Tschabalala Self’s Fourth Plinth Sculpture in London Receives Mixed Reviews

London’s Fourth Plinth on Trafalgar Square has a new art star, and it’s New York–based artist Tschabalala Self, whose sculpture Lady in Blue is the 16th artwork to feature there since 1998.

The bronze sculpture shows a Black woman walking. Donning a baby blue dress with a slit and matching heels, she is “not a remote historic figurehead—but a tribute to everyday women. Monumental in scale—but at the same time relatable. London has already fallen in love with her,” said Justine Simons, London’s deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries, in an Instagram post.

Among the artworks to have previously appeared on the Fourth Plinth are Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger in 1999, Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn in 2005 and Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare in 2010. The plinth changes every two years and is funded by the Mayor of London with support from Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Lady in Blue has mostly received glowing reviews so far. Laura Freeman, the chief art critic at the Times of London, gave the sculpture four stars out of five and wrote that “this Lady in Blue is a joyful sculpture with a sashay” and that she “walked away from Self’s Lady in Blue with a spring in my Birkenstocked step.” The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones gave the sculpture four stars, too, and said that “this striding sculpture fills the fourth plinth with humor and life.”

However, not everybody was a fan of the sculpture. The Daily Telegraph, a right-leaning newspaper, said that “Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth welcomes yet another artistic dud” and awarded the sculpture two stars out of five. On X, Steven Barrett, the author of the Public Gallery Substack, wrote that “it must be deja vu, but I thought we did this years ago. And it was tacky then.”

It’s possible Barrett was referring to Self’s 2023 sculpture Seated, which appeared at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, a seaside town in East Sussex in England. When the sculpture appeared there, it was painted white by vandals.

In an interview with the Guardian on September 1, Self said she’s “ready for a whole gamut of reactions. I’m not nervous—I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion of the sculpture. Each will shed light on to some facet of the reality we’re all currently living.”