Commemorating the seafarer: monuments, memorials and memory

摘要

The unforgettable Engine Room Heroes monument by Sir William Goscombe John at Pier Head, Liverpool, unveiled in 1916, was originally erected in memory of the engineers, firemen and others who perished on board the Titanic. Its commemorative role subsequently widened: it now stands as a stirring memorial to all engine-room crew who lost their lives in the performance of duty. This great monument is an apt exemplar for the many commemorative works of art to be found in the present book: its allegorical and decorative imagery is specifically maritime, complementing its harbour setting. A fine piece of sculpture in its own right, its format is both heroic and bluntly direct. The men are dressed in working clothes, while the style of the whole is modernist and realist. Barbara Tomlinson not only concisely and vividly describes the elements of this sculpture in her text, but evokes the social and historical context behind its conception. Indeed many of the works explored in this study are artistic responses to moving human events. A great number too were installed in the vicinity of the tragic incidents which caused them to be created.