Antony Gormley's Time Horizon – a 'judgmental army' of 100 cast-iron men

Sculptures are 'everymen questioning the privilege of their surroundings' at the Norfolk stately home

Cast-iron figures by Antony Gormley in the exhibit 'Time Horizon' at Houghton Hall, Norfolk
As with his iron men on Crosby beach near Liverpool, Gormley used his own body to mould the life-size sculptures
(Image credit: Pete Huggins)

Antony Gormley's latest artwork, installed in the grounds of the stately Houghton Hall in Norfolk, is an "almost judgmental" comment on our "ever more divided world".

The London-born sculptor "used his own body to mould the sculptures" of 100 life-size figures "similar to his famous iron men on Crosby beach in Merseyside", said the BBC.

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There are "99 others like him, in 23 subtly different poses, scattered across 300 acres of parkland", said The Telegraph. Norfolk may be one of England's flattest counties, but "now suddenly even the tiniest undulations are made apparent". 

Each figure weighs 620kg, with an average height of 191cm, said the BBC. Many simply stand on the ground – but "others are buried up to their waist or neck, or are positioned on a plinth".

Gormley's "army of silent men, frozen in time, surveying the manicured landscape of an English Versailles" appears "almost judgmental", said Kirsty Lang in The Sunday Times. "Are they everymen questioning the privilege of their surroundings?" Lang asked the artist. "By implication, yes," he said. "In this ever more divided world, between rich and poor, between the 1 per cent and the rest, where does justice come in?"

"Not since Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth has a sculptor connected with the British public on such a scale" as Gormley, best known for the "Angel of the North", said Lang. 

Gormley has said that his "ambition for this show is that people should roam far and wide". In a statement, the artist said: "'Time Horizon' is not a picture, it is a field and you are in it." He estimates that it "will take the average visitor two to three hours to walk around the entire work".

"Time Horizon" is at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, until 31 October; houghtonhall.com

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Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.