Elisabeth Toubro: Monument for Inge Lehmann, 2017 (EN)
Elisabeth Toubro has created a monument for the Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann; the woman who discovered Earth’s solid inner core.
The woman who discovered Earth’s solid inner core
Elisabeth Toubro has created a monument for the Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann.
Six portrait busts stand in front of the Frue Plads facade of the University of Copenhagen. They were created and installed between 1854 and 1956 by some of the leading sculptors of their time, the four older busts, respectively, by H. V. Bissen and his son V. Bissen and the two most recent, respectively, by Ludvig Brandstrup and Jørgen Gudmundsen-Holmgreen. The newest bust depicts Niels Bohr.
The University of Copenhagen wanted to supplement the busts with a monument for seismologist and geodesist Inge Lehmann and therefore applied to the New Carlsberg Foundation for artistic advice and financial support.
One of our greatest sculptors today, Elisabeth Toubro, was chosen as the artist for the assignment, and it was determined that the best placement for the monument would be next to the bust of Niels Bohr. This was in spring 2015. Next, Elisabeth Toubro began her explorative process, experimenting with many different models before settling on the final form: an abstract figure that matches the scale of the Bohr bust and stands just as tall.
The Lehmann monument shows a wave slicing through the sculpture and striking a round core that causes it to change direction. The body of the sculpture is cleaved in two, suggesting an earthquake and the related seismographic readings. The back of the monument shows an outline portrait of Inge Lehmann.
Elisabeth Toubro did not wish to create a portrait bust but instead wanted to create an abstract form that highlights and celebrates what mattered for Inge Lehmann, which was science, not her as a person.