Why Is a Sculpture by a Known Abuser Back on View in London?

The BBC has repaired a controversial statue outside its London headquarters, despite public calls for the work’s removal due to the artist’s history of abuse. The work was unveiled on Wednesday, April 9, outside the public network’s Broadcasting House behind a transparent protective screen following two incidents of vandalization involving a hammer.

“Ariel and Prospero” (1932) was created by the British sculptor and typeface designer Eric Gill, who revealed in his diaries that he sexually abused his daughters. The diaries were discovered nearly five decades after Gill’s death by the cultural historian Fiona MacCarthy.

The statue, which has been on display since 1933, depicts a pair of characters from the Shakespeare play The Tempest (1610–11) and is one of two sculptures by Gill in the BBC’s art collection. (The other, depicting a sower, is located inside the Broadcasting House’s main reception.)

In 2022 and 2023, the statue was damaged by a protester who climbed the building’s scaffolding to chisel its exterior with a hammer. Both incidents involved the same individual, David Chick, who pleaded not guilty to the offenses last month and has been ordered by a judge not to go within 100 meters (~328 feet) of the statue. His trial has been set for May 2026.

“The BBC in no way condones Gill’s abusive behaviour, but it draws a line between the actions of Gill, and the status of these artworks,” a BBC spokesperson told Hyperallergic in a statement.

Integrated into the building’s front facade, the statue is protected by a Grade II* listing, meaning that it is classified as a historic structure with unique architectural and cultural value and thus has certain legal protections. In addition to the protective shielding, the BBC added a QR code alongside the exterior statue that provides visitors with historical context about the Broadcasting House and a vague description of the controversy surrounding Gill, although the information does not specify his history of sexual abuse.

To restore the statue, the broadcaster worked with Westminster City Council and the public conservancy commission Historic England, which advises governmental bodies on matters concerning contested heritage. The costs for repair and mounting the protective screen amounted to £529,715 (~$686,667), which were paid for by the BBC rather than insurance.

The British broadcaster, which has also come under scrutiny in recent decades for its show host Jimmy Savile’s notorious history of sexual abuse, has long faced calls from survivor groups to remove Gill’s statue from Broadcasting House. In 2013, Fay Maxted, chief executive of the Survivors’ Trust, an organization that supports survivors of sexual violence, told the London Journalism Centre that the continued public display of the artwork was unacceptable.

“It’s an insult to allow a work like this to remain in such a public place,” Maxted said. “It is almost mocking survivors, it is intolerable.”