On Adelaide Street, you’ll find a peculiar-looking granite slab
with a head protruding from one end and you’ll find Oscar Wilde smiling back at
you, with supposedly a cigar in hand. By that it is A Conversation with Oscar Wilde created by Maggi Hambling.
A committee was set up called “A Statue for Oscar Wilde”
which aimed put a statue in place in tribute of him. The statue was funded by
donations from fans of Oscar Wilde’s works. Designs were submitted by 12
artists which was thinned down to 6 artists. From the 6 artists, they created
models for the statue, which ultimately led to Maggi Hambling being chosen as
the finalised choice of what the statue will become. The idea of it was to set
yourself down for a moment to converse with Oscar Wilde. The statue was
unveiled by Stephen Fry in 1998.
The statue shaped like a sarcophagus is made of granite and
Oscar made of bronze. Oscar’s figure seems very much to flow out and shape to
form seaweed, especially given the green textures that comes off of him. Originally,
it had a bronze cigar in his hand but was said to be removed as a result that
the cigar was being apparently stolen from him on multiple occasions. A quote
from his play Lady Windermere’s Fan is
seen on the other end:
“We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the
stars.”
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