SMM+S

jimmcginlay · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:42 pm Post subject: Benno Schotz (1891 - 1984)

The following is a very rough synopsis of the life and works of Benno Schotz. Schotz was born in 1891 in Estonia, emigrating to Glasgow in 1912 at the age of 21. While studying as an engineer he began to attend night classes in modelling at Glasgow School of Art. Benno Schotz came to be one of Scotland’s foremost portrait sculptors of the 20th century. He also executed thematic works and In later life started producing pen and ink drawings, and sculptures of a more visionary kind, abstract and semi-abstract, derived from trees, rocks and stones.

Schotz used to refer to his ‘father’ Rodin and his ‘elder brother’ Epstein.

Schotz's 'Rob Roy sculpture, Stirling:

SYNOPSIS
1891 Born 28th August at Arensburg, an island off Oesel in the Baltic. Born of Jewish parents his father wa a watchmaker. The family later moved to Parnu.

1911 Moved to Darmstadt, Germany to study engineering.

1912 Moved to Glasgow to join brother studying engineering at the Royal Technical College (now Strathclyde University).

1913 Started attending evening classes in modelling at Glasgow High School.

1914 Achieved Diploma and Associateship in Engineering. Enrolled in evening classes at Glasgow School of Art. Began employment at John Brown Engineering at Clydebank working in Drawing Office.

1917 Awarded Evening School silver medal for excellence in modelling. Set up a studio in 65 West Regent Street. Began exhibiting at Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts.

1918 Began exhibiting at RSA. Plaster ‘Robert Sivell’

1920 Elected President of the Society of Painters and Sculptors, and member of the Glasgow Art Club. Plaster ‘John Lamont’ / Bronze ‘Eastern Head’, ‘Mask of a Man’

1921 Bronze ‘Lily’

1923 Left John Browns to begin full time career as sculptor. Began exhibiting at RA. First architectural work, carved pediment over doors of Pettigrew and Stephens in Bath Street, Glasgow. Bronze, ‘Pittendrigh MacGillivray’ / Silver ‘Niobe’

1924 Bronze ‘James McBey’, ‘Hugh Walpole’, ‘The First Lord Weir’

1925 Bronze ‘Ghetto Jew’, ‘Reverie’

1926 Moved studio to 12 Ruskin Terrace. Bronze ‘Reflection’ / Mahogony ‘The Exile’ / Silver guilt ‘Badge of Office of the President of the R.I.A.S.

1927 Bronze ‘Alexander Reid’

1928 Bronze ‘T.J. Honeyman’, ‘Sir James L. Caw’, ‘Daybreak’, ‘Girl in Bath’

1929 Bronze ‘Boy-Athlete’, ‘Girl Undressing’, ‘Woman resting’, ‘Girl with Towel’

1930 Took British citizenship. Bronze ‘Cherna – 2 Days Old’

1931 Moved studio to 207 West Campbell Street.

1932 Oak ‘Malka’

1933 Bronze ‘Anna May Wong’

1934 Elected ARSA. Bronze ‘Angus Asleep’

1935 Bronze ‘Hugh McAlevey’, ‘Deborah’ / Plaster ‘Smone’

1936 Bronze ‘William Boyd’

1937 Elected RSA. Bronze ‘Cherna Seven Years Old’ / Stone ‘Mother and Son’

1938 First ecclesiastical commission ‘The Four Evangelists’ for Roman Catholic Church at Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. Invited to become Head of Sculpture and Ceramics Department of the Glasgow School of Art. Stone ‘The Sunworshipper’ / Hoptonwood stone ‘ The Call’

1939 Organized exhibition of ‘Twentieth Century German Art’ in MacLellan Galleries, Glasgow. Bronze ‘Keir Hardie’ / Red sandstone ‘Thank Offering’

1940 Stone carving ‘Crouching Nude’

1942 Organized first Allied International Jewish Art Exhibition at Jewish Institute, Glasgow.

1943 Bronze ‘Sir J. Donald Pollock’ / Wood carving ‘The Lament’

1944 Bronze ‘Ellis Isaacs’ / Wood ‘Unto the Hills’

1945 Bronz ‘Sheila’, ‘Cherna’

1947 Life size group for entrance hall of ‘Enterprise Scotland’ exhibition, Edinburgh. Bronze ‘Berto Pasuka’, ‘Sir John Richmond’

1948 Invited to exhibit ‘Thank-Offering in first Open Air Exhibition at Battersea Park, London. Lignum vitae ‘Kunle’

1949 Bronze ‘Duncan MaCrae’ / Plaster maquette ‘St. Matthew’ / Terra cotta ‘The Iron Knight’

1950 Responsible for organizing exhibition of modern Italian sculptor at summer RSA Exhibition. Bronze ‘Zilda’, ‘Professor Carl Browning’, ‘Lord Boyd Orr’ / Plaster ‘Fred Nettler’ / Stone ‘Seated Figure’

1951 Stone ‘Moses – The Sculptor’

1952 Bronze ‘Alex King’, ‘Jaqueline and Madeleine Coia’

1953 Bronze ‘Paul and Esta Henry’, James Bridie’, ‘Hugh MacDiarmid’ / Terracotta ‘Ann’, ‘Laurence K. Mackenzie’, ‘Milly’, ‘Self-Portrait’ / Cement ‘Tree Form’ / Plastic metal ‘Bather’

1954 Bronze ‘Sholem Asch’, ‘Adam and Eve’, ‘The Divers’ / Cement ‘Reclining Nude with Child’

1955 Bronze ‘The Dancers’ / Cement ‘The Voice’

1956 Elected a corresponding Memer of the National Sculpture Society of New York. Terracotta ‘Virginia’

1957 Bronze ‘The Rt. Hon. Walter Elliot’ / Plaster statuette ‘Keir Hardie’ / Terracotta ‘Alan Fletcher’ / Maquette plastic metal ‘Man with Python’

1958 Major commission from St. Charles’s RC Church for large set of Terracotta Stations of the Cross, The Altar Cross, Lamb in Glory and Sanctuary Lamp, suspended from life size Angel in Bronze (completed 1961). Bronze ‘Ex Terra’ / Maquette metal ‘High Altar Cross’

1959 Invited to exhibit in International Art Exhibition, Moscow (designed and exhibited large group ‘Earthbound’). Bronze ‘Professor William J. Smith’ / Terracotta ‘Ezra Danin’ / Plastic metal ‘Earthbound’

1960 Retired from Glasgow School of Art in December. Bronze ‘Phoenix’ / Iron, plastic metal and bronze ‘Our Lady’s Altar Piece’

1961 One man exhibition tours Scotland (1961-62). Bronze maquette ‘Ezekiel’s Vision’, Scarred Victory’ / Silver ‘The Window’ / Plastic metal ‘Ezekiel’s Vision’, ‘Saraband’, ‘Jeunesse’, ‘Scarred Victory’ / Cold metal casting ‘’Spring Lyric’

1962 Received commission for Group for town centre, Glenrothes (completed 1965). Appointed Queen’s sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland. Bronze ‘Splintered Victory’, ‘The Psalmist’ / Terracotta ‘Naiad – Ladyburn’, ‘Louise’
The Psalmist, Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow:

1963 Brone ‘Ben Gurion’, ‘Cross for Procession or Altar’ / Plastic metal ‘Alice and the red Queen’

1964 Bronze ‘Life Spiral’

1965 Bronze ‘Major Duncan Mccaig’, ‘Standing Nude’, ‘The Acrobats’ / Plastilina ‘Stations of the Cross’

1966 Bronze ‘Mask of a Poet’, ‘Requiem’ / Plastic metal ‘Earthbound III’

1967 Bronze ‘Earthbound III’ / Terracotta ‘Sarai’

1968 Bronze ‘Levi Eshkol’, ‘Bust of John Cairney’, ‘Ronald Stevenson’, The Goalkeeper’, ‘The captive’, ‘Ex Terra II’, ‘Genesis’, ‘Three-Quarter Standing Figure’, ‘The Generations’, ‘Through the Window’, ‘Cricifix’ / Terracotta ‘Zalman Shazar’

1969 Received Honorary degree of LL.D. from Strathcyde University. Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. Bronze ‘Sir Hugh Wilson’, ‘J.A. Coia’, ‘Michaelangelo’, ‘Pieta-Omega’

1970 Bronze ‘Sir William MacTagart’, ‘Golda Meir’, ‘Ex Terra II’

Died 1984

Bibliography:
Benno Schotz, Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue, Introduction by Joseph Herman, The Scottish Arts Council, 1971.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benno_Schotz

http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/building/gallery.cfm?venueid=4&fID=1&gID=15&id=2#image

http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=2682

http://www.exploreart.co.uk/collection_themes_people_portraits.asp?ArtistID=69&loadType=2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30566474@N06/3324059664/