The BBC is being urged to remove a sculpture of a naked boy created by an artist who sexually abused two of his daughters.
Abuse charities have called on the corporation to remove from outside the front of its headquarters the carvings of a man and a naked child created by Eric Gill.
However, despite the statue’s prominent presence being declared an “insult” to abuse victims, the BBC said there were no plans to remove it.
Brighton-born Gill was one of the most respected artists of the 20th century when he died in 1940 but his diaries published nearly 50 years later revealed he had sex with two of his daughters and the family dog.
His 1932 statue Prospero And Ariel, from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, stands on Broadcasting House in London as a metaphor for broadcasting.
His work is also featured at the headquarters of Transport for London at St James’s Park Tube station alongside work by Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein.
Campaigners say the case for removal of the works has grown stronger since the revelations of Jimmy Savile’s abusive past.
Gill was born in 1882 in Brighton and his family of 13 moved to Chichester when he was five, to a house in North Walls where his biographer Fiona McCarthy believes he began an incestuous relationship with at least one of his sisters.
Explicit works
After settling in Ditchling where he produced much of his work, he began to sexually abuse two of his daughters as well as using them as models for his more explicit works.
Fay Maxted, the chief executive of The Survivors’ Trust, a body which represents organisations supporting survivors of rape, sexual violence and childhood sexual abuse, said: “It’s an insult to allow a work like this to remain in such a public place.
“It is almost mocking survivors. It is intolerable.”
Listed building
Peter Saunders, the chief executive of the National Association For People Abused In Childhood, said: “There’s a strong argument that this should be removed. These symbols are in people’s faces.”
A BBC spokesman said: “There are no plans to remove or replace the sculptures at the front of Broadcasting House.”
A TfL spokeswoman said: “55 Broadway is a Grade I listed building and has been part of London’s heritage since 1929.
“Any changes to the building would require consultation with the local borough and English Heritage and therefore there are no plans to remove or replace the sculptures.”
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