An art form that makes us think

One of Britain’s greatest living sculptors reflects on a new cathedral project

- John Goodall

THE vast 13th-century screen façade of Wells Cathedral in Somerset preserves one of the largest collections of medieval sculpture in Britain. Ranged beneath the unblinking eyes of Christ enthroned are scenes from the Old and New Testament and an assembly of the hierarchies of Heaven and Earth. For a period of 18 months, a new sculpture is taking its place in this monumental composition. In an empty niche to the far bottom left of the façade, a cast-iron figure—pictured here with its creator, the celebrated sculptor Sir Antony Gormley—has recently been installed. It is entitled Doubt.

‘If belief motivated the medieval period,’ explains Sir Antony, ‘then I think doubt illuminates ours. I want to question the hierarchy that is implicit in this medieval display. But this is a celebratory work and the empirical and the imaginative are not at odds with one another. Doubt does not necessarily lead to despair or uncertainty and the lens of history can help us understand our own situation; to consider our time in the shelter of other times.’