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Art and civic culture in Birmingham in the late nineteenth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

Roy Hartnell
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Abstract

This paper looks at Joseph Chamberlain's Birmingham and claims that George Dawson's famous ‘civic gospel’ which laid the ground for the municipal reforms was permeated by a consensus view of the moral and civic role of art. It suggests that it was this combination of philosophy in action through art which created the special Birmingham context for a vibrant civic culture which led to the political and artistic achievements of the 1870s and 1880s. For a few brief years, this combination enabled Birmingham to stand above other British cities and lay claim to the titles of ‘the best-governed city in the world’ and ‘perhaps the most artistic town in England’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , August 1995 , pp. 229 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

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15 The sculpture by Antony Gormley erected in Victoria Square in 1991 cost £70,000. The sculptor claimed ‘it should recapture a sense of the collective body – to make visual statements that can act as a cohesive force within the self-questioning and self-determination of a people and place.’ The former MP for Selly Oak, Sir Anthony Beaumont-Dark describes it differently – ‘On a good day my children could have done better – it looks like a doodle on the back of an envelope.’ Metronews, 20 September 1991, 3.