The hidden landmark near Coventry ring road that thousands miss every day

[dutchman]

This mysterious piece of public art is lost on most people



Some landmarks are, let's say, a little more inconspicuous than others. You wouldn't put the Lady Godiva statue in that bracket, nor Swanswell Gate or Coventry Cross.

But you might describe one particular Coventry monument using that vernacular. Revered British sculptor John Bridgeman produced a piece of public art that, despite its central location, is almost gloriously concealed.

Located on grassland behind Lamb Street, adjoining the old city wall, the two-metre statute doesn't even have a name, only adding to its intrigue as the forgotten figurine. Installed in 1973, the untitled artwork is located right by the ring road, yet it might as well be in Outer Mongolia for all most Coventrians are concerned. Rather apt that one of the few available pictures of John Bridgeman is said to show him with this very sculpture behind him.

Sitting on a concrete pedestal, the material of construction is resin-impregnated with bronze powder, giving the impression that it is made from bronze. "The sculpture is rarely visited as it is on a patch of grassland accessed by walking up the steps next to the Jesus Centre or by the footpath that tracks the Coventry Ring Road," a post on waymarking.com says.

It's one of two John Bridgeman pieces in Coventry city centre - though the other is far easier to spot. The Mater Dolorosa in the Lady Chapel of Coventry Cathedral is considered among the most powerful of his religious works.



The book by George Noszlopy, Public Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull describes his unnamed installation as 'an organically shaped abstract sculpture in muted tones. Its texture suggests the graining of wood'.

The Waymarking.com post adds: "Combined with its phallic form and the organic shapes that are shown as if moving up and over it, this creates a feeling of the surging of new life. Personally, I can see a deformed face in the shape."

Born in Felixstowe, Suffolk, in 1916, Mr Bridgeman was ahead of his time in creating play sculptures for children in the new council estates that sprung up in the 1950s. The last known surviving example is his Play sculpture in Acocks Green, Birmingham, which was Grade II listed in 2015.

Viewed as one of the first sculptors in Britain to embrace fibreglass, plastics, concrete and cement fondue, 'he was also a pioneer of new forms, such as play sculpture for children, and integrated sculptural articulation for buildings.

He worked for many years as head of sculpture at Birmingham School of Art until his retirement in 1981. Mr Bridgeman died in December 2004, aged 88.

[dutchman]

the two-metre statute doesn't even have a name

I can think of one!