'Japanese Actor'
Oliffe Richmond (Old Beach, Tasmania 1919 - London 1977)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1960 - 1969
Materials
Bronze
Measurements
559 x 210 x 160 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
The Homewood, Surrey
NT 864539
Summary
Bronze, 'Japanese Actor', by Oliffe Richmond (Old Beach, Tasmania 1919 - London 1977), 1960s.
Full description
In a 1995 interview with Malcolm Billings, Patrick Gwynne recalled the moment he first encountered the present bronze, 'Japanese Actor', in a gallery in London: Gwynne: 'This is the bronze piece which I saw in a show, in the Lefevre Gallery I think it was'. Billings: And you have it on a small black table alongside your desk. Gwynne: It's been in other places, but I like it here, [...] it's called the Japanese Actor [...] the Japanese 'Noh Actor' [...] and I liked it enormously, it was very well reviewed in the show too [...]' (Patrick Gywnne interviewed by Malcolm Billings, National Trust Oral History Archive, recorded at The Homewood, Esher, Surrey, UK, 16 June 1995.) Oliffe Richmond studied at Hobart Technical College before working under the stonemason Amos Vimpany. After war service, he resumed artistic training at the East Sydney Technical College and in 1948 was awarded the New South Wales travelling scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art, London. He worked as an assistant to Henry Moore between 1949 and 1951 and succeeded Moore as a tutor of sculpture at Chelsea School of Art. Richmond's work featured in major international group exhibitions from the mid 1950s (for example 'New Sculptors', ICA, London 1955; Arts Council Travelling Exhibition 1957-8; 'British Sculpture in the Sixties, Tate Gallery, London 1965; see Backhouse 1988 pp. 176-8 for an exhibition history), his first solo shows in Britain were held at the Molton Gallery, London, in 1962 and the Hamilton Galleries, London, in 1965. Notable bronzes include Twisting Man (Arts Council, AC 558), Sentinel (Art Gallery NSW, SA2.1967) and Lizard Man (Art Gallery NSW, 399.1996). An important large scale bronze - Striding Man - was commissioned in 1959 by the London County Council's Patronage of the Arts Scheme and was originally mounted in 1962 at the William Penn School, Dulwich (now the Charter School). In their catalogue entry for Striding Man, the Heritage of London Trust describe that statue as a 'tall, stooping figure that displays different qualities from different angles, with its claw-like feet, knotted and elongated legs, hunched back and heavy burden. The tension of movement caught in statis recalled Rodin's headless 'L'Homme qui Marche', while the battered, vulnerable form and striated surface is reminiscent of the work of Giacometti'. Richmond's figural sculpture of the 1950s evokes man as 'anxious and armoured against a hostile environment' - a response no doubt to the demoralising, dehumanising effects of the war (Sturgeon 1978, p. 180). Gwynne also purchased Richmond's Big Stalking Figure, 1963 (NT 864541), a large outdoor sculpture in ciment fondu, from a show mounted at Blenheim Palace. For works including drawings and prints by Richmond in the public domain see Tate and Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Provenance
Acquired by Patrick Gwynne possibly from the Lefevre Gallery, London.
Makers and roles
Oliffe Richmond (Old Beach, Tasmania 1919 - London 1977), sculptor
References
Sturgeon 1978: Graeme Sturgeon, The Development of Australian Sculpture, 1788-1975, London 1978 Backhouse 1988: Sue Backhouse, Tasmanian Artists of the twentieth century: painters, sculptors, printmakers and photographers 1900-1985, Hobart 1988