John Bridgeman (sculptor)

Arthur John "Bridge" Bridgeman ( born February 2, 1916 in Felixstowe, Suffolk, † 29 December 2004) was an English sculptor.

Life

John Bridgeman studied at the age of 14 years at the Colchester Arts Academy and then at Frank Dobson at the Royal Academy of Arts ( Royal Academy of Arts). In this period he created images of gouache and pastel colors with English landscapes in a romantic style. After the war him a scholarship to the British School in Rome was offered, but he preferred to work with Misha Black and then on the Dome of Discovery for the Festival of Britain. After an appointment as Director of the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Carlisle he broke from William Bloye as Director of the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Birmingham, where he worked until his retirement in 1981.

Works

His work was popular, he was both private and urban patrons. He wore after the war to redesign of Birmingham at iconic through the creation of a number of pieces of public art. He also designed play sculptures for children in the new public buildings that were built - an idea with which he had his time in the fifties ahead. He constantly experimented with new materials, so he created from cement composition mother and baby for the maternity hospital in Birmingham and the recently restored over - life-size bronze group " compassion " for the Hospital Dudley Road, Birmingham These are typical examples of his wide range of creative skills. The Mater Dolorosa in the Lady Chapel at the time was rebuilt Coventry Cathedral is possibly the most significant of his religious works. His philosophy of art and his interest in methods and materials he presents in the book Clay Models and Stone Carving, which he wrote in 1974 together with his wife, the author and journalist Irene Dancyger. Towards the end of his life he focused on the creation of smaller female sculptures in which he tried to be one of the last great practitioners of the art of modeling in the lost wax process.