James White (2 December 1861 – 14 July 1918) was an Australian sculptor, winner of the

Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

in 1902.

Early life

White was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

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, the son of Robert White, journeyman shipwright, and his wife Janet, ''née'' Dunn. White was apprenticed to a plasterer and studied modelling at South Kensington. White made anatomical models for hospitals in

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 ...

Australian period

White came to Sydney around 1884 and worked for

Achille Simonetti Achille Simonetti (12 June 1857 – 19 November 1928) was a prominent Italian violinist and composer, mainly resident in England and Ireland. He was mainly known as a chamber musician and teacher. Life Born in Turin on 12 June 1857, Simonetti le ...

on the monument to Governor Arthur Phillip in

Sydney Botanical Gardens The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government ar ...

. White won the

for the group 'In Defence of the Flag' at Sydney in 1902. Despite a long list of commissions, White was by no means a distinguished sculptor. White came to Australia when there were few sculptors there of ability, and it must be presumed that his sketch models were better than his finished works, as in later years he more than once obtained important commissions in competition with better men.

Later life

White died of cancer while visiting

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and was buried in

Toowong Cemetery Toowong Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on the corner of Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland's largest ceme ...

.White James
– Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search He was survived by his wife, son and two daughters.

Selected works

White executed a large number of statues and memorials in Australia, including the Queen Victoria memorial (1907) and the Fitzgibbon statue at Melbourne, statues of

George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early years Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George ...

, Daniel Henry Deniehy,

Sir John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians * J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...

and

William Bede Dalley William Bede Dalley (5 July 1831 – 28 October 1888) was an Australian politician and barrister and the first Australian appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He was a leading lay representative and champion of the Catholic co ...

at Sydney, the John McDouall Stuart statue at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South African war memorials at Perth and Ballarat and statues of Queen Victoria and George Lansell at Bendigo. White's head of an Australian aboriginal is in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

References

Additional resources listed by the ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'': *K. Scarlett, ''Australian Sculptors'' (Melb, 1980) *''Australasian Builder and Contractor's News'', 12 Nov 1892, p 238 *''All About Australians'', 2 Mar 1903 *''Australasian Art Review'', 1 Apr 1899, p 20, 1 July 1899, pp 18, 21, 1 Sept 1899, p 12 *''Lone Hand'', Aug 1907, p 380 *''Observer'' (Adelaide), 21 Nov 1903 *''Sydney Morning Herald'', 11 May 1904 *''Advertiser'' (Adelaide), 6 June 1904 *''Age'' (Melbourne), 25 May 1907 *''Argus'' (Melbourne), 27 Sept, 29 Nov 1910, 20 July 1918, and camera supplement, 1 Dec 1928 *Annual exhibition catalogues, Art Society of New South Wales, 1892, 1894, and Society of Artists, 1896, 1897

External links

AGNSW collection record of White's ''Queensland Aboriginal Man'' 1897
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, James 1861 births 1918 deaths Deaths from cancer in Queensland Burials at Toowong Cemetery English emigrants to colonial Australia Wynne Prize winners 20th-century Australian sculptors 19th-century Australian sculptors