London Deco Artists
Here are some of the major artists who are associated with the decoration of London's Art Deco buildings. Some of the best known, such as Sir Henry Moore, Eric Gill and Sir Jacob Epstein are internationally renowned, while others have more purely national associations.
This was a time when many architects were looking at the doctrine of functionalism, which regarded sculpture and other decoration to be superfluous to the needs of modern building. The architect Charles Holden was a great champion of artists involvement with modern architecture, though also among those who were debating this issue. A part of this debate is the question of scale, where even large works can be lost to the great heights of modern buildings. The statues of winds seen here, though large works, are somewhat lost at the top of Holden's London Transport building. In spite of this, it is the decorative elements, such as sculpture, which continue to make Art Deco such an endearing style.
Sir Henry Moore
Henry Moore was born in 1898 to a miner in Castleford, Yorkshire. He served in WW1 and rose to a Lance Corporal, after seeing considerable action at the front. During the tank battle at Cambrai he was caught in a mustard gas attack hospitalised. His father encouraged all of his children to improve their lot in life through education, and Moore later enrolled at Leeds School of Art where he had fellow sculptor Barbara Hepworth as a classmate. He succeeded in winning a scholarship at the Royal College of Art at the age of 23.
Moore was among the designers and sculptors involved with architect Charles Holden's London Underground Headquarters building, above the St. James Place underground station. Moore's work (the "West Wind"), and that of the five other participating sculptors, are a long way up the sides of the building. The scale of the structure and the placing of them defeats any but the most careful eye from finding them.
Eric Gill
Also involved with the London Underground Headquarters decoration, Eric Gill trained as both and artist and an architect, but became best known as a sculptor, printmaker and typographer. His South Wind can be seen here. Born in Brighton, he was much a lover of craftsmanship and old style guilds. He trained in various workshops before setting up his own. Of all the British sculptors of the period he is one of the most immediately recognizable as having an Art Deco style.
His work was refined and graceful, yet could also be tremendously lively. The Ariel reliefs around the BBC building on Portland Place are an excellent example of this, one of which is shown here.
Sir Jacob Epstein (1880 - 1959)
Jacob Epstein was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. He was born in New York in 1880, and later studied with Rodin in Paris, but ultimately adopted England as his home in 1905. He was a revolutionary figure, often producing controversial works, and always challenging the conventional tastes with large bold forms. Some of his most notable architectural sculpture is in London, beginning with a large number of brilliant allegorical figures for Charles Holden's British Medical Association Building in 1908. Alas these caused considerable controversy, and were later officially and publicly defaced.
In spite of this sorry episode, Holden had faith in Epstein and employed him to carve two large, prominent works for the London Transport Headquarters/St James Station building that he designed in 1926. He also stuck by him when the inevitable controversy reappeared. One of Epstein's monumental works, "Night", based on Michaelangelo's "Pieta" was vandalised shortly after it was completed. This, and the other equally large and complimentary work, "Day" caused a lot of strong feeling when they were unveiled. Epstein's powerful handling of these works can still be seen above the entrances to the building at 55 Broadway.
Siegfried Charoux
St Swithin’s House, at 30-37 Walbrook is a bland, mid 1950s government building, designed by Gunton & Gunton, it is graced by two sculpture groups by the Austrian sculptor Siegfried Charoux, called ‘The Arts’ and ‘Manual Labour’. These were among his first efforts as a stone carver, as he had previously worked mainly in terracotta, producing figures of idealised workers for the socialist local government in Vienna in the early 1930s. A figure of a miner from ‘Manual Labour’ can be seen here.
Sir William Reid Dick RA
Sir William Reid Dick (1879-1961), a member of the Royal Academy, was responsible for various human and animal statues in London. Official sculptor to King George VI, he carved the figure of George V by the House of Lords, the Franklin D Roosevelt statue in Grosvenor Square, and John Soane's figure at the Bank of England. He was also the sculptor of the imposing monumental horses on Unilever House.
These owe their existence to the architect J Lomax Simpson's lifelong passion for horses. While Burnet Tait & Partners are given credit for the building, the concept came primarily from Lomax Simpson, who envisioned large, powerful groups of people and horses at either end of the structure, and included them in even his earliest sketches. Together Dick's finished works are known as "Controlled Energy". One features two men, the other two women, securing large horses. They are carefully integrated into this long narrow building and sit like mastheads at either end of a long ship. The riverside location heightens this effect.
Gilbert Ledward (1888-1960)
Gilbert Ledward was born in London in 1888 and studied at the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy. In 1913 he became the first sculptor to win the RA's Rome Prize. He was one of many sculptors who worked on memorials after WW1, including the Guards Division Memorial. As Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art 1927-29, he had no less than Henry Moore as an assistant. Ledward created the mermaid and merman keystones at either end of Unilever House.
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