JELLICOE AND BEATTY

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1939, Page 9

JELLICOE AND BEATTY

TRAFALGAR SQUARE .MEMORIAL. LONDON, August 21. It is still hoped that the memorial fountains in Trafalgar Square to E’.ul Jellicoe and Earl Beatty will be ready for unveiling in October. Sir Edwin Lutyens is responsible for the general design of the project. fir. Charles Wheeler, A.R.A., is responsible for the sculpture of the Jellicoe fountain, while Mr. W. McMillan, R.A., has the sculpture commission for the [Beatty fountain. | It is interesting to read in the j“Sunday Times” that the scheme was • the idea of the- late- Sir Philip Sassoon, who carried it through despite some opposition by the Royal Fine

Art Commission. This correspondent gives the accompanying interesting information: “The fountains will have, besides! the figures of the admirals, backgioumis of fantastic sea pieces, including dolphins to spout water. Jellicoe and Beatty will be represented by busts about one-third larger than lifesize. The sculptors had to work from pe traits, which tended to lengthen the!' tasks. Relatives of the admirals were also closely associated with the work as it progressed. Neither figtwe will be covered.. Naval and military opinion usually prefers a covered head, and to the general pubI lie Beatty will seem an unfamiliar figure without his famous tilted cap. Ent

artists will tell you that any headdress militates against reproduction of the face. “If one excepts Epstein. whose work is in a. category of its own, there is probably no English sculptor in the post-war years who has attracted public attention more consistently than Mr. Wheeler. The numerous examples of his art which ornament the new Bank of England are typical of the important commissions he has carried out. His wife is also a talented sculptor, and their young son, when six months old, served as a model for Mr. Wheeler’s ‘lnfant Christ.’ This bust, and the statue ‘Spring,’ were acquired under the terms of the- Chantrey Bequest for the nation.

“Charles Wheeler’s most remarkable model was undoubtedly Aircraftsriian Shaw, who, disdaining a seat, stood immovable in the studio for five hours, in an attitude suggestive of deep concentration, while the sculptor completed his task.”