Oban, standing stones

Oban

Unveiled

11/11/1923

Essentially I think what Carrick was creating in his Highland memorials of Lochawe, Killin and Oban were 20th century standing stones. Again the base of the Oban memorial is a cairn of local stone and an ancient boulder stands immediately beside like a petrified shadow of the memorial itself. The stone, perhaps 4 metres high, is said to be a glacial erratic deposited there some 10,000 years ago by the retreating glaciers at the end of the ice age. It is also a cup-and-ring marked stone. The meaning of these enigmatic symbols dating from the Bronze Age, which are to be found carved on stones throughout Scotland is unknown. At Oban however the ancient monolith not only underpins the concept of the memorial, forging a cultural link in time and place, it has also clearly inspired the sculpture itself. Once again Carrick visited the town and as a result carved a group featuring two soldiers who carry a wounded comrade. If you look at the silhouetted outline it is identical to that of the top of the ancient stone. Did Carrick see three soldiers emerging from the top of this stone during his visit? Certainly I think that he had a tremendous vision for shape and form; and this was always three dimensional. This argument seems to be supported by Carrick’s technique. The group of soldiers are roughly carved at the back, as though they are emerging out of the stone itself. Carrick was actually criticised by the Scotsman newspaper critic for this after seeing the sketch model at the annual RSA exhibition as he thought the sculpture unfinished. Like many artists however the critics remained glued to the cities and studios and were ignorant of how the concept behind the work was inextricably linked to its site, and the community to whom it would belong.

Left - the original working model of the Oban group which was exhibited at the RSA exhibition. Note the robust strength integral to the design with the rock like base supporting the weight of the sculpture which would otherwise rest on the soldiers' legs