War Memorial, George Square, Glasgow - DSC06146

Ernest George Gillick (19 November 1874 – 25 September 1951) was a British

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

Gillick was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, Yorkshire, on 19 November 1874, the son of a tailor. The family moved to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, where Gillick was apprenticed as a designer in around 1891. He studied at the

Nottingham School of Art Founded in 1843, the School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom. History In 1836, the Government Select committee (United Kingdom), Select Committee on Art and Manufactures produced a repor ...

and the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. His first important commission was for the figures of

J.M.W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

and

Richard Cosway Richard Cosway (5 November 1742 – 4 July 1821) was a leading English portrait painter of the Georgian and Regency era, noted for his miniatures. He was a contemporary of John Smart, George Engleheart, William Wood, and Richard Crosse. ...

for the facade of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in 1901. He was a regular exhibitor at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

and worked frequently as a medalist, as did his wife, Mary Tutin, whom he married in 1905. They had been students together at Nottingham. He served on the Sculpture Faculty of the

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is an interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture. History The British School at Rome (BSR) was established in 1901 and granted a UK Royal Charter in 1912. Its mission is " ...

and on the Council of the Imperial Arts League. He was a member of the

Art Workers Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

from 1916 until his death, being elected Master in 1935. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1935, but never became a full Academician. He died in London on 25 September 1951 aged 76.

Works

Sculptures

* The

Cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

George Square George Square ( gd, Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is the principal civic square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of six squares in the city centre, the others being Cathedral Square, St Andrew's Square, St Enoch Square, Royal Exchange Sq ...

in Glasgow, 1921–1924. * A sculptural group of ''Henry VII at Bosworth Field'' for the

City Hall, Cardiff City Hall ( cy, Neuadd y ddinas) is a civic building in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales, UK. It serves as Cardiff's centre of local government. It was built as part of the Cathays Park civic centre development and opened in October 1906. Built of ...

, (c.1919). * Figures for the reredos in

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

Chapel, as part of the Winchester College War Memorial (1923). * An allegorical group for the

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...

building in Princes Street, London of 1931–1932, notable for figures of Lower Mathematics and Higher Mathematics, in which the latter figure holds a sculpted

magic square In recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diagonals are the same. The 'order' of the magic square is the number ...

. * Ex Tenebris Lux, 1937. Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand. * ''Monument to the Missing'',

Vis-En-Artois British Cemetery, Haucourt The Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, Haucourt is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of World War I located between the Commune in France, communes of Vis-en-Artois and Haucourt (Pas-de-Calais), Haucourt in the ...

, France. * Statue of Sir Francis Powell in Mesnes Park,

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. * Bust of Thomas Hellyer Foord for the Foord Almshouses at Rochester.

Medals

*The

Polar Medal The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It w ...

(1904). *The

Tibet Medal The Tibet Medal was authorised in February 1905 for all members of the Tibet Mission and accompanying troops who served at or beyond Siliguri from 13 December 1903 to 23 September 1904. The obverse of the medal, designed by G. W. de Saulles, s ...

, reverse. (1905). *Royal Academy Schools Medal (c.1937).

References

External links

*
''The Cenotaph'' by Ernest Gillick, Glasgow, Scotland
* ttp://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5687 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections 1874 births 1951 deaths 20th-century English sculptors 20th-century English male artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Bradford Associates of the Royal Academy British architectural sculptors English male sculptors Masters of the Art Worker's Guild {{UK-sculptor-stub