Who really owns Old Flo?
That question â€" over the rightful municipal owner of a beloved 1957 Henry Moore bronze, “Draped Seated Woman,†long known in England by her nickname Old Flo â€" has now become central in a fight over whether the sculpture will be sold or will remain, as Moore wanted, on permanent public display.
The council of the Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, which is in financial turmoil and believes it owns the sculpture, announced plans to sell the piece, which could generate more than $30 million. Many prominent members of the London cultural establishment have vehemently opposed any sale, saying the sculpture belongs to the people of London. (Moore sold the bronze to the London County Council, which no longer exists, for a discounted price in the early 1960s on the understanding that it would be displayed in a public space in ec onomically depressed East London.)
When the East End housing project where it was on view was demolished in the late 1990s, the sculpture was moved to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Northern England. Now, lawyers for the Art Fund, a national charity, say they have uncovered evidence that the sculpture â€" through a complex series of dissolutions and transfers among various London municipal entities over several decades â€" is actually the property of the Borough of Bromley, in Southeast London. (Tower Hamlets officials dispute the finding, according to the BBC.)
Bromley officials have pledged not to sell the sculpture and to keep it on public view. Some have advocated moving the sculpture back to East London, to Olympic Park.
Stephen Deuchar, the director of the Art Fund, said the new own ership evidence “should bring to an end Tower Hamlets' cavalier plans to sell it†and should mean “that Old Flo can stay where she belongs â€" in public ownership and on public display.â€
