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ANDY GOLDSWORTHY:
ARCH AT GOODWOOD
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INFORMATION
Andy Goldsworthy’s sandstone arch is one of his largest sculptures of this type. His first arches were fashioned in ice and compacted snow in the Arctic during a residency with the Inuit Indians in 1989. Others followed in stone, more in ice and some in chalk.
‘Arch at Goodwood’ was made to stride the Cass Sculpture Foundation’s flint wall, built by prisoners held in Portsmouth during the Napoleonic Wars. These men were put to work by the then Duke of Richmond who considered physical occupation in the open air to be healthier than languishing in crowded prison cells. The contrast between the quarried pink sandstone of the arch and knapped grey flint of the wall contributed to the strong presence of the sculpture.
In ‘Arch at Goodwood’, Goldsworthy provides a link between the interior and exterior spaces of Cass Sculpture Foundation. Arches traditionally mark the passage between one place and another—from the outside world into a walled city, from town to church interior, from danger to safety. A row of arched swords would mark the moment when a bride with her military groom would progress into their new life together. There is endless symbolism in the form, rising to its keystone, without which, it would fall.