SMM+S

Adam Brown · Last edited by Adam Brown on Mon May 30, 2011 9:41 am; edited 2 times in total

Location: Cowdray Hall, corner of Schoolhill and Blackfriars Street
Google Maps Street View

I know almost nothing about sculpture but even I know that this lion is something special. It was designed by William McMillan and carved by masons James Philip and George Cooper out of granite in 1925 for the centre piece of the outside wall of the war memorial extension to the Cowdray Hall.

Aberdeen City Council collections have a photograph of the masons at work on this lion in their workshop. In it they have a full size model of McMillan’s design to work with (in what looks like clay). Philip is taking measurements of the model’s head and Cooper is using a pneumatic chisel on the lion’s back.

Philip also carved the statue of Edward VII on Union Street and another image shows him using a hand chisel on that statue so I would imagine the finishing touches on the lion would also have been done in the same way.

Philip was a mason for Arthur Taylor’s company and according to a booklet ‘Aberdeen’s Granite Trail: A guide to Aberdeen’s granite industry’ he was “perhaps the best carver ever employed in the city’s stone trade”

You can see why he is considered the best when you look at the details along the lion’s body. The head draws the eye but take some time to look over the rest of the sculpture.

Compare this to one of the lions outside Glasgow City Chambers. A cracking piece of sculpture but bit of a poor relation to Aberdeen’s big cat.

_________________
Scottish War Memorials Project
Scottish War Graves Project

Adam Brown · Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 1:32 pm Post subject:

From

http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/web/files/LocalHistory/sculpture_trail_leaflet.pdf

The rugged granite lion was designed by an Aberdeen sculptor, William Macmillan RA (1877-1927) and the work carried out by Arthur Taylor, using silver - grey granite from Kemnay, which is lighter in colour than the granite quarried from Rubislaw. The lead mason was James Philip assisted by George Cooper. Arthur Taylor's granite yard
was in Jute Street and it was from this yard that James Philip produced works of notable skill and artistic merit including work for the Titanic memorial in Liverpool and Inverurie war memorial, as well as the statue of Edward VII in Aberdeen.
The sculpture was unveiled on 29th September 1925 when King George V opened the new Cowdray Hall and Art Museum. William Macmillan is also recognised for designing the World War I Victory Medal.
_________________
Scottish War Memorials Project
Scottish War Graves Project