Forthcoming
David Evans (1893 - 1959)
Size:
Height – 25.5cm x Width – 5.5cm
David Evans studied at the Royal Academy, where he was instructed by Francis Derwent Wood. In 1922, he won the Landseer Prize and later won the Prix de Rome scholarship, and studied at the British School at Rome.
Standing Figure in a Bathing Suit dates to his time at the School, and closely resembles a figure he created as a fountain for the School (image below).
His works from the 1920’s are mainly highly stylised religious and mythological themes. A group entitled ‘Labour’, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1929, now in the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, showing two quarrymen moving blocks of stone, strikes a harsher and more realistic note.
Evans became the sculptor in residence at the Cranbrook Foundation, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1929. During his stay in the United States, he executed some significant work for public buildings in New York. The locations there included Rockefeller Center, Radio City, Brooklyn Post Office, a bank on Wall Street, St Thomas’s Church on Fifth Avenue and a memorial to ‘Hicks’, an early member of the American Society for the Protection of Animals. Evans also created ‘Christ in Prayer’ for the doorway to Christchurch, Cranbrook, Michigan considered by himself and others one of the most important commissions of his career.
Profile view of ‘Standing Figure in Bathing Costume’.
The Fountain created by David Evans at the British School at Rome.
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Manchester-born sculptor who attended the Manchester School of Art, and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. After active service in the World War I, he resumed his studies at the Royal Academy, where he was instructed by Francis Derwent Wood. In 1922, he won the Landseer Prize and later went to work in the British School at Rome. He had been exhibiting at the Royal Academy since 1921. His works from the 1920’s are mainly highly stylised religious and mythological themes. A group entitled Labour, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1929, now in the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, showing two quarrymen moving blocks of stone, strikes a harsher and more realistic note.
Evans became the sculptor in residence at the Cranbrook Foundation, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1929. During his stay in the United States, he executed some significant work for public buildings in New York. The locations there included Rockefeller Center, Radio City, Brooklyn Post Office, a bank on Wall Street, St Thomas’s Church on Fifth Avenue and a memorial to ‘Hicks’, an early member of the American Society for the Protection of Animals. Evans also created ‘Christ in Prayer’ for the doorway to Christchurch, Cranbrook, Michigan considered by himself and others one of the most important commissions of his career. His traditional craftsman-like skills recommended him for some post-war reconstruction work, such as the replacement figures of Gog and Magog for the Guildhall, and the restoration of the wooden frieze of St. James’s Piccadilly. He was also a member of the Art Workers’ Guild and the Royal Society of British Sculptors. He died in a hospital in St. Albans, Hertfordhsire.
With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk