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![]() Location : Home » News Room » AF Articles » November 2006 Headlines » Article |
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A panel from the sculpture shows Battle of Britain crews scrambling to their aircraft. Photo: Major Mike Minnich |
“This was a hefty yet delicate project,” Pearsons notes, “since the artwork had to be packaged in 18 separate crates for shipping – one for each panel. When reassembled, the sculpture as displayed consists of two eight-metre-long ‘friezes’, or bands of high-relief figures.”
The clay (terracotta) sculpture was the ‘original’ from which a silicon mould was prepared, and from that the ultimate bronze final artwork was produced. The Battle of Britain monument, set along London’s Victoria Embankment, was unveiled by His Royal Highness Prince Charles in September 2005. In addition to Paul Day’s massive bronze sculpture, mounted chest-high atop a granite base, the two-part wedge-shaped memorial also contains bronze panels listing the names of all Allied airmen who flew in the battle, which officially lasted from July 10 to October 31, 1940.
“Such terracottas have become collectable pieces of art in their own right,” Paul Day, who worked on the model for two years straight, explains, “because they are the pieces that I actually sculpted by hand, and they also inevitably contain more detail than can be transmitted in the casting process to the bronze final product.”
The exhibition at the Gardiner Museum finishes on 15 January 2007, and the Air Force has committed to returning the Battle of Britain terracottas to Day’s studio as soon as feasible thereafter.
For more information on how to visit the display, check the museum’s website at www.gardinermuseum.com, or phone 416-586-8080.
Serving and retired members of the Canadian Forces are entitled to free admission to the Gardiner Museum during the run of the Paul Day exhibition, upon presentation of appropriate ID cards at the front desk.
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Last Updated: 2006-11-16 | ![]() |
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