一个加拿大人眼中伦敦(六)（图） - 珍珠湾ART

一个加拿大人眼中伦敦(六)

注:朋友Shawn去了伦敦七日. 我把一些他的照片选出. 我没去过所以不能作任何解释.对不起了.

星期六: 今天很安静. 今天是我生曰. 我决定去看表演 "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". 演员有Christian Slater and Alex Kingston (Dr Corday on ER).

在特拉法加广场( Trafalgar Square)有场反种族歧视的免费音乐会, 广场上到处都是人

1 国家画廊（National Gallery），里面有不少名作.

5 那个白色的塑像是Alison Lapper (See more at the end)

(Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Alison_Lapper_Pregnant_-_Trafalgar_Square.jpg)

《飛越瘋人院》（One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest），是美國電影歷史上最經典的電影之一，被稱為「影視表演的必修課」；曾獲1975年第48屆奧斯卡最佳影片，最佳男、女主角，最佳導演和最佳改編劇本五項大獎。據導演所講，這部電影其實是從他由布拉格之春之後的鐵幕捷克逃到美國的個人經歷而改編的。這次經歷，使他明白到任何的夢想的實現機會可能不高，但若連這個機會都放棄的話，這個夢想可實現的機會就只有零。而這種精神，也非常切合美國人一向提倡的美國精神。

(Source:http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A3%9B%E8%B6%8A%E7%98%8B%E4%BA%BA%E9%99%A2)

特拉法加广场( Trafalgar Square): ( see webcam )

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square)

Trafalgar Square is a square in central London that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square". Its coordinates are 51°30'28?N, 0°07'39?WCoordinates: 51°30'28?N, 0°07'39?W.

The northern area of the square had been the site of the King's Mews since the time of Edward I, while the southern end was the original Charing Cross, where the Strand from the City met Whitehall, coming north from Westminster. As the midpoint between these twin cities, Charing Cross is to this day considered the heart of London, from which all distances are measured.

In the 1820s the Prince Regent engaged the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845.

The square, a popular site for political demonstrations, is the site of Nelson's Column, and related sculptures of note.

Overview :

The square consist of a large central area surrounded by roadways on three sides, and stairs leading to the National Gallery on the other. The roads which cross the square form part of the busy A4 road, and prior to 2003, the square was surrounded by a one-way traffic system on all sides. Underpasses attached to Charing Cross tube station still allow pedestrians to avoid traffic. Recent works have reduced the width of the roads and closed the northern side of the square to traffic.

Nelson's Column is in the centre of the square, surrounded by fountains designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1939 and four huge bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer; the metal used is said to have been recycled from the cannon of the French fleet. The column is topped by a statue of Lord Nelson, the admiral who commanded the British Fleet at Trafalgar.

On the north side of the square is the National Gallery and to its east the St Martin's-in-the-Fields church. The square adjoins The Mall via Admiralty Arch to the southwest. To the south is Whitehall, to the east Strand and South Africa House, to the north Charing Cross Road and on the west side is Canada House.

At the corners of the square are four plinths; the two northern ones were intended to be used for equestrian statues, and thus are wider than the two southern. Three of them hold statues: George IV (northeast, 1840s), Henry Havelock (southeast, 1861, by William Behnes), and Sir Charles James Napier (southwest, 1855). Mayor of London Ken Livingstone controversially expressed a desire to see the two generals replaced with statues that "ordinary Londoners would know". [1]

On the lawn in front of the National Gallery are two statues, James II to the west of the entrance portico and George Washington to the east. The latter statue, a gift from the state of Virginia, stands on soil that was imported from the United States. This was done in order to honour Washington's declaration that he would never again set foot on British soil.

In 1888 the statue of General Charles George Gordon was erected. In 1943 the statue was removed and, in 1953, re-sited on the Victoria Embankment.

The Square has become an enormously important symbolic social and political location for visitors and Londoners alike, developing over its history from "an esplanade peopled with figures of national heroes, into the country’s foremost place politique," as historian Rodney Mace has written. Its symbolic importance was demonstrated in 1940 when the Nazi SS developed secret plans to transfer Nelson's Column to Berlin following an expected German invasion, as related by Norman Longmate in If Britain Had Fallen (1972).

Alison Lapper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alison Lapper MBE (born 7 April 1965 in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire) is an English artist who was born without arms. She is also the subject of the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, which is on display in Trafalgar Square until April, 2007.

Alison Lapper has a congenital disorder, which caused her to be born without arms and with truncated legs. Her mother met her for the last time during her childhood when she was four months old, although a reconciliation was attempted later in Lapper's life. She was institutionalised for her childhood, and is still distant from her relatives.

When she was fitted with artificial limbs, she experienced them only as an attempt to make her look less disconcerting instead of actually helping her. So she abandoned them and learned to live without external aids.

At the age of 19, Lapper left the institution and moved to London. She acquired a driving licence and a flat. Lapper studied in the University of Brighton and graduated with a first class honours degree in Fine Art in 1994.

Lapper uses photography, digital imaging and painting to, as she says, question physical normality and beauty, using herself as a subject. She paints with her mouth. One particular influence is the sculpture Venus de Milo, because it does not have arms either. She has taken part in various British exhibitions, including in the Royal Festival Hall. She is a member of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World (AMFPA). In May 2003, Lapper was created an MBE for her services for art.

After she had given birth to her son Parys in 1999, who was born fully formed, she created an installation of photographs of herself with him. Alison and Parys feature on the yearly documentary Child of Our Time.

Marc Quinn sculpture

She also posed for Marc Quinn for the controversial sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant. This was installed on the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, which had for some time been empty, on 15 September 2005.

Made of Carrara marble, it shows Lapper naked and heavily pregnant. The Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group has recommended that Alison Lapper Pregnant be replaced in 2007 by Thomas Schütte’s Hotel for the Birds.

Many have approved of the choice of this work, but there has also been widespread criticism.