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Avarice

DOWNING, Edith

© Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales
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In this bronze sculpture by Cardiff-born Edith Downing, a partially nude, almost life-size woman crouches on the floor, clutching money bags with one hand, the other reaching out greedily for more. Her face is hard-set, even cruel. Now called ‘Avarice’ (greed), the work was originally titled ‘Spirit of the Trusts’, and is probably a political commentary on the American Bankers’ Panic of 1907, an international crisis comparable to the more recent financial crash of 2007-09. A plaster version was shown in at the Salon in Paris in 1908, where it was met with admiration, and some surprise that this was the work of a female artist. Sculpture at the time was almost exclusively dominated by men. Downing was among a group of women who rose to the fore despite the barriers put in their place.
Here Downing uses the nude female body – an unexpected subject in itself for a woman artist of this time - to make a bold political statement. It demonstrates Downing’s use of art to actively engage with contemporary politics, her defiance of set gender roles, and it pre-dates her activism as a suffragette with the Women's Social and Political Union (the WSPU).


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Details

Collection

Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales

Item Number

NMW A 2646

Creation/Production

DOWNING, Edith
Date:

Acquisition

Gift, 1930
Given by Edith Downing

Measurements

Height (cm): 72.3
Width (cm): 47.3
Depth (cm): 69
Height (in): 28
Width (in): 18
Depth (in): 27
Height (cm): 72.3
Width (cm): 60.3
Depth (cm): 109.2
Height (in): 28
Width (in): 23
Depth (in): 43

Techniques

bronze
Techniques (sculpture)
Fine Art - sculpture

Material

bronze

Location

West staircase

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Tags

  • Downing, Edith
  • Female Figure
  • Female Nude
  • Fine Art
  • Identity
  • People
  • Sculpture
  • Woman Artist

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