Courtesy of Wikipedia. A Conversation with Oscar Wilde” by Maggi Hambling, Charing Cross, London. Author Luke McKernan
Hidden away on Adelaide Street at the back of St Martins in the Fields is one of London’s weirdest statues.
It’s of Oscar Wilde, the poet and author, responsible for timeless plays such as The Importance of Being Ernest and the Ideal Husband.
It was erected in 1998 and was sculptured by Maggie Hambling, who is clearly not shy of provoking controversy with her work. She calls it ‘A conservation with Oscar Wilde’ and consists of a coffin shaped granite block with Wilde’s head and shoulders peering out and a cigarette in his hand.
The idea is that passers-by can sit on Wilde and have a conservation with him. I wonder what Wilde, who was known to be quite vain, would have made of it. Probably it would have amused him.