A Kick in the Teeth (No.57)

Description

Alfred Hardiman’s equestrian monument to the First World War commander was dogged by controversy from its first proposal in 1928. Such was the outcry over Hardiman’s first model he was obliged to produce a compromise version in 1930, which pleased no one. The third definitive statue, after considerable delays and grave financial difficulties for the artist, was not unveiled until November 1937.

Focusing on archive material from the Hardiman Papers at the Henry Moore Institute and Public Records from The National Archive, Nicholas Watkins examines why the Haig monument proved so controversial, detailing the series of hotly contested issues it raised which surround the construction of public memory.