John Francis Kavanagh

"Mechanic". Walthamstow Town Hall Relief Panel
"Navvy". Walthamstow Town Hall Relief Panel

John Francis Kavanagh (24 September 1903 – 18 June 1984) was an Irish sculptor and artist. In 1930 he was awarded the British School at Rome Scholarship in Sculpture.[1]

In 1933 he was appointed Head of Department of Sculpture and Modelling at the Leeds College of Art.[2]

He was an Associate member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors from 1935, elected a Fellow in 1945 and later became a member of its Council. In 1951 took up the post of Senior Lecturer in Sculpture at the Elam School of Fine Art, Auckland, New Zealand.[3]

Early life and education

John Francis Kavanagh was born in Birr, Co Offaly, Eire, eldest son of John Michael Kavanagh and Maud O'Hare. At the age of 16 he had an accident in which he suffered severe spinal injuries which left him walking with the aid of a stick. During his recovery he would make clay models and decided that he had a talent for sculpture. He studied at the Crawford School of Art, Cork, (1919–1921) and then the Liverpool School of Art (1920–21). In 1925 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, London, for sculpture studying there, 1925–30, under Gilbert Ledward, Henry Moore, William Rothenstein, A. Ernest Cole, and Charles Sargeant Jagger. In 1930 he modelled the elephants outside the New Residence in New Delhi, India, as part of Jagger's design.

Career

In 1929 he won a RCA travelling scholarship which took him to Paris, Berlin and Vienna. Then in 1930 he won the Rome Scholarship in Sculpture (British Prix de Rome) with "Workers Lifting Steel" for two years and remained at the British School in Rome until 1933 with a grant from the trustees of the Bird Fund of the Royal Academy. "Workers Lifting Steel" was posthumously cast in bronze by the Leicester Galleries in 1994 and was described at the time 'as good as anything of the kind by a student that Ledward had ever seen'[4][5]

"Education". Walthamstow Town Hall sculpture.

He followed the tradition of classical sculpture and the human figure, as shown by some of the work at this period. [6] His work "Classical Male Athletes" from this period was recently included in the exhibition "The Mythic Method: Classicism in British Art 1920-1950" at the Pallant House Gallery.[7]

"The work which Mr. Kavanagh has produced during his three years in Italy is marked by originality, a fine sense of design and excellent technique, and no less than three examples of his studies were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1933. There is no doubt that he has used his Scholarship well, and has undoubtedly benefited by his close and conscientious study, and the Faculty were unanimous in offering him their warm congratulations upon the results of his work."[8]

Bust of Cardinal Hinsley at Westminster Cathedral Clergy House Library
Our Lady of Consolation. Outside Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church, Frimley, Surrey

Two works from this period were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1933: Tanith and Wanda Tiburzzi, which won the bronze medal at the Paris Salon in 1935; Wanda Tiburzzi was an Italian woman that he persuaded to model for him..[9][10]

He was commissioned in the 1930s to carve the rood cross for All Souls', Leeds, the “Hook Memorial” Church. The carving of “Christ Triumphant on the Cross" was carved in lime wood and was the largest wooden figure made in England at that time since the Renaissance. It shows Christ on the Cross, wearing the alb and raising his arms free in blessing.Its design took into consideration the extreme foreshortening involved in hanging high in the nave.

He was Head of the School of Sculpture and Modelling at Leeds College of Art from 1933 – 1939 and taught stone and marble carving in the School of Industrial Design and Crafts.

In 1936 he was commissioned for a memorial to a retiring headmistress at Roundhay Girls’ High School, Leeds. The bronze work "Cora Ann: The Spirit of Youth" shows a figure of a Spartan athlete and the model for it was exhibited at the Royal Academy.[11]

Also in 1936 he won an international competition to design the Medal presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects to winners of the Rome Prize in Architecture. The medal shows the Arms of the Institute, lions rampant on either side of a column with the inscription ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS 1834 while the reverse has the inscription ROME SCHOLARSHIP IN ARCHITECTURE with a central space for the name.[12]

He was elected as a member of the National Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, Potters, in 1938 and also an Associate of the Royal Society British of Sculptors. He exhibited with them in 1937 with bronzes "Cortino di Ampezzo", "Tanith", "Dr P.Duval", and "Etruria". In 1938 he exhibited "Lady Jane" and "J.W.Dulanty"."[13] His highly stylized "Lady Jane" was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy (1936) and toured America in 1944. A version is now in Auckland City Art Gallery.[14]

Another commission in 1940 was for the Catholic Hospital, Lambeth Road, London. This is a nine foot high limestone statue of Our Lady of Consolation which stood above the entrance to the hospital, so taking foreshortening into consideration. A bronze model, "Madonna and Child", was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1944. The hospital closed in 1984 and the statue is now outside Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church in Frimley, Surrey.

One of his finest portrait busts was the bronze of Cardinal Hinsley which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1939 and at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1947; it is now in the Westminster Cathedral Clergy House Library. Another bust "Russian Peasant", a portrait of a Russian Jew he had ‘found’ on the Mile End Road in London’s East End, was exhibited in 1943 and purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for the Tate Gallery.[15] He also exhibited portraits of J.W.Dulanty and Sir Francis Joseph (1937) at the Royal Academy.

He was commissioned to carve five corner figures, for which he received £440, and 16 low reliefs for the Walthamstow Town Hall (1937–1942). The relief figures representing crafts and industries are in the entrance of the Town Hall on the sides of the portico piers and the five figures, which are classical in style, are at the rear on the council chamber. He also carved "Tragedy" and "Comedy" on either side of the Assembly Hall.[16] The five figures represent "Recreation", "Motherhood", "Fellowship", "Education" and "Work". The figure of "Fellowship" is based on William Morris who had lived locally.[17]

After the war in 1947 he carved the limestone statue of Father Burke, the Dominican preacher, holding a cross. He received £750 for the figure, which stands in Galway, Eire, and is 3.4m tall. [18] Also after the war he received a commission from the Ford Company of Dagenham for a statue of Spartacus as a monument to Free Europe. He also submitted designs for the competition to design the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome but his models for the bronze doors did not arrive in time.

In 1950 in a joint submission with the architect Daithi P. Hanly he won the Dublin Custom House Memorial competition with a design of Eire striding towards freedom defended by Fionn Mac Cumhaill's last shot. Unfortunately the project suffered delays and was never completed. The model is reported to have been taken to New Zealand. [19]

In 1951 he took up the position of Senior Lecturer in Sculpture at the Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, New Zealand and retired in 1968. He won the Grand Prix de Lyons in 1978 with a bronze from the marble head of Georgia Leprohon, a four year old child, and his sandstone "Crouching Figure" is in the Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru. When in New Zealand he received few commissions.[20] His bronze head of Sir Douglas Robb (1956), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1957, and portrait in oil (1961) are in the University of Auckland.[21] There were retrospective exhibitions of his sculpture at the Auckland City Art Gallery in 1979 and of his paintings and drawings at the Auckland Society of Arts in 1980.[22]

Works Exhibited at the Royal Academy

Year Title Type
1933 Tanith Bronze statue
Wanda Tiburzzi Bronze bust
Il Vecchio Bronze head
1934 Colin St Clair Oakes Bronze head
Not named Bronze head
1935 The Dance of the Hours Relief
1936 Dr P Duval Bronze bust
1937 J.W.Dulanty Bronze bust
Sir Francis Joseph Bronze head
Half-length portrait Bronze
1939 Cardinal Hinsley Bronze bust
1943 Head of a Russian Peasant Bronze head
1944 A Talbot Bronze head
Madonna and Child Bronze statuette
1946 Cora Ann Bronze statuette
Torso Bronze
Cardinal Hinsley Bust
1957 Dr Douglas Robb Bronze bust

Personal life

He lived in Mallord Street, London (1936–1946) with his studios at St. Oswald's Studios, Fulham (1934–1936) and then at Radnor Walk, Chelsea, London (1936–1943). He also had a studio at his father's house in Whalebone Lane, Chadwell Heath, Essex. In 1947 he gave his address as Lower Baggot Street, Dublin. In 1951 the family were at Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin and in 1984 at Greenlane Rd, Remuera, Auckland. In 1958 the family returned to Britain during his sabbatical leave.

He was married in 1942 to Jane Ella Cove, who died the following year. His second marriage in 1950 was to Margaret O'Connor, known as Peggy, and they had two children, John (b 1950) and Carol (b. 1948). He died of a heart attack in Auckland, New Zealand and is buried in Purewa Cemetery.[23][24]

References

  1. ↑ "The British School at Rome Scholarship in Sculpture". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Retrieved 23 Feb 2017.
  2. ↑ Snoddy, Theo (1996). Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century. Wolfhound Press Ltd. pp. 222–224.
  3. ↑ "John Francis Kavanagh". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951. University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Retrieved 23 Feb 2017.
  4. ↑ "Workers Lifting a Steel Construction (Ireland, 1930)". Peter Nahum at the Leicester Galleries.
  5. ↑ "Workers Lifting Steel (1930)". Young & Son Antiques & Fine Art.
  6. ↑ "Mother And Two Children Plaster". FindArtInfo.com.
  7. ↑ Martin, Simon (2016). The Mythic Method: Classicism in British Art 1920-1950. Chichester: Pallant House Gallery. p. 35. ISBN 9781869827892.
  8. ↑ Reports of the Executive Committee and Faculties, April 1934. British School at Rome. Email from the Archivist.
  9. ↑ "Tanith". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951.
  10. ↑ "Tanith". The University of Auckland Library and Learning Services.
  11. ↑ "CORA ANN: THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH". Mutual Art.
  12. ↑ "Motivated to medal". RIBA Journal.
  13. ↑ Email from the National Society of Painters, Sculptors & Printmakers with extracts from their Exhibition Catalogues. May 2017.
  14. ↑ "John Francis Kavanagh sculpture at Auckland City Art Gallery (Lady Jane?)". The University of Auckland Library and Learning Services.
  15. ↑ "Russian Peasant c.1935–9". Tate Britain.
  16. ↑ "Tragedy Head". Public Monuments and Sculpture Association National Recording Project.
  17. ↑ "Fellowship (William Morris)". Public Monuments and Sculpture Association National Recording Project.
  18. ↑ "Thomas Burke – Tomás de Búrca". Statues – Hither & Thither. René & Peter van der Krogt.
  19. ↑ Murphy, Paula (2014). Art and Architecture of Ireland, Volume III, Sculpture 1600–2000. Yale University Press. pp. 189–190.
  20. ↑ Dunn, Michael (2002). New Zealand Sculpture: A History. Auckland University Press. p. 67 – via Google books.
  21. ↑ "Sir Douglas Robb". The University of Auckland Art Collection.
  22. ↑ "John F. Kavanagh: Sculptor Exhibition Catalogue". Auckland Art Gallery.
  23. ↑ Sculptor Painter Dies Aged 80. New Zealand Herald 21 June 1984 sec 1 p 20.
  24. ↑ "The Sculptures, Paintings & Drawings of John Francis Kavanagh". Originally published in Art New Zealand 18 Summer 1981.
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