservation

See this project featured in C20 magazine: https://www.heritageoflondon.org/post/holt-in-c20-magazine
https://www.heritageoflondon.org/projects/leaning-woman-statue