Nationality English Known for Sculpture | Name Alfred Turner Role Sculptor | |
Born 1874 London, England Died 1940, London, United Kingdom Education City and Guilds of London Art School, Royal Academy of Arts | ||
Alfred Turner (28 May 1874 – 18 March 1940) was an English sculptor in the early 20th century. Among other institutions, Turner studied at the Royal Academy, where he exhibited and was a member. He was also a member and fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
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His sculptural works included statues, reliefs and war memorials. Some of his notable works included several statues of Queen Victoria, the Fishergirl and Fisherman at Fishmonger's Hall in London and war memorials in England, Wales and the Channel Islands. His daughter was also a distinguished sculptor.
Personal life
Turner was born on 28 May 1874, the son of sculptor C.E. Halsey-Turner. In 1899 he married Charlotte Ann Gavin and they had two daughters. One daughter, Winifred, became a distinguished sculptress. He died in London on 18 March 1940.
He first studied at, what was then called, the South London Technical Art School in Lambeth at a time when William Silver Frith was the modelling master. He then studied at Royal Academy Schools, having enrolled in 1895. He was there for three years during which time he was awarded in 1897 both the Gold Medal and Travelling Scholarship, worth £200. He studied for a period on the Continent and worked as an assistant in the studio of Harry Bates.
Career
Turner taught sculpture at the London County Council (LCC) Central School of Arts and Crafts in Southampton Row, Holborn in 1907.{
He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1898 to 1937, became an Associate in 1922 and a full member in 1931. Turner was one of the early members of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and was a Fellow of that Society from 1923 until 1940.
In 1988 the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford held an exhibition of the works of Alfred Turner and his daughter Winifred.
Fishmonger's Hall
In 1901 he exhibited a marble statue entitled Fisher girl; for a niche at the Royal Academy, and in 1902 this work, with its companion piece, Fisherman, was subsequently placed in the staircase niches of Fishmonger's Hall in London. Turner was given the commission to sculpt the two figures in 1899 when the hall was being redecorated. He received the commission based on the recommendation of William Silver Frith and was paid around 600 guineas for each statue.
Statue of Queen Victoria
After the success of "Fishergirl", Turner secured commissions for three public monuments in bronze of Queen Victoria who died on 22 January 1901.
One was for Delhi and was unveiled by the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab on 26 December 1902. Turner showed a bronze statuette of this work at the Royal Academy in 1903. Sadly the crown and the small statuettes representing "Justice" and "Peace", which were positioned on either side of the Queen's head were subsequently removed by vandals in 1905 when the statue was in India. Today this statue is to be found at the College of Art, Tilak Marg, in Delhi.
Another copy of the Queen Victoria statue was made for Tynemouth in north east England.
The third statue was for Sheffield, a complex, greater than life-sized composition that figures of a mother and her children with a Sheffield workman. It was originally erected in 1905 at Fargate, Sheffield but may now be found in Sheffield's Endcliffe Park. The mother and workman are depicted in Maternity and Labour, both shown at The Royal Academy in 1904. The statue has reliefs representing Courage, in the form of a Crusader, with Justice and Truth. Another includes images of the Queen and St George.
Turner was praised for his work. The statues were likened to Rodin's "Le Penseur" and the works of George Frederick Watts. Additionally it was stated that "Maternity is the best work by an outsider that the Academy has housed for many a year".