London Pride sculpture

The London Pride sculpture, created around 1987, is a bronze cast of a plaster sculpture made by Frank Dobson between 1950 and 1951. It is located on a low slate platform on Queen’s Walk along the South Bank, next to the National Theatre.

Standing at 2.14 meters tall, the sculpture features two life-size female nudes seated on a draped block, with an empty bowl resting on the lap of the figure on the right. Dobson intended for the bowl to be planted with Saxifraga urbium, commonly known as London Pride, which is reflected in the title of the piece. The rough texture of the sculpture is a result of Dobson's technique of building up the form by applying and moulding small pieces of clay. The sculpture is signed in the bottom left corner of the plinth.

The bronze sculpture is mounted on a low slate platform that bears an inscription carved by David Kindersley, which reads: ‘LONDON PRIDE / FRANK DOBSON CBE RA / 1886–1963 / Commissioned for / THE FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN 1951 / GIVEN BY MARY DOBSON 1987 / AND PLACED ON THE SOUTH BANK / Assisted generously by Lynton Property & Revisionary Plc and / The Henry Moore Foundation / ARTS COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN’.