Signing

This is one of two limestone reliefs by the Scottish artist James Barr (1911-1969). They were made as maquettes (models) for the series The Arts of Communication on the façades of the north and south wings of the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. This one illustrates Signing, a method of communication to assist those with hearing difficulties, while the other (inv. A.10-2016) depicts Braille, a means of communication devised to assist those with visual impairments. Designed in about 1938, the finished reliefs were not in fact installed until after the Second World War in the 1950s. Both reliefs are fine Modernist pieces, though they also recall the earlier figurative sculpture style which flourished in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.