The director of the Tate Gallery and an Oscar-winning film director are among leading arts figures who have written an impassioned letter to the Observer calling on an east London council to abandon plans to sell a masterpiece by Henry Moore, the renowned British sculptor.
Gallery director Sir Nicholas Serota and Danny Boyle, who directed Slumdog Millionaire and the spectacular opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, are dismayed that the UK may lose Draped Seated Woman, a three-metre-tall bronze sculpted in 1957, because Tower Hamlets council needs the money.
The artist – a miner's son and lifelong socialist – sold it in 1962 for a price far lower than collectors would have paid on the understanding that the sculpture would be on open-air display to enrich the lives of people in a socially deprived area of London. The 1.6-tonne bronze was on the Stifford housing estate in Stepney until 15 years ago when, because the council had failed to prevent it being daubed with graffiti, it was moved to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
The sale of such an important work could see bidding reach £20m, the council believes – which would help it to deal with some of Britain's worst deprivation and a £100m cut in its budget over the next three years. Although the arts figures acknowledge the council's financial pressures, they argue that disposal of the sculpture "goes against the spirit" of Moore's original sale. Their letter states: "The presence of the sculpture in Stepney was a demonstration of the postwar belief that everyone, whatever their background, should have access to works of art of the highest quality."
The letter's other signatories include Mary Moore, the artist's daughter, who said: "It is tragic that this sculpture cannot be enjoyed by the community it was intended for. My father always knew the importance of art sited directly in the community and enhancing the life of that community by its daily presence."
Serota said: "It's one of Moore's most important and largest single figures. It was clearly seen by Moore as one of his more important pieces. It is a figure of great dignity and humanity and sums up the utopianism of the postwar era. He sold it on the understanding it was going to be placed in the middle of a public housing development in Stepney. His expectation was that it would stand close to council housing and would therefore be seen by people who lived in council homes and form part of their environment."
Some art experts question the £20m valuation, which would be a record paid for one of Moore's works. One said that he expected a figure closer to £5m. Commenting on the council's need to slash budgets, Serota said: "This £20m, if it is as much as £20m, will only make a small contribution to that overall problem. It's a one-off, selling the family silver."
The council believes that its return to an urban display would make it vulnerable to theft by metal thieves and that it is too valuable to insure. Serota noted that part of the Olympic Park is in Tower Hamlets and could provide a permanent home as the area "will be very well supervised", although one observer noted that the amount of money that would have to be spent each year maintaining it might make that solution prohibitive.
The artistic quality of more recent public art has been the subject of debate and derision, with Paul Day's The Meeting Place at St Pancras station among artworks that have been criticised. Richard Calvocoressi, director of the Henry Moore Foundation, said: "It's ironic that something of the quality of Moore's sculpture will not be seen in London again when there has been such a proliferation of third-rate sculptures in central London."
Ian Leith, of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, said dozens of public artworks – from war memorials to statues – were neglected while around one a month was stolen. No firm figures exist because there is no audit of the country's public art. Leith added that "this is the greatest national gallery of all – which is outdoors – and it's completely undefined". No one was accountable, he said.
When a Frink or a Moore is stolen, they get publicity, said Leith, but the public is unaware of the plight of "99.9%" of the nation's other artworks.
Award-winning sculptor, Robert Erskine – who will show at The Art for Art's Sake Fair in London in December - is taking legal action over a 50-ft-high sculpture commissioned for Peterborough with lottery money. Twelve years on, he says that the sculpture's installation has not been completed and its base is now covered with graffiti. He is so distraught, he even removed his name.
Tower Hamlets will make its final decision about Moore's sculpture on Wednesday. A spokesman said: "Like other councils, we are considering how best to use our assets to generate much-needed funds to invest in local heritage and priority projects."
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