Faraday

Faraday

  • Artist: Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005)
  • Date made: 2000
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Research and Cultural Collections 
  • Accession number: BIRRC-A0929 
  • Location: Near West Gate. To find this sculpture, you can either use its what three words location or use the campus digital map.

Eduardo Paolozzi was among the most influential artists of the twentieth century. He pushed the boundaries of the art establishment and was a great innovator and pioneer. This monumental bronze sculpture is a homage to the acclaimed scientist Michael Faraday who discovered electromagnetic induction. The loops of bronze between the figure's hands are a visual manifestation of the natural fields of electrical force. The sculpture was commissioned in 2000 to celebrate the centenary of the University’s Royal Charter and was the last large-scale public sculpture commission made by Paolozzi. It is inscribed around the base with words from T.S. Eliot’s poem The Dry Salvages.

Upper body of seated bronze figure of Faraday sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi with blue sky background
Feet and poetry inscription at the base of bronze sculpture Faraday by Eduardo Paolozzi
Fist and arm of bronze sculpture Faraday by Eduardo Paolozzi
Faraday bronze sculpture with clock tower and tree in background by Eduardo Paolozzi

Visual Description

This bronze seated figure is over five metres tall. It is dark grey in colour with a green tinge. It sits on a stone plinth with a bench built into the front of it. This is on a raised cobbled platform area with steps which come down behind the sculpture. The sculpture depicts a figure that is human shaped but is robotic and machine-like in its appearance. It is made up of fragments of different parts so its surfaces are uneven. There are references to machine parts with kneecaps which look like plug sockets and bolts and nuts which protrude from the feet and ankles. The figure’s head and face have an angular, geometric and uneven tiered surface. There is a raised dividing line down the middle of the face with one side set forward and the other side set back. The figure is seated and holds its arms bent at the elbow on its knees. Between its hands it grasps an interlocking series of coiled shapes. The seated figure is supported by what appears to be a backless chair with four legs. You can see through the gaps between the legs, and gaps within the sculpture, to the areas behind. Around the very base of the sculpture, in relatively small typeface, are words from T.S. Eliot’s poem The Dry Salvages. The words run in a single tiered line as though they are one long sentence. To read the poem you must follow the words around each four sides of the square plinth. The words read:

Fare forward, travelers! Not escaping from the past
Into different lives, or into any future;
You are not the same people who left that station
Here between the hither and farther shore
While time is withdrawn, consider the future
And the past with an equal mind.