Monument to the Unknown Artist

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Monument to the Unknown Artist by Greyworld, 2007
Sumner Street, Southwark
London, September 2014

“Non plaudite modo pecuniam jacite”
(Don't applaud, just throw money)

“In 2007, Greyworld launched Monument to the Unknown Artist beside the Tate Modern on London’s Bankside. A permanent installation, it garnered the interest of the world's media. At first glance the installation would appear to be a simple bronze statue, dressed in a neck scarf and loose fitting suit. However, the six metre high monument seeks inspiration from passers-by, inviting them to strike poses which he copies, continually changing his form in a light-hearted and mischievous way. The unique sculpture offers an alternative and accessible creative experience for the public, allowing them to create a dialogue with the work of art.” (Greyworld, Wikipedia)

Paris Speed

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Enjoying a trip on Paris Speed's RIB 1
Seen from the Pont des Arts
1st arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

“Experience high speed on the most beautiful avenue in Paris, the river Seine! If you want to give your staff an exceptional ‘team building’ adventure, why not come to Paris ? We can take groups of a minimum ten people. You might like to dine afterwards in one of the delightful floating restaurants on the river. The shared memories of your employees cannot fail to give a unique opportunity of ‘team bonding’.” (Who are we?, Paris Speed)

The Shard

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The Shard (also Shard of Glass) by Renzo Piano, 2012
London Bridge Street, Southwark
London, September 2014

“He saw the 87-storey building as a ‘Vertical City’, with about 8,000 people living and working in premium office space, a world class hotel, luxury apartments, a spa, five restaurants and cafes, retail areas and space for exhibitions and performances. Walking around the public viewing gallery on Level 72, people will see as far as the North Downs, Heathrow and Hampstead, and on clear days have views as far as 30 miles.” (The Shard - Europe's tallest building, Engineering & Technology Magazine)

Riva degli Schiavoni

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Piazza San Marco and Riva degli Schiavoni
Seen from the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore
Venice, September 2012

Royal Beasts

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Two of the “Royal Beasts” by Kendra Haste, 2011
Tower of London
London, September 2014

“The apparent ordinariness of wire and wire mesh belie their expressive qualities and provide ideal material for my sculptures. Drawing is integral to my work as an artist and is perfectly matched by the linear qualities of wire. No other material I have ever used has been able to suggest the sense of movement and life, of contour and volume, the contrasts of weight and lightness, of solidity and transparency - qualities that I find in my natural subjects. It is the perfect medium, inviting continuing exploration and challenge.” (Historic Royal Palaces Awards Sculpture Commission to Kendra Haste, ArtDaily)

Mikhail Baryshnikov

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Mikhail Baryshnikov by Greg Wyatt, 2004
Courtyard of the Schola Cantorum de Paris
Rue Saint-Jacques
Quartier du Val-de-Grâce, 5th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

See also: Peace Elephant - Two Rivers - Peace Fountain - Two Peacocks - Soul of the Arts

Emirates Air Line

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Emirates Air Line (or Thames cable car)
Royal Docks / Greenwich Peninsula
London, September 2014

Nero al Tondo

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Wine crate used as a flower box outside a restaurant
Via Orsanmichele
Florence, April 2014

Couple on a Seat

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“Couple on a Seat” by Lynn Chadwick, 1984
Cabot Square, Canary Wharf
London, September 2014

“By the end of this decade, however, he had started working on complex groups of figures, sometimes involving five, six or even seven male and female figures, and known as the Watcher and Elektra series. With their heads reduced to pyramidal, diamond or block-like shapes and their arms subsumed in their torsos, they display, at their best, a brooding stillness. Too often, though, these simplifications could become stylistic mannerisms. The same is true for the winged and wind-blown figures that also emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, which often look at their best in outdoor locations.” (Lynn Chadwick, The Telegraph)

See also: High Wind IV

Commissariat du 12ème

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Detail of the façade, commissariat du 12ème arrondissement
Rue de Rambouillet / avenue Daumesnil
Quartier des Quinze-Vingts, 12th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

Central Saint Giles

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Central Saint Giles by Renzo Piano, 2010
St Giles High Street, Camden
London, September 2014

“Acclaimed Italian architect Renzo Piano is to literally brighten up the lives of Londoner’s on their way to Covent Garden from Oxford Street. Aiming to bring a sense of ‘joyous vibrancy’ to the area by Centre Point, he has proposed cladding 20 different facets of Central Saint Giles, a mixed-use development by Legal & General Property and Mitsubishi Estate Company, with red, orange, green and yellow glazed ceramic cladding. As the cladding is installed a striking new landmark will emerge defined by dramatic facades of primary colours which at first glance appear a bold contrast to this too long neglected corner of central London.” (Renzo colours London, World Architecture News)

San Pantalon

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Chiesa di San Pantalon (Saint Pantaleon church)
Campo San Pantalon, Dorsoduro
Venice, September 2012

HippopoThames

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“HippopoThames” by Florentijn Hofman, 2014
River Thames, Vauxhall Bridge
London, September 2014

“It has been home to dolphins, piranha fish and even blood-sucking eels, but the River Thames has never before seen the like of this giant hippo. City workers and tourists had to double take yesterday morning when the 68-foot wooden animal floated up London's famous river. The huge sculpture - named HippopoThames - is a new art installation for the capital by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.” (Ship-popotamus!, Daily Mail)

Fountain of Warsaw

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Fontaine de Varsovie (Fountain of Warsaw)
Jardins du Trocadéro
Quartier de Chaillot, 16th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

“The main feature, called the Fountain of Warsaw, is a long basin, or water mirror, with twelve fountain creating columns of water 12 metres high; twenty four smaller fountains four metres high; and ten arches of water. At one end, facing the Seine, are twenty powerful water cannons, able to project a jet of water fifty metres. Above the long basin are two smaller basins, linked with the lower basin by cascades flanked by 32 sprays of water four meters high. These fountains are the only exposition fountains which still exist today, and still function as they once did. In 2011, the fountain's waterworks were completely renovated and a modern pumping system was installed.” (Jardins du Trocadéro, Wikipedia)

Temple of Agape

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Temple of Agape by Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan
Festival of Love, Southbank Centre
South Bank, Lambeth
London, September 2014

“A scaffolding structure was erected on the pedestrian embankment in front of the building to support the plywood shelter and signs, each of which was hand painted by Myerscough's team and a group of volunteers. Multicoloured geometric patterns cover the walls at the base of the structure, while a ramp with a black tiled pattern leads up and through the installation, towards a set of stairs that ascends to the foyer level of the Royal Festival Hall.” (Temple of Agape by Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan celebrates love with neon signage, Dezeen)

Dante Alighieri

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Statue of Dante Alighieri by Paolo Emilio Demi
Niche of the Uffizi colonnade
Piazzale degli Uffizi
Florence, April 2014

“Vincenzo Batelli, for that was the name of this clever Florentine printer, found it impossible to conceive of a niche as a purely architectural feature. Like so many others of his time, a niche, for him, was nothing other than an architectural backdrop to set off the fame and glory of some illustrious person, and thus a sort of vacant lot, just waiting for its guest of honour. The city of Florence and indeed the entire region of Tuscany was unrivalled for its lavish supply of geniuses, heroes, artists, poets and men of science. It would therefore be quite simple to fill each one of Vasari’s niches and still have plenty of the great and the good left over. Why not seize this golden opportunity to wed all these lonely widowed niches with their perfect spouse?” (The strange story of the 28 statues, The Museums of Florence)

Hahn/Cock

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“Hahn/Cock” by Katharina Fritsch, 2013
The Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square
London, September 2014

“There is simply no other way of putting it, and nor would earthy British wit have it any other way. A giant bright-blue cock – its feathers proudly upstanding, its coxcomb as stiff as a pennant in the breeze – has been erected in Trafalgar Square, London, and no double entendre is too good for it.” (Big blue cock erected on fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, The Guardian)

Valentin Haüy

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Statue of Valentin Haüy by Jacques Joseph Émile Badiou de la Tronchère, 1859
Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (National Institute for Blind Children)
Boulevard des Invalides
Quartier de l'École-Militaire, 7th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

The Shed

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The Shed by Haworth Tompkins, National Theatre
Theatre Square, South Bank, Lambeth
London, September 2014

“The Shed stands in Theatre Square between the theatre and the river, and houses a 225-seat auditorium made of raw steel and plywood. A temporary foyer has been carved out from the space beneath the NT’s external terraces. The rough sawn timber cladding is a reference to the National Theatre’s board-marked concrete, while its corner towers refer to its bold geometries. It is built from 100% recyclable materials, is fitted out with re-used seating and is naturally ventilated: the four towers draw air through the building.” (Haworth Tompkins' Shed opens at the National Theatre, Building Design)

Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali

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Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali
Piazza della Signoria
Florence, April 2014

Salutation

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“Salutation” by Ralph Hicks, 2002
Sheffield Street, Holborn
London, October 2009

Passerelle Solférino

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Solférino footbridge (Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor)
Port de Solférino
Quartier des Invalides, 7th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

Procuratie Vecchie

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Procuratie Vecchie
Piazza San Marco
Venice, September 2012

Joshua

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“Joshua”, copy of the original bronze panel of the
Porte del Paradiso (Gates of Paradise) by Lorenzo Ghiberti
Battistero di San Giovanni (Florence Baptistery)
Piazza del Duomo
Florence, October 2013

See also: Adam and Eve - Cain and Abel - Noah - Abraham - Isaac with Esau and Jacob - Joseph - Moses

First Human Maiden

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“First human Maiden made from clay by Prometheus” by Paul Manship
Rockefeller Plaza, Rockefeller Center
New York, September 2008

See also: Prometheus - First Human Youth

Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois

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Interior of the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois
Place du Louvre
Quartier Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, 1st arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

“The low point in the church's history was August 24, 1572, the evening of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The tower bells of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois rang, signaling the supporters of Catherine de Médicis, Marguerite de Guise, Charles IX, and the future Henri III to launch a slaughter of thousands of Protestant Huguenots, who'd been invited to celebrate the marriage of Henri de Navarre to Marguerite de Valois.” (St-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris, Sacred Destinations)

Sergei Diaghilev

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Detail of the tomb of Sergei Diaghilev
Isola di San Michele, Cannaregio
Venice, September 2013

Loggia del Pesce

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Loggia del Pesce (Fish Market)
Piazza dei Ciompi
Florence, April 2014

“The Loggia del Pesce is a historical building in Florence, Italy. It is formed by nine wide arcades, supported by piers or columns. On each side are eight medallions depicting fishing activities and the sea. At the corners are four coats of arms. It was commissioned by Duke Cosimo I de' Medici to Giorgio Vasari, to house the fish market which had been previously held near the Ponte Vecchio. Their place there was taken by the Vasari Corridor. During the urban renovation of Florence following the unification of Italy (1885–1895), the loggia was dismantled and most of its decoration went to the museum of San Marco. It was rebuilt in the Piazza Ciompi only in 1956, re-using most of the original materials.” (Loggia del Pesce, Wikipedia)

Juwel-Palais

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Coat of arms on the Juwel-Palais, now Hochzeitshaus
Gertraudenstraße
Berlin, September 2011

Le Sergent Hoff

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Statue of Ignace Hoff by Auguste Bartholdi
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, (Père Lachaise Cemetery)
Quartier du Père-Lachaise, 20th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

“Sergeant Hoff, who has just died in Paris, was one of the popular figures in the siege of Paris. His name was a synonym for daring, and because of the number and character of his exploits he was, until his existence in flesh and blood was established, believed to be a myth, or the embodiment of ruse.” (Noted French Soldier Dead, Los Angeles Herald, 25 June 1902)