Call for Seated Woman to return to London
Tower Hamlets owns a sculpture worth millions, designed by a world-famous artist.
Sadly, you have to trundle more than 200 miles north to see it.
Avant-garde Yorkshire-born sculptor Henry Moore created Draped Seated Woman for the borough in 1957 while working on a commission for the Unesco headquarters in Paris.
The striking piece lounged in Stepney's Stifford Estate until the development was demolished in 1997.
Fearing the sculpture would be savaged by vandals if it remained in the borough, the council sent it on loan to a Moore collection at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, where it has remained ever since.
Tower Hamlets Council confirmed it is on "free loan" to the park, which pays the insurance and is "indemnified by the Government".
A spokesman told The Wharf it "has no current plans to change this arrangement".
Meanwhile, Henry Moore's "radical" legacy is being hailed just along the Thames with an exhibition at the Tate Britain.
Poplar and Canning Town Conservative candidate Tim Archer said the sculpture could be worth anything between "£4million and £54million at auction".
He thinks it should either be returned to the borough or sold off to fund social housing.
He wants councillors to choose which option they prefer in an "X Factor-style" vote at the next council meeting on March 24.
He said: "It's a nine-hour round trip that costs about £175. Not many people in Tower Hamlets are going to be seeing this on a regular basis.
"It's being well looked after, but the people that own it aren't getting any advantage or enjoyment out of it."
Blackwall and Cubitt Town councillor Archer said that money raised from a sale could be given to a registered social landlord.
He identified the Renault garage site on Commercial Road as a good spot for a 200-unit scheme, although the council would prefer to put a car pound there.
He said: "The money could be used in Stepney, you could call it Henry Moore House and have a replica statue in the building, so the link to the past could still be there."
A major concern about re-claiming the statue is that officers think the insurance would be "prohibitive". Cllr Archer suggests that Canary Wharf Group could pick up the tab and host the sculpture.
He has already reportedly had "a quick chat" with CWG on the matter.
He said: "I'm sure it would love to have a sculpture by a world-famous artist on the estate and it would certainly enable more people to see it.
"It's a real possibility."
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I am horrifed that Tower Hamlets council has so much money tied up in a piece of art. And it is on loan for free. What is this council playing at??? And Jim Fitzpatrick was singing its praises last week - what a joke!
Tower Shamlets council is a total joke.
It is run by islamists for islamists
LBTH has a poor record with public art, Frank Dobson's "Woman with vase" was & destroyed, the Victorian copies of Etruscan Dogs in Vicky Park have just been replaced. Any representation of living things will be smashed by the Whitechapel Taliban.
The best thing to do with the Moore is to offer it to a National Collection for 60% of its Auction estimate.
By the way I went to the Yorkshire Sculpture park its a great place on a warm day, sadly it rained when I visited and was a bit muddy.
Please, please return it to the Canary Wharf estate - there is enough close circuit tv to ensure it isn't vandalised, it could be viewed by anyone for free and unlike Commercial Rd, it would get far more exposure as millions pass through Canary Wharf of all nationalities.
We should feel proud of this sculpture and urge them to bring it home!
A forgotton statue, a bit like the Clement Attlee boarded up outside Limehouse Library.
Labour forgot the history of one of thier own!