Frank Roper (artist)

Frank Roper (12 December 1914 – 3 December 2000) was a British sculptor and stained-glass artist who undertook commissions for churches and cathedrals across Wales and England.

In addition to religious commissions, Roper created a wide variety of sculptures which were sold privately and to corporate bodies. His non-religious sculpture included animals and birds, as well as animated sculptures and musical fountains.

Biography

Frank Roper was born 12 December 1914 in Haworth, Yorkshire. He studied at Keighley Art School (meeting his future wife, Nora Ellison) and the Royal College of Art, London, where he was a student of Henry Moore. In 1947 he became a sculpture lecturer at Cardiff College of Art, later vice principal until 1964. He retired from the college in 1973 ''"to be free to play my own games"''. He lived in Penarth and created his own foundry on the ground floor of his house where he made his metal sculptures. Roper has been credited with inventing the lost-polystyrene casting process.

Many of Roper's early commissions stemmed from the need to repair places of worship after they had suffered bomb damage during World War II. He went on to become one of the most prolific of all post-War artists undertaking church commissions. His major commissions included work for Llandaff Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire and Peterborough Cathedral. He created a wall-mounted " Stations of the Cross" (1959) for St Martin's in Roath, Cardiff, "Crucifixion with Mary and John" (1965) outside St German's Church, Adamsdown, Cardiff and an aluminium reredos screen (1968) for St Martin le Grand, York. Roper also created engraved and stained glass, for example at St Peter's Church, Chippenham.

Two BBC
...