Reg Butler

Study for Head of Watcher

1951–2

© The estate of Reg Butler

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Not on display

Artist: Reg Butler 1913–1981
Medium: Graphite, crayon and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 267 x 197 mm
frame: 500 x 947 x 32 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1957
Reference: A01062

Display caption

These drawings were made as preliminary sketches for Butler's monument to 'The Unknown Political Prisoner', a tower designed to commemorate those who had been imprisoned or lost their lives in the cause of freedom. The drawings represent the heads of three women, described by the artist as witnesses who remember the prisoner. Butler envisaged that the viewer would be 'drawn by their gaze into contemplation of the upper vastness of the tower.'

Gallery label, September 2004

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