Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/grace-golden-1183" aria-label="More by Grace Golden" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Grace Golden</a>
Free Speech
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1940
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
animals: mammals
architecture
arguing
boy
car
children
crowd
democracy
dog - non-specific
England
flag - non-specific
garden structures
gesticulating
girl
government and politics
groups
Hyde Park, Speakers’ Corner
landscape
leisure and pastimes
listening
man
military
monuments
newspaper - non-specific
objects
park
pavement
people
placard
places
pram
preaching
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
religious
religious and ceremonial
smoking
society
soldier
standing
townscapes / man-made features
transport: land
triumphal arch
UK countries and regions
UK London
walking
woman
wooded
work and occupations
<p>Grace Golden was born in London and studied at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art. She exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1936-40 and made a career as a book illustrator, concentrating on theatrical subjects and scenes of London life. This view of the crowds at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, near to Marble Arch, was one of her first oil paintings. She worked more usually in the media of watercolour or wood engraving because of her training as an illustrator. The artist recalled that she had seen the principal speakers many times at Speakers Corner and that the woman speaker in the foreground belonged to a sect called the Pillar of Fire.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
Free Speech
support: 406 × 559 mm
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1940
<p>Grace Golden was born in London and studied at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art. She exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1936-40 and made a career as a book illustrator, concentrating on theatrical subjects and scenes of London life. This view of the crowds at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, near to Marble Arch, was one of her first oil <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>. She worked more usually in the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>media</span></a> of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> or <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/wood-engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Wood engraving'"><span>wood engraving</span></a> because of her training as an illustrator. The artist recalled that she had seen the principal speakers many times at Speakers Corner and that the woman speaker in the foreground belonged to a sect called the Pillar of Fire.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05338</b> FREE SPEECH 1940
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘Grace Golden’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 15 1/2×21 3/4 (39×55).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1940.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1940 (443).</p>
<p>Painted in 1940. The scene is in Hyde Park near Marble Arch where orators hold forth. The woman speaker in the foreground belonged to a sect called the Pillar of Fire (letter from the artist, 13 August 1957).</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-21T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults animals: mammals architecture arguing boy car children crowd democracy dog - non-specific England flag - non-specific garden structures gesticulating girl government and politics groups Hyde Park, Speakers’ Corner landscape leisure and pastimes listening man military monuments newspaper - non-specific objects park pavement people placard places pram preaching reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities religious religious and ceremonial smoking society soldier standing townscapes / man-made features transport: land triumphal arch UK countries and regions UK London walking woman wooded work and occupations