Antony Gormley is perhaps best known for his
200-tonne Angel of the North (1998), which dominates the
landscape near Gateshead, in the north-east of England. Gormley
created Case for an Angel I, almost a decade earlier.
Both share that evocative silhouette. At the same
time human, superhuman and inhuman, a symbol of triumph and of our
own mortality. Case for an Angel I echoes many works in
the Museum – Egyptian statues, Assyrian winged bulls, Christian Crucifixions, and the Roman caryatid
statue on the nearby stairs.
Unlike its monumental offspring, this angel is –
despite its 8.5 metre wingspan – defiantly human-sized. It is a
metaphor for humanity’s capacity to imagine and create,
particularly appropriate at the entrance to a museum that
celebrates those very endeavours. Antony Gormley is a trustee of
the British Museum.
Case for an Angel I
1989, Plaster, fibreglass, lead, steel, air
Collection of Jay Jopling