William Bloye
| William James Bloye | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1890 Cornwall |
| Died | 6 June 1975 Arezzo, Italy |
| Field | Sculpture |
| Influenced by | Eric Gill |
| Awards | |
William James Bloye (1890–6 June 1975) was an English sculptor, active in Birmingham either side of World War II.
He studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art (his training was interrupted by World War I, when he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1915 to 1917[1]), where his pupils included Gordon Herickx, Raymond Mason and Ian Walters. He also studied stone-carving and letter cutting under Eric Gill around 1921.
In 1925 he became a member of the Birmingham Civic Society, having, at about that time, a studio on Golden Hillock Road, Small Heath, Birmingham. As Birmingham's unofficial civic sculptor he worked on virtually all public commissions including libraries, hospitals and the University. He often carved bas-relief plaques, typically for public houses in Birmingham.
During the 1920s, he served on the Technical Committee of the Birmingham Civic Society.[2]
He became a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1930 (the two 1919 bronze plaques on the RBSA are the earliest known work by Bloye in Birmingham), and the Royal British Society of Sculptors: ARBS in 1934, and FRBS in 1938. He also won the latter's Otto Beit Medal. Retiring from the School of Art in 1956 he moved to Solihull. He died in Arezzo, Italy in 1975.
In December 2010, a blue plaque was unveiled at City College, on the site of his former studio.[1]
As of January 2010, Birmingham City Council are working on the restoration Bloye's statue of Pan at Aston Hall. The statue's head is missing, and they have appealed for old photographs, to assist in its reconstruction.[3]
[edit] Works
| Work | Location (Birmingham unless stated) |
Date | Picture | Coordinates (With links to map and aerial photo sources) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze Plaques | Royal Birmingham Society of Artists | 1919 |
|
52°29′06″N 1°54′27″W / 52.484891°N 1.907520°W | Formerly at the Society's old headquarters on New Street[4] |
| Allegories of Art and Industry | over the north-west door of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (The Feeney Gallery extension), Great Charles Street | c 1919 |
|
52°28′52″N 1°54′18″W / 52.4811°N 1.9050°W | Sculpture[4] |
| Call; Front Line and Return | Hall of Memory, Broad Street | 1925 | 52°28′46.02″N 1°54′25.31″W / 52.47945°N 1.9070306°W | Interior bas-relief carvings[4] | |
| Coat of arms and two lion reliefs | Council House, Priory Road, Dudley | 1928 |
|
52°30′44″N 2°05′03″W / 52.5122°N 2.0841°W | façade on Council House (Town Hall)[5] |
| Fox and Hollybush | Acocks Green | 1927-8 |
|
52°26′39″N 1°50′03″W / 52.44408°N 1.83418°W | Bas-relief from former Fox Hollies pub.[4] Now on Lidl supermarket |
| War Memorial: George and the Dragon and lions on flagpoles | Town Hall, Priory Street, Dudley | 1928 |
|
52°30′41″N 2°05′04″W / 52.5115°N 2.0844°W | also four bronze lions (1936) on flagpoles, Town Hall tower[5] |
| Dudley's Past | Town Hall, corner of Priory Road and Priory Street, Dudley | 1935 |
|
52°30′43″N 2°05′02″W / 52.5120°N 2.0839°W | [5] |
| Running stag | Perry Barr Stadium | 1929 |
|
52°31′09″N 1°53′52″W / 52.519192°N 1.897717°W | Stone bas-relief; attributed[4] |
| The Antelope | Sparkhill | c. 1929 |
|
52°27′12″N 1°51′57″W / 52.453362°N 1.865753°W | Bas-relief pub sign. Designed by Bloye, sculpted by his assistant, Tom Wright[4] |
| Allegory of Painting | Art Gallery, Avenue Road, Leamington Spa | 1929 | Life-size female nude in sandstone[6] | ||
| Aesculapius | Chest Clinic, Great Charles Street | 1930 |
|
52°28′54″N 1°54′17″W / 52.4817°N 1.9047°W | [4] |
| Pan | Aston Hall, Birmingham | 1934 | Undergoing restoration.[3] | ||
| Capitals and Heads | Council House, Priory Road, Dudley | 1935 |
|
52°30′44″N 2°05′03″W / 52.5122°N 2.0841°W | [5] |
| Dudley from the Wren's Nest | Council House, Priory Road, Dudley | 1935 | 52°30′44″N 2°05′04″W / 52.5121°N 2.0844°W | Two plaster reliefs, within building - entrance to council chamber and entrance to committee reception room[5] | |
| The Towers | Tower Hill, Great Barr | 1936 |
|
52°32′08″N 1°55′14″W / 52.535574°N 1.92062°W | Bloye was responsible for all the stone carving on this brick building[4] |
| Royal Oak | Lozells | c. 1936 |
|
52°30′10″N 1°54′02″W / 52.502687°N 1.900501°W | Decoration around the doorway of a former pub (now a shop). Formerly brightly painted[4] |
| St. Nicholas Rescuing the Three Children | Was at John Shelton School, Coventry | 1936 | Lost after the school was demolished in 1999[6] | ||
| Bear and Staff | The Bear Inn, Stratford Road, Sparkhill | c. 1937 |
|
52°26′54″N 1°51′40″W / 52.448235°N 1.861201°W | Bas-relief pub sign[4] |
| Boar's Head | Perry Barr | c. 1938 |
|
52°31′45″N 1°53′44″W / 52.529153°N 1.895465°W | Painted wood pub sign comprising a model boar's head, on a pole.[4] Taken from the arms of the Gough-Calthorpe family of nearby Perry Hall. |
| Doorway | Yardley Library, Yardley | 1938 |
|
52°27′40″N 1°48′58″W / 52.461°N 1.816°W | |
| Apollo fountain | Coronation Gardens, Ednam Road, Dudley | 1939 |
|
52°30′46″N 2°05′00″W / 52.51277°N 2.08337°W | sculpture on top of fountain[5] |
| Queen Victoria | Victoria Square | 1951 |
|
52°28′47″N 1°54′11″W / 52.479628°N 1.902998°W | Bronze statue, recast from a marble statue by Thomas Brock[4]/ |
| Josiah Mason | Now at the junction of Chester Road & Orphanage Road in Erdington | 1952 |
|
52°31′54″N 1°49′30″W / 52.531556°N 1.825128°W | Bronze bust, recast from a marble statue by Francis G. Williamson of 1885, which stood opposite Mason Science College in Edmund Street[4] |
| Bas-relief | Mechanical Engineering Building at the University of Birmingham | 1954 |
|
52°26′57″N 1°56′06″W / 52.44928°N 1.93509°W | [4] |
| Boulton, Watt and Murdoch | Broad Street | 1956 |
|
52°28′43″N 1°54′30″W / 52.4786°N 1.9084°W | [4] |
| John Skirrow Wright | Birmingham Council House | 1956 |
|
52°28′48″N 1°54′10″W / 52.480082°N 1.902760°W | Bust[4] |
| St. Alphege | St. Alphege CofE school, New Road, Solihull | 1959 | Restored in 1994[6] | ||
| Mermaid fountain | University of Birmingham Guild of Students | 1960 |
|
52°26′57″N 1°55′38″W / 52.44927°N 1.927225°W | Bronze[4] |
| Mermaid | University of Birmingham Guild of Students | 1960 |
|
52°26′58″N 1°55′39″W / 52.44951°N 1.92741°W | Clipsham stone sculpture, on wall[4] |
| Decoration | The Mermaid (public house), Sparkhill | c. 1960 |
|
52°27′25″N 1°52′08″W / 52.456861°N 1.868761°W | (Bas-relief pub sign attributed to Alan Bridgewater[4]) |
| Coat of Arms | Dental Hospital | c. 1973 |
|
52°29′09″N 1°53′42″W / 52.485875°N 1.895101°W | Fibreglass[4] |
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Life of Birmingham sculptor William Bloye commemorated". City College. 2010-12. http://www.citycol.ac.uk/news/news_details.asp?id=271. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
- ^ "Ornamental Fountain". National Recording Project. Public Monument and Sculpture Association. http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/BM/WMbiBIxx031.htm. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ a b "The mystery of the headless statue". Birmingham Newsroom. Birmingham City Council. 2011-01-17. http://birminghamnewsroom.com/?p=15389. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Noszlopy, George T. (1998). Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield. Public Scupture of Britain. 2. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0853236828.
- ^ a b c d e f Noszlopy, George T. (2005). Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country. Public Scupture of Britain. 9. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-0853239994. http://books.google.com/books?id=RbfVkHMTC0cC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- ^ a b c Noszlopy, George T. (2003). Public Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. Public Scupture of Britain. 6. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0853238472.
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