Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project
Scales of Justice Photograph
Region ID | NE | |
Work ID | 2126 | |
Manual Reference | MIAA22 | |
Type | Sculpture | |
Title | Scales of Justice | |
Sculptor | Ibbeson, Graham | |
Date of design | ||
Year of unveiling | 1991 | |
Unveiling details | Unveiled 22nd June 1991 | |
Road | The Boulevard | |
Precise Location | Middlesbrough Combined Court Centre, exterior | |
A to Z Ref | 52 3A | |
OS Ref | ||
Postcode | ||
Work is | Extant | |
Listing Status | Not listed | |
Duty of Care | Middlesbrough Borough Council | |
Commissioned by | Street Art Works | |
Notes | ||
A lively, almost caricatured bronze sculpture of a woman holding apart two squabbling children set on a concrete pedestal outside Middlesbrough's law courts. | ||
The subject was thought appropriate to the site, in front of the law courts. As with many of Ibbeson’s works the figure of the woman was modelled from the artist's wife, Carol, who is shown, he has said, ‘as completely impartial in her off-springs’ quarrels’. The two squabbling children are based on Ibbeson's memories of himself and his sister when young. The £15,000 sculpture was the third of the artist’s works to be erected in the town. It was part-funded by Middlesbrough‘s Urban Programme. At the time of its unveiling in 1991 one jaundiced review quoted a barrister as saying it would serve as a reminder of the Cleveland child abuse case which was then much in the news.(1) | ||
circa | ||
raw year | 1991 | |
Condition | Good | |
At risk | No known risk | |
Inscriptions | ||
Signatures | ||
Elements
Element Details
Part of work | Material | Dimensions |
|---|---|---|
Figures | Bronze | 120cm high |
Pedestal | Concrete | 120cm high x 80cm square |
Assessment of Condition
Surface Character
Detail | Comment |
|---|---|
Metallic staining | Woman's face stained white / green |
Vandalism
Vandalism | Comment |
|---|---|
Graffiti | Small amount of graffiti to plinth |
