Sutton Hoo Helmet (sculpture)

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Coordinates: 52°05′41″N 1°20′29″E / 52.0948°N 1.3415°E / 52.0948; 1.3415
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52°05′41″N 1°20′29″E / 52.0948°N 1.3415°E / 52.0948; 1.3415

Colour photograph of the sculpture Sutton Hoo Helmet by Rick Kirby
Sutton Hoo Helmet outside the Sutton Hoo visitor centre

Sutton Hoo Helmet is a 2002 sculpture by the English artist

National Trust to suspend outside an exhibition hall at the Sutton Hoo visitor centre. At the opening of the centre, the sculpture was unveiled by the Literature Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney
on 13 March 2002. It remained in place, dominating the entrance of the exhibition hall, until 2019, when it was moved to the entrance to the Sutton Hoo site.

The sculpture is 1.8 m (5.9 ft) high, 1.2 m (3.9 ft) wide, 1.6 m (5.2 ft) deep, and weighs 900 kg (2,000 lb). It is made of mild steel plates that are coloured red. Designed to have a "fierce presence",[1] it is inspired by the fragmentary appearance of the reconstructed helmet rather than the glistening replica made by the Royal Armouries. Steel is Kirby's favoured medium, allowing the sense of scale and dramatic impact found in Sutton Hoo Helmet. The sculpture is illustrative of Kirby's largely figural body of work, and its mask-like quality has been repeated in subsequent pieces.

Background

See also: Sutton Hoo and Sutton Hoo helmet
Colour photograph of the Sutton Hoo helmet
The Sutton Hoo helmet

In 1939, archaeologists excavating barrows overlooking the River Deben near Woodbridge, Suffolk, discovered an Anglo-Saxon grave of unparalleled wealth.[2] The Sutton Hoo ship-burial was quickly labelled "Britain's Tutankhamun"; the finds reshaped views of what was then termed the Dark Ages, which—with new understandings of its wealth and sophistication—became known as the Middle Ages.[2] The most iconic artefact, the Sutton Hoo helmet, was pieced together from more than 500 fragments.[3] In the decades since, the Sutton Hoo helmet has come to symbolise the Middle Ages, archaeology, and England.[4][5]

Colour photograph of an exhibition by Rick Kirby
2015 solo exhibition by Kirby at Axle Arts in Bath, showing the maquette for Sutton Hoo Helmet[6]

The Sutton Hoo finds were donated to the

Tranmer House (originally Sutton Hoo House and renamed by the Trust in honour of the donor), were bequeathed to the National Trust.[7][8] In 2000 the Trust commissioned van Heyningen and Haward Architects to design a visitor centre.[9] Their work included the overall planning of the estate, the design of an exhibition hall and visitor facilities, car park, and the restoration of the Edwardian house.[10] The £5 million visitor centre (equivalent to £8.7 million in 2021) was opened on 13 March 2002 by Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, whose translation of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem that describes extravagant burial customs similar to those observed at Sutton Hoo, had been published in 1999.[11]

The National Trust commissioned the English sculptor Rick Kirby to create a work for the visitor centre. He was tasked with making something with a "fierce presence".[1] Kirby's works then included several public commissions, among them a sculpture outside St Thomas' Hospital, unveiled by Princess Margaret in 2000, and another in the Calne town centre, announced by Queen Elizabeth in 2001.[12] The National Trust Sutton Hoo Helmet was winched into place above the entrance of the exhibition hall on 26 February 2002, ahead of its official unveiling in March.[1][13] The sculpture remained above the doors, dominating the entrance, until 2019;[14][15] on 30 May it was installed in a new location at the entrance.[16]

In the course of making the sculpture, Kirby completed a mock-up, or maquette. The maquette, 1.97 m (6.5 ft) high with pedestal, was offered for sale by a private art gallery in 2005, with an asking price of £9,600.[17][18]

Description

Colour photograph of the exhibition and treasury hall at the Sutton Hoo visitor centre, outside of which hangs the sculpture Sutton Hoo Helmet by Rick Kirby
Sutton Hoo Helmet in its original location at the Sutton Hoo visitor centre

Kirby's sculpture is based on the famous helmet found in the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, but is rendered on a much larger scale.[19] It is made from 900 kg (2,000 lb)[1] of mild steel plates that have been coloured red, and is 1.8 m (5.9 ft) high, 1.2 m (3.9 ft) wide, and 1.6 m (5.2 ft) deep.[13][20] The external structure rests on an internal steel frame.[13] By contrast, the actual helmet is 31.8 cm (12.5 in) high, 21.5 cm (8.5 in) wide, 25.5 cm (10 in) deep, and originally weighed an estimated 2.5 kg (5.5 lb).[21]

Like the fragmented Anglo-Saxon helmet, Kirby's work is made of many pieces of metal, evoking an object reconstructed by an archaeologist.[1] The sculpture intentionally emulates the fragmentary appearance of the helmet's second reconstruction, reassembled from 1970 to 1971 by Nigel Williams,[22][23] rather than the glistening replica made by the Royal Armouries.[13] Sutton Hoo Helmet was described by the National Trust as "fantastic—such a striking image and it has a real wow factor",[1][19] and by the East Anglian Daily Times as an "iconic" sculpture greeting visitors to the site.[14]

Both the material and the subject are typical of Kirby's work. Steel is Kirby's material of choice, for what he describes as "the ability to go huge" and its "whoom-factor!"[24] Much of Kirby's other work focuses on the human face and form,[25] and his later pieces Masks and Vertical Face repeat the same staring, unemotive quality.[19][24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Sutton Hoo attraction moves closer". Ipswich Star. 26 February 2002. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018. Free access icon
  2. ^ a b MacGregor 2011, pp. 301–303.
  3. ^ Williams 1992, p. 77.
  4. ^ MacGregor 2011, p. 303.
  5. ^ Richards 1992, p. 131.
  6. ^ Axle Arts (2018). "Rick Kirby". Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019. Free access icon
  7. ^ Worsley, Giles (2 September 2003). "Spooky Sutton Hoo loses its magic". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018. Free access icon
  8. National Trust. Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018. Free access icon
  9. ^ Architects' Journal 2000.
  10. ^ Dawson 2002.
  11. ^ Kennedy, Maev (14 March 2002). "Sutton Hoo lays out its treasures". The Guardian. London. p. 3. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021.; published online as Kennedy, Maev (14 March 2002). "Sutton Hoo Lays Out its Treasures". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  12. ^ Kirby, Rick. "Rick Kirby – Curriculum Vitae". Rick Kirby. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2019. Free access icon
  13. ^ a b c d Cocke, Richard (29 July 2009). "Sutton Hoo Helmet". Recording Archive for Public Sculpture in Norfolk & Suffolk. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  14. ^ a b Russell, Steve (31 July 2019). "Sutton Hoo at 80: When Suffolk amazed the world". East Anglian Daily Times. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019. Free access icon
  15. ^ Evans 2002, p. 42.
  16. National Trust. 5 August 2019. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019. Free access icon
  17. ^ Axle Arts (2015). "Rick Kirby: 29 May – 20 June 2015" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017. Free access icon
  18. ^ Axle Arts [@axle_arts] (14 June 2015). "@NT_SuttonHoo thought you may be interested we have the original maquette of your Sutton Hoo helmet by #RickKirby" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2017 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ a b c Cocke 2013, p. 251.
  20. ^ Cocke 2013, pp. 251–252.
  21. ^ "The Sutton Hoo Helmet". The British Museum Collection Online. The British Museum. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016. Free access icon
  22. ^ Williams 1992.
  23. ^ Bruce-Mitford 1972, p. 123.
  24. ^ a b "Rick Kirby Sculptor Profile". ArtParkS International. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018. Free access icon
  25. ^ "Rick Kirby". Bath Contemporary. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Free access icon (Bath Contemporary is now known as Axle Arts)

Bibliography

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