Anne Lister maquette, limited edition bronze Sculpture

Anne Lister has been rattling around inside my head for 30+ years, since I saw her diaries in Halifax, UK, in the early 1990's. I've been campaigning for a public statue of Anne Lister since 2018 and hope that this bronze maquette will be used by the University of York for their new Anne Lister College as the base for a much bigger statue. Having also taught Lesbian Herstory and taught about Anne Lister's life, it was important to me to express the dynamism of how she was in the world. Anne Lister was a famed hillwalker, mountaineer and traveller, and although she had moments of introspection, once she had got her thoughts down upon the page, she was unburdened and ready to be off on her next adventure. As she was the first person to officially climb Vignemale, the highest peak in the French Pyrenees, I have her on this base striding across these same peaks and glacier, with her characteristic upright stance and good long stride. She is patinated in life like colours and wears her black gown and Pelisse which she was also noted for wearing in her life time. Her wearing of black signified, in her day, that she was not on the marriage market, to any men who thought they might like to try. Young unmarried women wore pastel shades, and married women deeper colours, black mostly being reserved for mourning. Her left hand is open and an invitation to join her in her adventures. She holds in her right hand her diary for which she is now famous. Written partly in code or "Crypt Hand" as she called it, her diaries are now being read, transcribed and digitised by fans all across the world. In her life time she wanted to become a professional writer, and in her death 150 years later, she has become one. Across the front of the mountain range is the most famous quote from her diaries. Written in both Crypt Hand and in cursive script this reads "I love and only love the fairer sex and thus beloved by them in turn my heart revolts from any other love than theirs" The punctuation is provided by the mountain peaks, as there was no punctuation in her coded entries. This passage gives the viewer nearly half of the Crypt Hand code and I hope will encourage the viewer to read more of Anne Listers coded entries; it is really quite addictive! Around the inside rim of the Glacier d'Ossoue are listed her life achievements: Anne Lister, 1791-1840, Lesbian, Diarist, Scholar, Code Maker, Landowner, Polyglot, Intrepid Traveller, Hill Walker, Mountaineer with the last word at the peak of Vignemale and all in polished bronze. The colouring was done using patination, involving heated bronze and metal salts, and is a life like as we can get them on so small a scale. The 1st of the limited edition is already sold but the 2nd is now available. Further editions will have a lead time of 4 months to get them through the foundry. My hope is that she will inspire buyers, as she marches womanfully across your desk or mantlepiece, to become the best of yourself you can be and seize every moment and opportunity, as Anne Lister did, to be happy.

Sculpture:Bronze on Bronze

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:7.9 W x 11.8 H x 9.8 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.