Ivan Mitford-Barberton
| Ivan Mitford-Barberton | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1 February 1896 Somerset East, Eastern Cape |
| Died |
9 June 1976 (aged 80) Hout Bay, Cape Town[1] |
| Occupation | Sculptor and writer |
| Notable work | The Mutual Building,Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital |
Ivan Mitford-Barberton (1896 - 1976) was a sculptor, writer and authority on heraldry.
Early life and education
Mitford-Barberton was born in Somerset East in 1896, he was a descendant of several 1820 Settler families. His grandmother was the naturalist, Mary Elizabeth Barber. He did his schooling at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown.[2] In 1912 his family moved to Kenya,[3] where he encountered African and Arab subjects that later formed an important theme in his work.[4] From 1915 to 1918 he served as a soldier in East Africa. From 1919 to 1922 he studied at the Grahamstown School of Art, and from 1923 at the Royal College of Art in London, under Henry Moore and Derwent Wood. He returned to Kenya in 1927 and set up a studio there. Mitford-Barberton was an active member of the South African Society of Arts and taught art at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town.
Works
He designed the monument of Jock of the Bushveld[5] in Barberton, a place that was co-founded by his ancestors. The bronze statue of a leopard in Hout Bay,[6] where he lived, is his work. The sculpture of Peter Pan at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town was done by Mitford-Barberton[7]
In the 1930s he designed parts of the exterior and the interior decoration of Mutual Building, in Cape Town, the then highest building in Africa 91 metres (299 ft) (excluding the Pyramids of Giza). The exterior is equipped with a 120 metres (390 ft) granite frieze and with nine, 4 metres (13 ft)-high figures.
From 1947 to 1961, Mitford-Barberton was a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, 1957-1961 a Fellow of the Society and a member of the Theosophical Lodge Cape Town. Mitford-Barberton was considered an authority in the field of heraldry, and was a member of the Heraldry Council of South Africa.
Ivan Mitford-Barberton wrote several books on the history of his family and the 1820 Settlers. He was married twice and had five children, three sons and two daughters.
Publications
- Ivan Mitford-Barberton, sculptor. Bailey Bros. & Swinfen. 1962.
- Some frontier families: biographical sketches of 100 Eastern Province families before 1840. Human and Rousseau. 1969. with Violet White
- Comdt. Holden Bowker. Human & Rousseau. 1970.
- Barbers of the Peak: A History of the Barber, Atherstone, and Bowker Families. University Press. 1934.
See also
Notes and references
- ↑ SAHistOnline.
- ↑ Laurie 1914, p. 62.
- ↑ Governor of Kenya 1923, p. 774.
- ↑ Glasgow 2011.
- ↑ Naidoo, Romaana (13 September 2013). "Barberton glitters with more than just gold". Media Club South Africa. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
- ↑ "Hout Bay Pic of the Day 12/08/11". Hout Bay Organised. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
- ↑ Peter Pan statue in Cape Town
- Laurie, K. W. J. (1914). Register of S. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, from 1855 to 1914. Grahamstown: Slater & Co.
- "Ivan Mitford-Barberton", Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, 2011, retrieved 2014-10-03
- Governor of Kenya (26 September 1923). Kenya Gazette.
- "Ivan Mitford-Barberton, teacher of art at the Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town and sculptor of several monuments in South Africa". South African History Online. Retrieved 2014-12-20.
Further reading
- Hilton-Barber, David (2014). The Saint, the Surgeon and the Unsung Botanist: A tribute to my remarkable ancestors. Footprints Press. ISBN 978-0-620-61401-6.
External links
- Extracts from an article on the BARBERs of Barberton written by Ivan MITFORD-BARBERTON
- Ivan Graham MITFORD-BARBERTON
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