GERALD LAING

Judgement (Maquette for Glasgow Sheriff Court Sculpture Competition)

Catalogue raisonné no. 467

Artist's CR 434

December - January, 1984

Kinkell

Bronze

14 x 27.5 inches / 0 cm

Exhibitions:
• Gerald Laing: A Retrospective 1963–1993, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1993
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Literature:
• Gerald Laing: A Retrospective 1963–1993, exhibition catalogue, The Fruitmarket Gallery, 1993
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• Gerald Laing, 'Notes for the 1993 Retrospective Exhibition at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh', unpublished manuscript, 1993
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• Gerald Laing: Sculpture 1968–1999, exhibition catalogue, The Fine Art Society, 1999
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Selected Citations and Comments

The panel is a study for a proposed relief at Glasgow Sheriff Court. It was rejected on the grounds that it is ‘too religious and too authoritarian.’ The panel represents Compassionate judgement. The composition is based on Donatello’s relief of the Crucifixion in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence. The circular movement on the right of the panel is associated with the Bad Thief; the ascending triangular movement on the left with the Good Thief. The imagery of violence and chaos in the circular movement is derived from various sources; the upturned chairs, for example, a notable image of violence from photographs of the St Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago.

Gerald Laing, 'Notes for the 1993 Retrospective Exhibition at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh', unpublished manuscript, 1993