JAMES WHITE, SCULPTOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2801, 20 November 1907, Page 86

JAMES WHITE, SCULPTOR.

James White, of Australia, sculptor, de» signer, and worker in marble and metal, was born in Edinburgh. He brought to as in the year 1888 a sterling native talent, shaped by a thorough training, established in^good, hard Scottish grit. His carlv years werepassed between. Edinburgh and London. He studied at Soutn Kensington, and at the age of 18 found employment in the making of anatnmica.l models for Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh. Pot-boilers these, of course, and chiefly valuable for the necessarily close and pracv tical study of anatomy their construction involved. They were followed by «. batrelief of John Hunter, for the Edinburgh University. To the young artist, at that date, the new world seemed to open out m more promising and kindly fashion than the old ;i and therefore to this, our segment of tho new world, he came. As most otheri who travel on their own personalities, and not on letters of recommendation, he found things harsh and rude at the «t*rt. Bufc faoing them with m. good heart, taking up whatever came to his hand, and doing if? with his might, he entered the thin edg» of the wedge which clove the way to * fairly large sphere o! artistic usefulness and! success.

James White recognised one very important fact afte.r experience of Australian conditions. It was. that achievement in & large and desirable way was only practical through the complementing- of designing capacity with all-round oonttructive abilitr. He set about, therefore, to make himself! master of the moulding trade (already b« could shape his ideal with his own handb out of clay or marble), and, especially in connection with moulding and castincv made a practical study of the "eire perdue" procesß. This method of reproducing any model lit any metal has been recovered in recenft years from the monstrous wreckage of medievalism, and adopted by most modern sculptors. It has been successfully used in many of th« works having; James White's signature throughout this continent. Amongrt these a-re th© So/diera Monument in Perth, and the statues of tho Rt. Hon. William Bed© Dalley and Sir John Robertson, in Sydney. The Ballarat Equestrian Group, 21ft 6in high, is ia electrolytic bronze, and the heroic figure on the Royal Exchange, Sydney, in copper repousse. Amongit completed marbles are the fine monument to M'Douall Stuart, explorer, in Adelaide, and the Queen* Statue, Bendigo. . The work by which the full capacity of the artist must *>c finally judged 'a the Victoria Memorial, standing on that fair knoll between the flower-braided avenue* on the Yarra. banks and Government House, Melbourne. It is by far the most ambitious work of t.he sort yef; attempted in our Commonwealth.

The site is admirably chosen. To form a, fair estimate of this work it is necessary to walk about, to look well, to ponder <leeoly on the whole, to look curiously at the excellencies of the elaborations, to note tha perfect harmony in colour and in form of pedestal, plinthj columns, entablatures, and crowningr figure, the folds of whose marble draping sweep down on to the supporting dome. Thus contemplated, it may possiblr be rerojrised as a great votlc, worthy of the epoch and the personality it celebrate*, the site it occupies, and the most marvellous city of the century, whose bounty supplied the necessary means. The total height of the monument from base to crown is 35ft, the cost £7600. One point in connection with this monument, deemed by the sculptor of his;h importance, is the very free use he has been able to make of Australian granite and marble. The Caloola (N.S.W.) marble, ne asserts, compares more than favourably with that of Ca'rrana, used in the statu© and the colossal figures in the niches of the pedestal. An analysis of the local itona also assures him of ita durability. the> constituents being mainly carbonate of magnesia and carbonate of lime in almost equal quantities. One illustration shows th« artist in his workshop, which has none of the "fixings" characteristic of the elaborate studio. Evidences of work, of oraf*, ara all around; with clay for the modelling-, bronze for the casting and the fur.-iace, in whioh the metal to take shape as our loved and lost old friend, PltzGibbon, will fchortlv be molten and glowing. QuarU-king Lan«ell will follow PitEGibbon; and, after that, just as much more as tho appreciative bounty Of tfce Cbmmonirfalfi m»y pl«o« «x comm'i-ion.— The Lone Hjw.d.

— The heaviest man. in Wales, a publican, lias died at Ystradmynach. He Was four feet acroee the shoulders, ajMl Weighed 26 stone.