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The Guardian 15 September 2005: London mayor Ken Livingstone has unveiled the latest and most controversial sculpture to occupy Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth. Marc Quinn's Alison Lapper Pregnant, which depicts the severely disabled artist Lapper naked and heavily pregnant, was carved from Tuscan marble, weighs some 12 tonnes and stands nearly 12 feet tall. Livingstone described the statue as “a modern heroine - strong, formidable and full of hope“. Marc Quinn said: “For me, Alison Lapper Pregnant is a monument to the future possibilities of the human race as well as the resilience of the human spirit.“ His model, Alison Lapper, said: “It is so rare to see disability in everyday life let alone naked, pregnant and proud.“ The statue - which has already attracted some charges of rampant political correctness, as well as praise for its beauty and art historical savvy -will be displayed for 18 months in the northwest corner of the square on the plinth, which was built in 1841 but has only been displaying sculptures since 1999, when the Fourth Plinth Commission was established to sponsor a rotating display of new public sculptures. Thomas Schuette's Hotel for the Birds, a multi-coloured perspex statue in the form of an architectural model, will take over the plinth in April 2007. The Guardian 16 September 2005: Trafalgar Square may not have been quite so thronged yesterday as it was on Tuesday, when hordes of fans came to salute the victorious England cricket team. But then it took a particular determination to brave the sheets of rain to see Marc Quinn's monumental sculpture, Alison Lapper Pregnant, in its new home. Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, loosed the purple cloth that veiled the sculpture just before it threatened to resemble a wet T-shirt. Quinn, the artist, and Lapper, the subject, had “given London something truly wonderful and amazing,“ he said. “Alison's life,“ he added, “is a struggle over much greater difficulties than the men who are celebrated here“ - referring to the military heroes whose grand statues stand in the other three corners of Trafalgar Square, as well as Nelson high up atop his column. The sculpture is the first in a series of commissions for the plinth overseen by the Mayor's Office and chosen by a group chaired by Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery. It will stand in the square for 18 months, to be replaced by Thomas Schütte's Hotel for the Birds. At tall, there is certainly nothing apologetic about Quinn's heroic statue. Lapper, 40, an artist and photographer, said: “I am very hopeful that this sculpture will make a difference. If you look at it, it is very beautiful as a piece of art. Disabled people are not vulgar, or ugly, or grotesque, and hopefully people will recognise that.“ She recalled the exhausting day four years ago when Quinn, best-known for his self-portrait made from 9 pints of his own frozen blood, cast her naked, pregnant body in plaster. “Who would have imagined that five years on it would be in Trafalgar Square?“ Anticipating reaction to the statue, Quinn, 41, said: “I'm sure the public reaction will be mixed. Whatever the reaction is it will be a success. It's already been criticised for just being a message. For me, art is a space where meaning can occur, which opens up possibilities and has an emotional response.“ Visitors who had braved the weather were enthusiastic. Roy and Alma Flem, holidaying from the Netherlands, said, “It's a nice symbol - when disabled people have to work so hard to become 'one of us'.“ Jeanette Hart, from Lewisham in London, said: “I think it's marvellous. It's beautiful, thought I'm not sure everyone will agree with me. As to her being disabled? I don't like to use that expression, because I think everyone's normal, and everyone's good at something. Nelson only had one arm, and was blind in one eye, and he was just known as a great man; no one labelled him.“ Charles Saumarez Smith, director of the National Gallery, which overlooks the statue, said: “Alison Lapper is much more beautiful than Nelson. The colour of the stone is wonderful and the proportions are perfect. I think it's beautiful.“ The statue - and two others just like it, which Quinn is preparing to work on - is for sale for £500,000. Quinn hopes that one of them might end up on permanent public display in London.
