What's a box of chocolates got to do with this soldier? The great British art quiz

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from more than 3,000 venues, by 45,000 artists. Each day, a different collection on Art UK will set the questions. 

Today, our questions are set by FE McWilliam Gallery and Studio in County Down, Northern Ireland, established in 2008 to celebrate the work of Banbridge-born sculptor Frederick Edward McWilliam (1909-92). McWilliam worked in London, where he established a reputation as one of the most significant sculptors of his generation. Initially associated with surrealism, his sculptures in wood, stone and bronze are primarily figurative and often playful. 

You can see art from FE McWilliam Gallery and Studio on Art UK here. Find out more on the gallery’s website.

1. 

   Altnagelvin hospital in Derry was the first NHS hospital to be built after the second world war. Which mythological princess was the subject of McWilliam’s first major commission in 1957 and now stands outside the hospital?

   1. Macha

   2. Europa

   3. Kassandra

   4. Aphrodite

2. 

   FE McWilliam, the second son of a GP, was born on Newry Street in Banbridge, Co Down, in 1909. Banbridge was a prosperous market town and McWilliam was fascinated by the craftsmen who practised their skills on the main street. What industry was Banbridge famous for during this period?

   1. Beer making

   2. Wool

   3. Ship building

   4. Linen

3. 

   Which Quaker artist and close friend of McWilliam was instrumental in organising the London International Surrealist Exhibition in London, in 1936, an exhibition that was to have a lasting influence on the direction of McWilliam’s work?

   1. Ben Nicholson

   2. Roland Penrose

   3. Henry Moore

   4. Paul Nash

4. 

   What event during the Northern Ireland Troubles provoked McWilliam to make his series of bronzes Women of Belfast?

   1. La Mon Restaurant bomb

   2. McGurks Bar bomb

   3. Abercorn Tea Room bomb

   4. Bloody Friday

5. 

   In 1989, Banbridge District Council bought a large bronze by McWilliam to mark the artist’s 80th birthday. The work is now on display in the sculpture garden at the FE McWilliam Gallery and is used as the gallery’s logo. What is its title?

   1. Legs Entwined

   2. Umbilicus

   3. Legs Static

   4. Crossed Legs

6. 

   Which sculptor, when asked why McWilliam’s full-length bronze portrait of her carried no inscription said: “One can’t be labelled until one is dead”?

   1. Sheelagh Flanagan

   2. Barbara Hepworth

   3. Mary Scott

   4. Elisabeth Frink

7. 

   What unusual possession, sometimes called a sea-coconut, inspired McWilliam to produce a series of bronzes, including Bird and Cage and Pillow of Strength?

   1. Durian

   2. Coco de mer

   3. Sirsak

   4. Jack fruit

8. 

   McWilliam took inspiration from many sources, including his great love of literature. Chocolate Soldier, a bronze from 1977, has a torso cast from the inner tray of a chocolate box, and shares its name with an operetta, which was a parody of a play by George Bernard Shaw. What is the name of Shaw’s play?

   1. Pygmalion

   2. Arms and the Man

   3. Candida

   4. Man and Superman

Solutions

1:A - The large bronze sculpture Princess Macha of the Golden Hair was commissioned by the architect Eugene Rosenberg for Altnagelvin hospital. The subject linked the new hospital to Irish mythology, as Macha reputedly founded the first hospital in Ireland at Emain Macha near Armagh in 300BC. The dove seated on Princess Macha’s left hand is a symbol of St Colmcille, who built Derry's first infirmary at his monastery in the 6th century.
 Image: Study for Princess Macha III, circa 1957, © FE McWilliam Estate, 2:D - The name Banbridge was synonymous with Irish linen. At the height of the linen industry in Ireland, there were some 26 bleach greens alone on the River Bann, which was said to have been the most industrialised river in Ireland. Banbridge still maintains its strong connection with linen through Thomas Ferguson’s Irish Linen, acknowledged as the finest linen jacquard weavers in the world. Image: Drum-Head (Mulberry X), 1989 © FE McWilliam Estate, 3:B - Raised in a Quaker family, Penrose was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art. In 1936, McWilliam and his wife Beth moved to Steele’s Road, Hampstead, close to Penrose and artist Paul Nash. Penrose became a close friend, ardent supporter and collector of McWilliam’s work. Image: Lower Face Profile, circa 1949 © FE McWilliam Estate, 4:C - From 1972-74 McWilliam made a series of figurative bronze sculptures called Women of Belfast. These reference a particular incident, the Abercorn Tea Room bomb, and depict women caught in the blast that killed two and injured more than 100 others, including children. "These sculptures are concerned with violence, with one particular aspect; bomb-blast, the women as victims of man's stupidity." Image: Woman of Belfast, circa 1973 © FE McWilliam Estate, 5:C - In 1977, McWilliam embarked upon a series of bronze leg sculptures. Drawing on his early interest in surrealism and exploring his ability to convey character and movement through figurative fragments, these works are often playful and humorous. After McWilliam’s death in 1992, his estate gifted his studio to Banbridge. In 2008, the FE McWilliam Gallery and Studio was established to celebrate his work and promote art and creativity for all. Image: Legs Static, 1978 © FE McWilliam Estate, 6:D - Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930-93) was an English sculptor and printmaker who came to prominence in the postwar period. Working mainly in bronze, Frink often depicted the male form, birds, dogs and horses. She was born in Suffolk and studied at the Guildford and Chelsea schools of art. McWilliam taught Frink at Chelsea and went on to become a good friend. A cast of this impressive bronze portrait stands in Harlow new town. 
Image: Elisabeth Frink, 1956 © FE McWilliam Estate, 7:B - McWilliam owned a huge, two-lobed coco de mer nut or bean, from the Seychelles palm, which was the basis for a series of bean sculptures. Made between 1965 and 1966, the series represents McWilliam at his most fanciful, subjecting the organic and natural motif to a wide range of witty variations. Often highly polished, the bean sculptures can be interpreted as McWilliam’s idiosyncratic response to pop art. 
Image: Bird and Cage II, 1965 © FE McWilliam Estate, 8:B - In Shaw's play (and the operetta), one of the lead characters uses his ammunition pouch to carry chocolates instead of cartridges. In addition to a torso cast from a chocolate box, McWilliam’s work, called Chocolate Soldier, has his arms raised in surrender and has no head! This is one of the most popular art works in the collection and shows McWilliam’s sense of humour. Image: Chocolate Soldier, 1977 © FE McWilliam Estate

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Very impressive. You are firing (sorry) on all cylinders

2. 0 and above.

   Hmm ….. You are at the Maquette stage of sculpture

3. 4 and above.

   Not bad. You are at the papier-mache stage of sculpture