Imprisoned By Soviet

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1034, 26 July 1930, Page 9

Imprisoned By Soviet

STORY OF WOMAN SCULPTOR A Modeller of Celebrities FAMOUS as a sculptor in America and Europe, the guest of kings and prime ministers and at one time a Bolsheviks’ prisoner, Mrs. Russell Jackson, wife of Captain H. R. Jackson, of the steamer City of Khartoum, is at present in Auckland. In an interview with THE SUN, Mrs. Jackson, who is visiting Auckland with her husband, recounted the various commissions she had executed for famous people in all parts of the world. Among the celebrities who have been sculptured by this versatile woman are the King of Siam, the Marquess of Okama, General Botha, and President Hoover.

“My aptitude for sculpture exhibited itself at an early age,” 3aid Mrs. Jackson, “and I can remember quite plainly how, as a child, I used to fashion fig ures out of bread —mostly my school lunch. In spite of this, my mother wished to make me a musician, and it was only after I had studied for 12 years, and still failed to recognise ‘God, Save the King,’ when it was played that she gave me up as hopeless and let me pursue my natural bent.” # Although Mrs. Jackson was born in England, her people emigrated to Australia early in her life, and it was there that she received her education Her sister was destined to be the artist, and she the musician, but each, by a strange twist of fate, was remarkably influenced by the other’s Muse. Fortunately the parents, realising their mistake, reversed this position. At the age of seventeen Mrs. Jackson, who was to win fame as Kitty Boyes, had acquired a considerable reputation in local circles as a sculptor, with the result that she was engaged by the Sydney “Bulletin.” Her work, consisting of modelling in bronze, marble and plasticine, was exclusive to that paper. However, her gifts demanded wider fields for expression, and at the age of 22 she left for the Old Land. Her ability did not pass unrecognised for long, and soon her work be came a fashion in art circles. Letters of introduction enabled her to meet such prominent people as Mr. Llo>d George and Mr. Winston Churchill Mr. Lloyd George was so interested that he invited her to stay at his country house for a week, during which time she sculpt the statesman and members of his family. The reproductions of her bust of Lloyd George appeared in dozens of English pape-s. She was subsequently employed to model President Hoover, Billy Hughes, the Australian politician, the King of Siam, and the Marquess of Okama. AMAZING ADVENTURES Incidentally, Mrs. Jackson has had an amazing series of adventures in her

life. They began w-hen she crossed to Japan to meet her husband, Captain Jackson, who had left her in charge of transport. She missed her husband through being shipwrecked on the way across and before eventually meeting him again she was stranded in Russia, which she read ed as a stowaway on one of the tramp steamers. The Russian revolutio was at its height when she landed and she was immediately arrested by the Bolshevik authorities and placed under custody. According to Mrs. Jackson she was

not ill-treated when first arrested: in fact, conditions were quite the reverse. “I was first of all placed in what is termed a retainer’s house with other prisoners, many of whom were members of the dispossessed Russian nobility. We were treated with every consideration —our clothes were beautiful, the food expensive, while our

custodians were models of politeness," sjjid Mrs. Jackson, “i later discovered that this was the Bolshevik custom until one was proved guilty.” “A fortnight later,’’ she continued, "1 was brought before a Russian tribune. As I had no passport or other means of vindicating my presence there as a foreigner, I was found guilty. I was placed in a wide paddock with prisoners of all descriptions and fed on black bread and vodka.” Mrs. Jackson was afterward deported by the Bolsheviks. She then struck Singapore in revolt, and finally found herself in Rhodesia after a trek through Portuguese West Africa. One of her favourite figures for sculpture is the Indian agitator Gandhi. She has depicted his personality with extraordinary realism. The mystic smile, the burning eyes of the fanatic, and the strangeness of his whole personality are almost uncanny. If is the low-born, yet highlyeducated, Hindu, to the life. t “As a rule,” remarked Mrs. Jackson, “I take two days to model a handsome person and 12 hours for a face with character. A person with great character is really ideal to model. There are some faces, although very few, which I am unable to depict —these I think must be soulless.” Mrs. Jackson comes from a gifted family. Her elder sister is an accomplished musician, and when only 15 published a book of bird songs. One of her brothers-—she has two—designed a building when only 12 and his plans were followed. Mrs. Jackson eventually intends to settle in America and continue her life w r ork.