Lispeth (from a short story by Rudyard Kipling of 1896)
John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1896 - 1897
Materials
Terracotta
Measurements
340 x 230 mm
Order this imageCollection
Bateman's, East Sussex
NT 761578
Summary
Terracotta, Lispeth (from a short story by Rudyard Kipling of 1896) by John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911), signed with initials. Rectangular terracotta plaque entitled 'Lispeth' depicting a young woman looking out over a valley in walnut frame.
Full description
Somehow, the history of British sculpture has overlooked John Lockwood Kipling. [1] His professional background was similar to that of the great neoclassical sculptors John Bacon and John Flaxman, for he spent the start of his career as a designer and modeller for a leading ceramics manufacturer.[2] He followed a clear professional trajectory, from the Potteries School of Art, Stoke-on Trent, to the London studio of the leading architectural sculpture John Birnie Philip. He then joined the team at the South Kensington Museum, making cast architectural decoration for its new buildings. In India he made architectural sculpture, church monuments and busts. What sets Kipling apart from Bacon and Flaxman is his lack of training at the Royal Academy Schools and his absorption instead of the ‘South Kensington’ ethos that lies behind the Arts and Crafts Movement.[3] He did not produce ‘fine art’ sculpture of poetical and historical subjects in the academic tradition for galleries, the goal to which so many of his contemporaries aspired. His most substantial body of work is more than sixty relief sculptures, most made for photographic reproduction as book illustrations. He also modelled medal sand decorated small luxury objects with the dexterity of a goldsmith. Among fellow pioneers of the Arts and Crafts movement, he is unusual in his earl response to the sculptures and casts acquired by the South Kensington Museum and in his enthusiasm for contemporary French sculpture – long before Jules Dalou came to teach in the South Kensington schools in 1871. When he moved to India in 1865 Kipling arrived as an architectural sculptor, keen to teach and also to lead an atelier working on the new buildings in Bombay. There he had a unique position, for unlike the leading art schools in Calcutta and Madras, the Sir J. J. School of Art and Industry had a department dedicated to architecture and to architectural sculpture; it also sought opportunities for its staff and students to contribute to projects managed by the Public Works Department. In Bombay Kipling specialised in relief sculptures, graduating from market fountains and the conservation of public statues to create an imposing memorial for St. Paul’s Cathedral in Calcutta. After ten successful years in Bombay, he moved to Lahore to run the Mayo School of Industrial Art and the Lahore Central Museum. His interest in sculpture developed through his work as a curator. He became fascinated by Gandharan sculpture, which he displayed, catalogued and published. He also had Greco-Buddhist sculptures photographed and cast for museums abroad. Kipling still found time to work as a sculptor himself, however. [1] Kipling is included as a ‘Contemporary Sculptor’ in Leonard Forrer, Biographic [2] [3]
Provenance
Bequeathed by Caroline Starr Balestier, Mrs Rudyard Kipling (1862-1939) with house and contents
Marks and inscriptions
signed with intials
Makers and roles
John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911), sculptor