Glenkiln Sculptures


(Glenkiln Sculpture Park)

A series of remarkable artworks set in a picturesque location, 2 miles (3 km) northwest of Shawhead in Dumfries and Galloway, the Glenkiln Sculptures were erected by local landowner Sir William Keswick between 1951 and 1976. Located along the roadside and distributed across the eastern and southern slopes of Glenkiln Hill, these represent one of the world's first installations of sculpture in a natural landscape setting. There are six large works together with a memorial to one of the sculptors, Henry Moore (1898 - 1986). Four of these sculptures are by Moore; namely Standing Figure (1950), King and Queen (1952-53), The Glenkiln Cross (or Upright Motive No. 1; 1955-56) and Two Piece Reclining Figure No.1 (1959). While all of these are easily visible from the road, Standing Figure and Two Piece Reclining Figure are located by the roadside, the former is the most northerly of the group, located just before Cornlee Bridge, while the latter is on the road to Glen Farm, which branches off from Glenkiln before the reservoir at a point marked by a topiary sculpture of a bird. A further sculpture located by the roadside at the northern end of Glenkiln Reservoir is Saint John the Baptist (1878) by Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917), while the final work Visitation (1926) by Sir Jacob Epstein (1880 - 1959) is the most remote, situated in a small but atmospheric copse of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) a half-mile (1 km) east northeast of Glen Farm. All of the sculptures are in bronze, except Two Piece Reclining Figure, which is modelled in fibreglass. Further casts of the Glenkiln Cross, sometimes located with Upright Motives No. 2 and 3, which have been compared to Native American totem poles, are found at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo (The Netherlands), the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (USA) and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. (USA). Closer to the dam of Glenkiln Reservoir is an inscribed stone, featuring several elephants linked trunk-to-tail and the words 'Glenkiln 1953'. Nearby is a simple red sandstone cube which is a memorial to Henry Moore.

Moore's Standing Figure, estimated to be worth £3 million, was stolen in October 2013.


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