The first venues have been announced for a UK tour of the poppy sculptures which drew millions of visitors to the Tower of London at the start of the First World War Centenary commemorations.
Weeping Window and Wave will travel to Liverpool, Ashington in Northumberland, and Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in autumn 2015 as part of Britain’s 14-18 NOW centenary cultural programme.
The sites have been chosen for their particular ‘resonance’ with the Great War, 14-18 NOW says.
The two sculptures, made of more than 10,000 ceramic poppies, were the focal points for the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper.
Weeping Window cascaded twenty feet down from the walls of the Tower while Wave rose upwards to form an arch over the entrance to the historic fortress.
In total, volunteers planted 888,246 ceramic poppies in the moat representing every death in the forces of Britain and its colonies during the 1914-18 war.
The individual poppies were sold in aid of forces’ charities after the last was planted on Armistice Day 2014.
‘Wave’ pictured at the Tower of London on August 4th 2014 – the centenary of Britain’s entry into the First World War (Photo: Caroline Alhadeff)
Weeping Window and Wave will be exhibited at various locations around the UK until 2018. They will be gifted to the Imperial War Museum at the end of the Centenary period, after displays at IWM North in Manchester and IWM London.
2015 venues:
Wave, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
September 2015 – early January 2016
The Yorkshire Regiment raised 24 Battalions totalling 65,000 men, of whom 9,000 died.
Weeping Window, Woodhorn Museum, Ashington, Northumberland
Mid-September – late October 2015
Woodhorn Colliery played an important part in the war effort, not only for coal production, but also supplying skilled miners for the front.
Weeping Window, St George’s Hall, Liverpool
November 2015 – January 2016
St George’s Hall, Liverpool was used during WW1 to hold recruitment rallies with speakers including Lord Derby and Lord Kitchener who appealed for 100,000 men to enlist in ‘Pals battalions’.
14-18 Now says the touring exhibition aims to “prompt a new, nationwide dialogue around the legacy of the First World War.”
Venues to host the poppies in 2016 will be announced in September 2015. Expressions of interest to present the poppies in 2017 and 2018 will open in 2016.
The two sculptures have been saved for the nation by the Backstage Trust and the Clore Duffield Foundation, and gifted to 14-18 NOW and Imperial War Museums.
Source: 14-18 NOW
Images: Centenary News (Weeping Window); Caroline Alhadeff (Wave)
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News