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Benjamin Creswick,
Benjamin Creswick was born in Sheffield, the son of a spectacle-maker. He started his working life as a knife-grinder, but took up sculpture with the encouragement of 
He spent some time in Liverpool and Manchester, before moving to Birmingham, where he was Master of Modelling and Modelled Design at the
The Life and Works of Benjamin Creswick
{{DEFAULTSORT:Creswick, Benjamin 1853 births 1946 deaths English sculptors English male sculptors Modern sculptors Academics of Birmingham City University 20th-century British sculptors 19th-century British sculptors 19th-century male artists Artists from Sheffield People from Sutton Coldfield Members and Associates of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Guild of St George
RBSA
The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a re ...
(1853–1946) was an English sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
.
Life
Benjamin Creswick was born in Sheffield, the son of a spectacle-maker. He started his working life as a knife-grinder, but took up sculpture with the encouragement of John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
. In 1887 he modelled a terracotta frieze showing the processes of knife-grinding for the exterior of Cutlers' Hall, in Warwick Lane in the City of London. In the same year he made a frieze for Henry Heath's shop in Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
, London, showing hat-makers at work.
Creswick worked on various projects with A.H. Mackmurdo, such as the decoration of Pownall Hall in Cheshire, and contributed to the display by Mackmurdo's Century Guild at the Inventions Exhibition in 1885, though he did not join the guild until the following year.
He spent some time in Liverpool and Manchester, before moving to Birmingham, where he was Master of Modelling and Modelled Design at the Birmingham School of Art
The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...
from 1889 to 1918. He exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a r ...
in 1914, becoming an associate, and subsequently a member, of the RBSA, and eventually its Professor of Sculpture. He was responsible for a number of architectural sculptures, which can still be seen on Birmingham buildings.
He lived at a house called Elmwood, in Jockey Road, Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles sou ...
, then in Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...
.
His biography was co-written by his great-granddaughter, Annie Creswick Dawson.
Works
*''Boldmere Swimming Club memorial'' (1921) – now inside the swimming baths entrance of Wyndley Leisure Centre in Birmingham *''Bust ofJohn Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
'' (plaster now in the collection of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists)
*Carved figures on the choirstalls, Wallasey Memorial Unitarian Church
Wallasey Memorial Unitarian Church is a redundant church in Manor Road, Liscard, Wallasey, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the ca ...
, Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...
*Terracotta frieze on the facade of Cutlers Hall, Warwick Lane, London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(1887)
*Portrait Roundel of Thomas Carlyle outside Carlyle's House
Carlyle's House, in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, central London, was the home of the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane from 1834 until his death. The home of these writers was purchased by public subscription ...
, Cheyne Row
Cheyne Row is a residential street in Chelsea, London.
It runs roughly north to south from the crossroads with Upper Cheyne Row, where it becomes Glebe Place, leading down to a t-junction with Cheyne Walk which forms an embankment of the Rive ...
, Chelsea
*Capitals of Bachelor's Staircase columns at Beaucastle, a house built for George Baker, a former mayor of Birmingham
*Carved stone medallion busts of authors, in the Tiled Hall at Leeds Central Library
Leeds Central Library is a public library in Leeds. Situated in the city centre, on Calverley Street, it houses the city library service's single largest general lending and reference collection and hosts the Leeds Art Gallery.
Services avai ...
(formerly Municipal Buildings) (1884).
References
Further reading
* * ''The Late Benjamin Creswick. Tribute by Sir Frank Brangwyn, R.A'',Birmingham Post
The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a s ...
, 13 November 1946, in 'Birmingham Biography', vol. 38, pp. 123–124.
*
External links
The Life and Works of Benjamin Creswick
{{DEFAULTSORT:Creswick, Benjamin 1853 births 1946 deaths English sculptors English male sculptors Modern sculptors Academics of Birmingham City University 20th-century British sculptors 19th-century British sculptors 19th-century male artists Artists from Sheffield People from Sutton Coldfield Members and Associates of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Guild of St George