Mosaics designed by Scottish sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi which were at risk of being lost will shortly be moved to Edinburgh from London’s Tottenham Court Road tube station, after a petition called for them to be saved.
Part of the mosaic, which has adorned the station’s walls since the 1980s, was under threat as a result of the Crossrail works in the capital. Although 95% of the tiles will remain in the station, the iconic arches over the escalators were expected to be lost.
A petition to London Underground operators Transport for London (TfL) calling for the mosaics to be saved attracted more than 8,000 signatures.
TfL has now agreed to gift the works to Edinburgh College of Art for restoration and eventual public display in the city. The university will use the reassembly of the mosaics in a new undergraduate course in the next academic year and in other conservation training. They’ll also be photographed and digitally mapped allowing the works to be virtually reconstructed before they are physically reassembled.
The works will eventually go on public display at the university.
Born in Leith in 1924, Paolozzi studied at Edinburgh College of Art during World War Two and acted as a visiting professor to the college in the 1990s. The university’s art collection already includes more than 150 of his works.
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