Raymond Grieg Mason (2 March 1922, in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
– 13 February 2010 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
) was a
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 ...
.
He trained at the
Birmingham School of Arts and Crafts under
William Bloye, 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 ...
(for one term), and
Slade School of Art
The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
. He lived and worked in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
beginning in 1946. He was a close friend of the late Nobel Prize–winning scientist
Maurice Wilkins
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (15 December 1916 – 5 October 2004) was a New Zealand-born British biophysicist and Nobel laureate whose research spanned multiple areas of physics and biophysics, contributing to the scientific understanding o ...
.
He is known for his sculptures of tightly packed people made from clay, with works on
McGill College Avenue
McGill College Avenue (officially in french: avenue McGill College) is a street in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Named for McGill University, the street was widened in the 1980s and transformed into a scenic avenue with McGill's Roddick Gates ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
; the
Tuileries, Paris;
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a historic neighborhood, and commercial and entertainment district located in Northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751 in the Province of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establishm ...
; and
Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
, New York. His controversial 1991 fibre-glass work, ''Forward'' in Birmingham's
Centenary Square
Centenary Square is a public square on the north side of Broad Street in Birmingham, England, named in 1989 to commemorate the centenary of Birmingham achieving city status. The area was an industrial area of small workshops and canal wharves ...
was destroyed by
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
on 17 April 2003. The statue carried a reference to
DNA ("the secret of life") in connection with Maurice Wilkins, who went to school in Birmingham and worked at the University of Birmingham.
He was the subject of an episode of the BBC television series ''
Omnibus
Omnibus may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Omnibus'' (film)
* Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes
* ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme
* ''Omnibus'' (U.S. TV series), an educational progr ...
'', "The Return of Raymond Mason," broadcast on 28 November 1982,
and was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) for "services to sculpture and to Anglo-French relations" in the
2002 New Year Honours
New Years' Honours are announced on or around the date of the New Year in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to the London Ga ...
.
The sculptor
Ron Mueck commented on his death: "I cannot remember there not being a Raymond Mason book on my shelf... The strong pulse of Life in his work always impressed me greatly. When I look at Mason's work it feels like seeing clearly through someone else's eyes. That can be an unsettling experience, but rewarding when it is a vibrant, unique vision of the world."
Bibliography
*Mason, Raymond (2003) ''At Work in Paris - Raymond Mason on Art and Artists''. Thames And Hudson.
*Edwards, Michael (1994) ''Raymond Mason''. Thames And Hudson.
*George T. Noszlopy, edited Jeremy Beach, ''Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield'', 1998,
References
External links
Birmingham City Council - page on Forward sculptureBBC news story on the arson attack on ''Forward''- Daily Telegraph obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Raymond
1922 births
2010 deaths
English sculptors
English male sculptors
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands
20th-century British sculptors
21st-century British sculptors
21st-century male artists
English expatriates in France
People educated at George Dixon Academy
Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art