Oscar Wilde ’s grandson has condemned a new sculpture of the playwright that depicts him as a segmented head.
The black bronze sculpture, designed by the late Scottish pop artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi , is set to be brought to be a public garden in Chelsea, south-west London, near the site of Wilde’s former home.
Merlin Holland , an expert on Wilde and the literary icon’s only grandchild, described the sculpture as “hideous”, arguing that it would evoke memories of Wilde’s death.
“I’m all for any sort of innovations in modern art. But this does seem to me to be unacceptable. It looks absolutely hideous,” he told The Observer .
Wilde, who was best known for writing plays such as The Importance of Being Ernest and Lady Windermere’s Fan , as well as the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray , died of meningitis at the age of 46. Prior to his death, Wilde had been imprisoned after being convicted of gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Holland continued: “[The sculpture] seems to say ‘here is a monument to a man whom society decapitated’.