Displaying the Head of Victory

Abstract

Here I discuss my responses as an artist to a sculpture from the archive, Henry Fehr's 'Head of Victory', which was loaned for the exhibition 'Thought Positions in Sculpture' at Huddersfield Art Gallery from 16 October 2015 to 9 January 2016, curated by Rowan Bailey. The Head of Victory is the only remaining section of the winged statue of Victory that once stood triumphantly at the top of the Leeds War Memorial. Created by the sculptor Henry Charles Fehr (1867-1940), the monument was installed in 1922 to commemorate those who died in the First World War. However in the decades that followed, the figure of Victory began to corrode and became increasingly unstable. It was removed from the memorial in the 1960s to avoid risk to the public. The head is now in the collection of Leeds Art Gallery and was kindly loaned for the exhibition. In my installation, the head was raised once more above viewers, flanked by two artworks that responded to the dual aspects of the memorial’s intended function