Tasteful and polite, or riotous and pleasure-obsessed? The Georgian period of British history is revealed in a new exhibition at the British Library, including a new Georgian garden featuring an installation called a ‘Georgeobelisk’.
Georgeobelisk, designed by landscape architect and historian Todd Longstaffe-Gowan and funded by The Sackler Trust, is 6 metres high and represents four King Georges who reigned as British monarchs during the 18th century. Temporary constructions of this style were very popular during this period and were thrown up frequently at private or public entertainments, in town and country, to mark special occasions or important historical events.
Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, says: ‘The Georgeobelisk is a towering gimcrack confection set in a scrap of pastoral parkland that aims to evoke the Georgians’ passion for extravagant temporary caprice.’
The British Library exhibition is called ‘Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain‘.
Georgeobelisk is available in the Library’s piazza from Wednesday 6 November until March 2014 and is free.