representing the arts for the Kelvingrove art gal lery at Glasgow.
A great mural tomb followed, with “Love Sacred and Profane” as
its motif, together with a series of other works of growing artistic
importance. “Cain” (1905), a vigorous, dramatic, yet wholly
sculpturesque figure, is in powerful contrast to the three works that
appeared in successive years: “Abundance” (a group of a woman and
two children) and the marble statues “Atalanta” and “Psyche”—all
of them the type of grace in pose and of beauty of face and form.
At the same time Derwent Wood produced the two boy figures on
the piers to the southward of the Queen Victoria Memorial in front
of Buckingham Palace. There is marked individuality in all he
does, sculpturesque character, firmness and delicacy of handling,
with a richness of style and appreciation of breadth and simplicity.
Paul Montford, the son of Horace Montford, after a brilliant academic career made his mark in decorative sculpture. It is not by such work as “Court Favourites” (1906) that he sustains his reputation, but rather by the sculptural embellishments wherewith the archway connecting the Local Government offices with the Home Office in Whitehall is enriched. “The Spinning Girl” is one of his best ideal figures, and the 18th century “Viscount Bolingbroke and “The Storm Waves” are characteristic of his vigorous style and personal conception and execution. .
John Tweed, who studied under Falguiere and Rodin, was influenced more by the latter than by the former, and inclines rather to the impressionistic school than to the academic. His statue of Cecil Rhodes has power and emphasis—it impresses rather than attracts. The statues of Queen Victoria at Aden, of van Riebeck at Cape Town, and the Wilson Memorial in Rhodesia are among his chief works. He was selected to “complete” Alfred Stevens’s Wellington Memorial in St Paul’s cathedral. Basil Gotto has not less force, and he is more exuberant in his realization of life—an exuberance which does not always make for refinement. “Brother Ruffino” has dignity and strength, and the “Bacchus” of 1907 is realistic enough to repel those who ask for elegance even in an unrefined subject. The work, however, is ably treated.
Henry Poole belongs to the same vigorous school, and has a true sense of the monumental. as is evident in his colossal group of “The Mermaids”; while his “Naiad” (1909) shows an innate refinement.
S. Nicholson Babb, for some years an assistant of Mr Brock, has produced an ambitious “War Memorial” and many able groups and figures, among which “The Coming of Spring” (1910) reveals the modern French influence.
Albert H. Hodge stands by himself. Asa sculptor-decorator with special views on relief-work in which he adheres to the sentiment and character of the architecture it is to embellish, he adopts a convention which gives the appearance of high relief to what is really low, by sharpness of edges and by a learned use of light and shade. His panels of “Science and Art” (1904) and “Commerce” (1906) are good illustrations of this original kind of architectonic work, while his large equestrian group of “Prosperity” applies the same principles to the round. These three works were modelled for the town of Hull.
A man of similar force is Joseph Epstein, who replaces refinement by vigour, archaic simplicity, and primitiveness of outlook, as though casting his vote in favour of the Garden of Eden as against/the garden of the Tuileries. His work, in which he leans towards the modern German view, is mainly decoration for buildings; his most discussed productions are the statues (1907) on the topmost storey of the British Medical Association offices.
Richard Garbe, a sculptor of equal strength, was a pupil of the London County Council School of Arts and Crafts and began to exhibit in 1898. Rugged power both in subject and execution mark his productions. His ideal works, such as “The Egoist” (1906), “Man and the Ideal” (1907), “The Idealist” (1908) and “Undine” (1909), illustrate his range of thought and reveal his uncommon vigour which amounts, it might be said, to well-controlled, idealistic brutality; they are broad and impressive, and are conceived in a monumental spirit.
Charles L. Hartwell has grace and strength combined. The nude figure representing “The Rising Tide” (1906), reminding us a little of Leighton’s work, and “The Bathers” (1907), are both works of refinement and elegance, and “Dawn” (1909) displays unusual charm and, like the others, offers a silhouette of much interest. While much poetry of expression and grace of composition distinguish his “Sirens" (1910), vigour is the note of the small group f' A Foul in the Giants' Race,” which was acquired by the Chantrey trustees in 1908.
Benjamin Clemens, pupil of Professor Lantéri and the Royal College of Art, is another member of this talented group. His lifesize ideal figures, “Sappho” (1902), “Cain” (1904), “Eurydice” (1906), “Andromeda” (1907) and “Aurora” (1908), all made their mark when exhibited in the Royal Academy, and showed the sculptor to be possessed of the qualities of sensitiveness, elegance, and strength. The group of “Kephalos and Prokris” (1910) is his most important and most striking work.
Harold Parker came to England from Australia in I$96 at the age of twenty-three, and after studying under W. S. Frith, made many Academic successes, and in 1904 exhibited his plaster life-size statue of “Ariadne,” which, translated into marble and re-exhibited in 1908, was bought by the trustees of the Chantrey Collection and is now in the Tate Gallery. His other more .important works include “The Long, Long Dreams of Youth” (1905), “Narcissus” (1906), and “Prometheus” (1909). Without revealing any striking originality, Parker displays very considerable accomplishment and a good sense of the sculpturesque, and his busts are refined and good.
Oliver Wheatley, formerly assistant to Brock, and pupil of Aman-Jean, has done much decorative work. His life-size recumbent statue “Awakening” is among the best of his figures.
T. Tyrrell, who first attracted attention by his decorative figures on Professor Pite’s house in Mortimer Street, London, has shown 2nuch)graceful fancy in his “The Ideal,” such as “The Whisper” 1906 .
Reuben Sheppard has shown himself poetic and pleasing in symbolic suggestion in his striking half-length group “The Music of Death” (1907); and Oliver Sheppard, in his “Eve” of the same year, produced a graceful work.
The Irish sculptor, John Hughes, achieved a great success by his monument to Queen Victoria erected in Dublin. It is a fine combination of sculptural and architectural effect and richness of grouping, and although it reveals too great a love of ornament it is impressive alike in mass, design, silhouette, and general arrangement.
There should also be mentioned, among the younger sculptors, Mortimer Brown (“St John the Baptist”), David B. Brown (“The Spirit of Ivy”), Bertram Pegram (“Down to the Sea”), the Scotsmen, McFarlane Shannan (“The Arcadian Shepherd’s Dream”), Kellock Brown, and J. Crosland McLure (“Leicester War Memorial”); Herbert Ward (bronzes of South African savages, “The Idol Maker” and the like), Alfred Turner, Charles Pibworth, and F. Arnold Wright.
The women sculptors include such accomplished amateurs as H.R.H. the duchess of Argyll (“A Crucifix”—the Colonial Memorial in St Paul’s cathedral) and Countess Gleichen. The principal recent names are those of Mary Pownall (Mrs Bromet), (“A Harpy”), E. M. Rope (“Springtime,” relief), Ruby Levick (“Fishermen hauling a Net”), Margaret Winser (“Mourners,” a relief), Esther Moore (“At the Gates of the Past”), Edith Maryon (“The Poet of Umbria”), and Gwendolen Williams (“The Lorelei,” 1907, and charming groups of children).
The sculptor-decorators make a group of workers of striking fancy and ability. Lynn Jenkins, whose frieze in bronze, ivory and mother-of-pearl at Lloyd’s Registry is a remarkable achievement, is one of the leaders. He has latterly devoted himself to pure sculpture, such as the life-size bronze figure on a sarcophagus, “Destiny” (1909 and 1910) and bust portraits remarkable for exquisite feeling and delicacy of carving. Walter Crane designed for Manchester a mace that is remarkable for beauty of conception and felicity of symbolism. Alexander Fisher and Nelson Dawson should be included in the group. Other sculptors already mentioned, including Thornycroft, Gilbert, Frampton, Pomeroy, Colton and Toft, have all devoted themselves to sculptural decoration pure and simple, whether in metal, stone, or marble.
The painter-sculptors claim among them Alfred Stevens, Sir Edwin Landseer, Lord Leighton, J. M. Swan, W. Reynolds-Stephens, George Richmond, and G. F. Watts. George Richmond’s real talent may be gauged by his “Monument to Bishop Blomfield” in St Paul’s cathedral. His son, Sir William Richmond, K.C.B., has also practised in sculpture—the memorial tomb of Mr and Mrs Gladstone is his. Watts educated himself artistically on the Elgin Marbles, and he produced half a dozen pieces of sculpture which place him high among the world’s finest sculptors of the 19th century. The recumbent effigy of “Bishop Lonsdale” in Lichfield cathedral was an epoch-marking work, not only in the technical matter of the bold treatment of the drapery, but in largeness and breadth and its noble sense of style, and the “Lord Lothian” in Bickling church is also very remarkable. The artist then produced the colossal equestrian group of “Hugh Lupus” for the duke of Westminster (Eaton Hall), a composition as imaginative and original asit is grand and sculpturesque. Then followed “Physical Energy,” another equestrian group, which, after being about twenty years in progress, was cast in 1902; it was executed in duplicate; one copy has been set up in South Africa, to the memory of Cecil Rhodes, whose character it may be held to symbolize, and the other has been erected in Kensington Gardens, London, at the expense of the British government. In 1902 also, the startle of “Lord Tennyson” was completed. But the bust of “Clytie” is surpassed in bigness and classic purity of style and feeling by nothing ever produced in England; it is a complete and noble thing. There is no sculptor who has come nearer to obtaining the grandeur of form which is so wonderful in the Greek masterélpieces. Simple in line, immense in character, full and rich in mo elling, Watts’s work is instinct with vigour, breadth and movement. It sets the true standard, and is a constant and a noble warning to sculptors of the younger school not, to be led away by the dainty and fanciful, however alluring. Especially it warns them against what has become a feature with a certain section—the devotion to metalworking, enamelling, and the like, and the free introduction of these accessories into serious sculptural work. Irresistible in the hands of a great artist like Alfred Gilbert, such work, at all times attractive, is the goldsmith’s and iron smith’s business rather than the sculptor’s; and although it has coloured the work of some of the younger sculptors of the day, it is not likely to obtain any very wide hold, or
