Ap^ NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY EVANSTON ILLINOIS I ' ^ r» \ ^ ^ il ' irUM George Tinwortli. A RECORD OF HJS 14 OR/C 18 8 7 ©owCfovi Bonbon^ George Tinworth. A RECORD OF HIS WORK. — 1887 — ®oufton anb Bonbon+ ^+(6+ lokdon : Printed by F. H. Doulton & Co., 1a, BeTls Marks, St. Mary Axe, E.G. pEORGE IN WORTH. .*—' ** " Full of fire and zealous faculty breaking its way through all con¬ ventionalism to such truth as it can conceive."—(Ruskin.) " He is the most creative religious sculptor of the day, the most vivid in conception, the most fertile in invention, the most individual."—(Prof. A. H. Church.) "This sculptor is a true man of his time. It is indeed a rare spectacle to see a manifestation of artistic energy so distinctly ^ and • vigorously individual."—(The Architect, 28M 1883.) " His works, the greater and the less alike, are quick with human life and character, his conceptions are forcible, his invention is unfailing, and his impulse is always individual and sincere. In the pictorial telling of a story he has few rivals."—(Cosmo Monkhouse.) " We have seen nothing of modern times that so vividly reminds us ■of the work of the famous Nuremberg artificers of the first half of the sixteenth century. There is the same naivete, the same vivid realization of incidents, the same fervent, yet perfectly Protestant faith, seeking no sym¬ bolism beyond that suggested by the sacred record, but profuse of invention within the lines of the New Testament text, familiar but never irreverent, and entering heart and soul into the spirit of the subject, as it presents itself to a simple, devout, and thoroughly earnest mind."—(Tom Taylor, in •"The Times," \st July, 1874.) If ,i|, ¥ii:vw have become a distinguished artist without ceasing to be an fCTMK artisan is a proud att^nment indeed. Twenty-iive years ago, or less, the thing would hardly have been possible; and its {M-actkability at the present time is honourable to the age, not less than to the man, for it ^ows a return to nobler ideas of labour than those which universally obtained during the longer part of the nine¬ teenth century/* The man of whom this was written is George Tinworlh; and it is of his lowly origin, his early struggles, his adoption of an art-career, and of his ultimate recognition as the most interesting figiu-e in the worl<^of modern art, that we desire to speak somewhat briefly in this pamphlet. It will be only fair to state that for a. large part of what follows we are indebted to the' introduction by Mr. Edmund W. Gosse to the catali^fue df Mr. Tinworth's works exhibited in London in the spring of 18S3. George Tinworth was born on the 5th of November, 1843, South London. He was the child of parents from whom, at first sight, nothing in the way of artistic proclivity could be expected. His father Was a master wheelwright in a very small way of business. Mrs. Tinworlh was a woman of a type peculiarly English; she was what is called a narrow Dissenter, a member of one of the smaller noncon¬ formist sects, among which the study of the Bible is not considered a duty so much as a luxury, and the exposition of it is not left exclusively to any minister, but cultivated at home even by those of very slender education. Tinworth grew up, therefore, in a Biblical atmosphere; the Scriptures were read to him and by him, from cover to cover, over and over, until they sank into his blood, and became part of his very^ nature. Eor the religious lines upon which his talent has developed, his mother must be considered wholly responsible. She trained him to look upon all other literature as dross, and to this day the Bible remains the only book which he reads without indifference. His early experiences of life were harsh, but salutary. Poverty pinched the household closely,, and all through, like a jarring string in an instrument, there went the fear and horror of the head of the house. Through it all, too, went the harmonious faith of the mother, her Puritan ideal of the personal "walk with God," and the constant voluntary exercises of prayer and " expounding of the Word." Meanwhile, this child in a dingy little Walworth shop was inspired, as spontaneously as though he had been the primitive first artist, with a craving for plastic expression of his ideas. His first attempts were made when he was a very little boy, and consisted of objects drawn in imitation of nature upon transparent slates. -A little later his mother bought some paints for him, and he began to colour engravings. At last he took to cutting butter-stamps out of wood, and even to carving timid little wooden figures. All this time he was completely ignorant of even the simple processes which are taught to children, and was so far from receiving any encouragement that his father used to severely reprimand him for •' wasting his time." At a very early age he had begun to work at his father's trade, and to- help him in the shop. In i86i he first heard that there was such a thing in Lambeth as a school of fine art. This school had been founded by Canon Gregory in 1854, in a very humble form, for the purpose of enabling the parishioners of Lambeth to obtain an elementary know¬ ledge of the principles of design; in October, 1855, it had been moved to the National School building in Prince's Road, and had secured the services of a man to whom the spread of art education in England owes not a little, Mr. J. Sparkes, This building had been ill adapted for artistic purposes; it was used all day long as a national school, and accordingly the objects and models had to be entirely cleared away at the close of each evening lesson. In i860, Mr. Sparkes had contrived to get special rooms for the art-classes, where he could work undisturbed these were in Miller's Lane, where the art-school still continues to flourish. The first public act of the Prince of Wales was to lay the foundation- stone of this school, the ground being within the Duchy of CornwalL 6 It is. most interesting to note that exactly 25 years from the •opening of this Lambeth School of Art, His Royal Highness again visited Lambeth for the purpose of presenting the " Albert Medal" of the Society of Arts to Mr. Henry Doulton, "in recognition" (so runs the ■official announcement,) "of the impulse given by him to the production of artistic pottery in this country." Mr. Doulton. in thanking the Prince •of Wales for so graciously coming to the Potteries to present the medal, alluded to the opening of the school a quarter of a century before, and stated that the great success of the Doulton Art Wares might be regarded as one of the fruits of the Lambeth School of Art, which had sent forth so many distinguished artists, not the lea.st among whom was Mr. Tin worth (who, as will be seen further on, has for twenty years been engaged at the works of Messrs. Doulton & Co). It was soon after the opening of the new school of art building that young Tinworth first heard of the teaching. He persuaded a comrade of his to go with him and .see what it'was like. They arrived on one of the evenings devoted to the painting class, and therefore very largely attended. Peeping in, they saw such a blaze of light, and such a number of respectably-dre.ssed persons, that their courage failed them and they fled. However, the scene presented itself to the young man's memory again and again, and he could not keep away. The comrades arrived a second night, and this time Tinworth climbed on the shoulders of his friend, and took a long look through the window. It happened to be a modelling class, and the room was not nearly full. The young fellows began to think that they might venture in, and yet they hardly dared to do so. Tinworth was putting his ear to the door, when his comrade suddenly gave him a push and precipitated him into the presence of Mr. 3parkes, who happened to be -goinjf out. The boy was far too much frightened to .say anything; but he held up a little head of Handel, in the round, copied from a small model, and knocked out of a lump of sandstone by means of a hammer and chisel. After glancing at it, and securing a reputation for boundless sagacity by knowing for whom it was meant, Mr. Sparkes took the youth by the arm, and said, " Come in and see what we're doing!" To discover that his native talent was extra- ■ordinary was the matter of a single evening,' and Tinworth at once took his place as one of the most interesting students in the Lambeth Schools. 7 Here he worked away for many years, slowly acquiring the principles of the art of modelling, reaching Miller's Lane at the end a fatiguing day, and so much brightening up under the excitement ot study, as hardly to be persuaded to go home- when the class was over. The home-life was now growing harsher than'ever; and the father resisted with all his might these attempts of the son to educate his hand and eye. If the mother had not shielded him, and if the father's habits had not made it easy to evade detection, Tinworth could hardly have supported existence. In one of his humorous bits of realism, he has shown us himself as a boy of fifteen, furtively carving a head with a hammer and chisel in the little wheelwright's shop, with a boy on the watch at the door, ready to give him the signal when his father shall be seen turning the comer after his little mid-day visit to the public-house. Meanwhile, the young sculptor was learning all that he could at the evening classes. He gained prize after prize in the schools. He and another young man who has attained distinction since, Mr. Martin the potter, could with difficulty be prevailed upon to leave at nights when the visits of the inspector were imminent, and would sit up working all night through. On the 22nd of December, 1864, Tinworth was admitted to the Schools of the Royal Academy, and his career as a student was sound and rapid. In 1866, at the age of twenty-three, he became for the first time - an exhibitor at the Royal Academy. He sent a work which had no sort of connection with his academic studies, but was the first expression of his peculiar realism. It was a group of four or five small figures in plaster, and he named it " Peace and Wrath in Low Life." The scene was taken from his own doors; it was a page from the gutter-life at Hope Street, Walworth.' Soon after this the elder Mr. Tinworth died. Before this event his opposition to the son's development had broken down before so- many prizes and medals, and had melted into gratified vanity. Yet it had not occurred to him or to any one that the son's singular gifts could be utilized in any practical Way. Twenty years ago the great revival of artistic manufactures in England had scarcely begun; it was the 8 " ' darkest hour that comes before the' dawn. There was no bread to be ✓ won by making beautiful or ingenious things, no scope for any man whose taste or invention was better than his fellows', unless indeed he were bom into the luxurious world, and could become a fashionable painter at his ease. The Paris Exhibition of 1867 was a turning point in the history of British industries. It gave our manufacturers a hint of what was possible in the way of combining taste with enterprise; and among other things it fired the Messrs. Doulton to attempt forms of ornament more elaborate than any they had hitherto thought of for their saltware pottery at Lambeth. When, in 1867, they began, very timidly and" tentatively at first, to ornament their rude pots with concentric lines of pattern, and to scratch the green clay with arabesques, it occurred to >!r. Sparkes. that in this new industry some handicraft might be discovered for his best pupil to engage in. He asked Mr. Doulton whether it was not possible to find some modelling work for the young man to do in the Lambeth pottery. It was found that thirty shillings a week was all that he was making as a wheelwright, and Mr. Doulton at once agreed to give him at least as much as that to begin with. He took up his work at the great pottery, and there he is now after twenty years. Mr. Tinworth began by touching up old moulds for use in the pottery, and presently went off into original work of a very modest kind by modelling filters. The first artistic productions which he carried out were some colossal medallions copied with extraordinary spirit from ancient Greek and Sicilian coins, and executed in Terra Cotta. Most of these were in profile; one, a head of Arethusa, from the British Museum, is full face, in high relief, and gives some suggestion of the sculptor's later work. One of these great medallions, in particular that of Hercules wearing the lion's head as a hood, from a coin of Camarina, was the occasion of Mr. Ruskin's first encouragement.of the young artist, whom he afterwards did so much to bring before the public. For two years there seemed no very practical means of utilizing Mr. Tinworth's talents. In 1869, however, he began to develop his peculiar powers. Mr; Sparkes designed for him a fountain, in Terra Cotta, which was presented to the Government, and is now in Kennington Park. About the same time Mr. Tinworth planned an Amazon Vase, round which ran a frieze of fighting Amazons, and the handles of which were wild horses nishing at the spectators; this is now at Fairmont Park, Philadelphia. In 1870 the art pottery, as it is now understood, began to be a staple at Lambeth, and from that time forward Mr. Tinworth's hands were always full of congenial work. His earliest sketches in sculpture were made, not in Terra Cotta, but in stone-ware. In 1870 he finished a cabinet in ebonized wood, with little panels in stone-ware, decorated with Scripture subjects; this was thought a great curiosity, and was bought by the South Kensington Museum. Cleverer and more elaborate still was a salt-cellar. made just before, for Mr. Doulton, the four sides of which were covered with figures in high relief, representing four scenes from the last hours of the Life of Christ. These panels were executed very rudely, in the plain green clay with some rough admixture of blue, and look like quaint productions of some ingenious old German potter, struggling with a material which he has but poorly understood. It is amusing to compare these primitive conceptions of Biblical narrative with the artist's later treatment of the same scenes. Equally curious as early examples of Doulton-ware are a series of small panels, each eight inches by four, crowded with figures, and illustrating such themes as " Balaam meeting the Angel," and " Zacchaeus," almost all of them rude sketches of com¬ positions which he has since carried out in more perfect form. Mr. 1 inworth found by degrees the work which he was really ■ fitted to produce. His early Terra Cotta panels are rather sketches than perfomiances. It was about 1874 that his sculpture began to be mature. In that year he exhibited three large Terra Cotta panels at the Royal Academy, the " Gethsemane," the " Foot of the Cross," and the " Descent from the Cross." They were bought by Professor Archer for the Museum of Science and Art, in Edinburgh, where they are objects of never-failing interest to the numerous country visitors of the IMuseum. To the Royal Academy of 1875 Mr. Tinworth sent eight small panels in Terra Cotta; these were grouped together, in three framesj in the vestibule at Burlington House. They elicited the warm praises of Mr. Tom Taylor, the " Times" critic, and of Mr. Ruskin, the latter of 10 whom spoke of him with vehement generosity in his Notes on the Royal Academy ^1875. In 1876, Tinworth appeared again in the vestibule of the Academy with four panels, and this time he attracted the attention of the late eminent architect, Mr. G. E. Street, R.A. Both Mr.' Ruskin and Mr. Street came down to Lambeth to see what he was doing and to encourage him with their advice. This was followed by a commission obtained by Mr. Street from the late Dean of York for the new reredos in York Minster. After some time spent in experiments in the colour of Terra Cotta, the architect was at last satisfied with a tint which would harmonise with the richly tabernacled canopies of oak that were to surmount Mr. Tinworth's panel. , The fire and energy which the sculptor displayed in this panel were hardly less suitable to its Gothic surroundings than the more restrained power shown in the important series which Mr. Tinworth next produced during 1878 for the interior of the Royal Military Chapel (the Guards' Chapel) in Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk. A panel of " David and Goliath" was submitted to Mr. Street and Col Philip Smith, with the result that no less than twenty-eight semicircular panels were commissioned. The series of subjects ranges over a wide field of Biblical story, commencing with the " Adam and Eve" (a rare instance of Mr. Tinworth's presentment of the nude), and concluding with the New Testament history and parables. In 1877, the "Football Scrimmage," a group of portrait figures, was exhibited, and in the next year there was sent to the Paris Exhibition,- the' famous Doulton-ware fountain, one of the most popular of Mr. Tinworth's productions as a decorative potter. It is a pyramid of stone ware,- with a water channel descending spirally from top to bottom. Contributing their tiny rills to this main stream are various little groups of figures in panels placed at intervals around the spiral. The subjects (with but one exception) are all Biblical, and were chosen on account of their connection with water. Here at the base is Jonah cast ashore by the whale, higher up may be seen Samson after the tremendous slaughter of the Philistines quenching his thrist from the jaw -bone of an ass, then there are Moses at the Well, the Miracle at Cana, the Pool of Bethesda, the Baptism of our Saviour, the Woman of Samaria, Naaman washing in the Jordan, and so on. Especially naive is the gftoup of "Elijah fed hy the Ravens," where in a little side panel Mr. Tinworth drolly sug¬ gests that the ravens obtained the food from King Ahab's owa table. In 1881 there was produced for a monument in Wells Cathedral, a panel of "David and Goliath." In 1880 and 1881 Mr. Tinworth exhibited at the Royal Academy compositions on a much larger scale than he had attempted before, the Going to Calvary " and the " Entry into Jerusalem." In the first the time selected for illustration is that when our Saviour, turning to the women who followed with lamentations, said, " Daughters 6f Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children." The " Entry into Jerusalem" is a crowded panel full of life and bustle, Christ is seated on the ass's colt, riding slowly among the enthusiastic disciples. All around are onlookers of all nationalities; and several incidents having reference to the main theme are .shown as transpiring in the crowd. An escaping lamb, a hen and chickens, a man carrying a basket of doves for the Passover, Zaccheus and Lazarus, a thief stealing a purse, Judas secretly receiving the betrayal money—all these show not only the fertility of !Mr. Tinworth's invention, but his extraordinary gift of combining in one consistent whole a multitude of suggestive details that would embarrass most sculptors. I A still larger panel. " Preparing for the Crucifixion," was too immense for admission in the Royal Academy of 1882, and it was, there¬ fore, not seen by the public until the spring of 1883, when, with a new panel, " Ihe Release of Barabbas," it was included in an exhibition of Mr. Tinworth's works held" in the Conduit Street Gallery, London. The exhibition was honoured by a visit from their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, and thus auspiciously inaugurated, the exhibition proved most successful, being visited by large numbers of people. Soon after the Exhibition opened Mr. Tinworth received a commission for a large sculpture of " The Brazen Serpent" to be placed in Sandringham Church as a companion to " The Descent from the Cross," executed some years previously. "The Release of Barabbas" is a kind of triptych. The archi¬ tectural accessories are much more fully worked out than is usual with iz Mr. Tinworth. Under a portico stands Pilate looking out on the people; on the right hand is the Saviour standing bound, and on the left is Barabbas, delighted at his release, being congratulated by the by¬ standers. Mr. Tinworth's first sketch for this panel was one of those exhibited in the Royal Academy of 1875, when Mr. Ruskin spoke of the little panel (then known as the " Judgment of Pilate ") in the following words:—And, after all the labours of past art on the life of Christ, here is an English workman fastening, with more decision than I recollect in any of them, on the gist of the sin of the Jews and their rulers in the choice of Barabbas, and making the physical fact of contrast between the man released and the man condemned, clearly visible. We must receive it, I suppose, as a flash of really prophetic intelligence on' the question of universal suffrage." - The exhibition of 1883 may be looked upon not, it is to be hoped, as the culmination of Mr. Tinworth's artistic progress, but only as-the commencement of a more extended public appreciation, which has amply confirmed the favourable opinion previously expressed by the most eminent critics and writers upon art matters. Still continuing his labours, Mr. Tinworth has since produced a series of works of which little more than the titles can here be given. Produced in 1884 may be mentioned :— "The Meeting of Jacob and Joseph," exhibited at the Royal ' Academy. "The Last Supper," a large panel for the reredos of Walsham-le- Willows Church in Suffolk. " The Sons of Cydippe," which is the only panel of importance by Mr. Tinworth not scriptural in subject, having been suggested by a poem by Mr. li. W. Gosse, Mr. Tinworth's friendly critic and biographer; it is in low relief, and not at all in Mr. Tinworth's usual style. " Touch Me Not," a panel of triangular form for the reredos of Tisbury Church, near Salisbury,'and representing the risen Saviour appearing to Mary, who is about to prostrate herself at His feet; in the background is the sepulchre, from which the stone has been rolled away. '3 Produced in 1885 were:— " Salome Waiting for the Head of John the Baptist." " A vigorous composition, full of vivid actuality and character. The figure of Salome is" a beautiful conception, in pose and in expression."— Saturday Review. "The Taking of Samson." " A vigorous and vivid presentment of the scene."—The Academy. Portrait Bust of Edwin Chadwick, Esq., C.B., exhibited in the Royal Academy. " One of those strongly independent productions which, without disparagement to their artistic quality, may be described as ' anti-classic.' "—Daily Telegraph. " David before Saul." " The action of Saul, who has just thrown the javelin at the young minstrel, is wonderfully energetic; and the expression and gesture of the other figures are full of nature and ammdition."—Al-agazine of Art. " Jesus in the House of Lazarus." " Its pictorial force and its vivid sense of life are very striking."—Magazine of Art. * " The Three Children in the Fiery Furnace." "An epitome of all the artist's qualities. Its exhaustive invention and wealth of ingenuity are astonishing."—Saturday Review. "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes" 'also known as "Children, have ye any Meat?")-a vigorously modelled group of our Saviour appearing to the Disciples on the shores of Tiberias. This was a com¬ mission from Robert Smith, Esq., and the panel is notv placed in the reredos of Bengeo Church, Hertford. In the Grosvenor Gallery of 1886 was exhibited a frieze-like panel " Genesis," in which the principal events in the first book of the Bible are worked into stnall groups within the letters of the word Genesis. This has since been followed by a sirhilar panel of " Exodus," and it is the sculptor's idea to make a complete set of such panels. The result will be most interesting, and fortunate will be the school or institution which can acquire such a " Bible in Sculpture " for the adornment of its rooms. 14 A very recent commission upon which Mr. Tinworth has been engaged is the group of four large panels for the memorial erected in the private chapel of Capesthome^ Cheshire, to the late Mr. Bromley-Davenport, M.P. The four panels illustrate in scriptural manifestation as many different powers—those of " Temptation." Eve plucking the forbidden fruit; " Faith," the uplifting of the Serpent in the Wilderness; " Darkness," the temporary triumph of unbelievers, as exemplified in the crucifixion of the Redeemer; " Light," the glorious ascension of Christ into Heaven, These works are of eminent beauty, and cannot fail to exalt the fame of the artist, to whose grace of imagina¬ tion, fertility of fancy, rare dramatic power, and high executive skill they bear eloquent testimony. In none of his previous sculptures, rich though they are in these particulars, may be discerned in equal per¬ fection that vigour and variety of characterisation, that ingenuity of composition, and all that appropriate arrangement of accessory and incident which combinedly give to the present works an interest and a significance enabling them to read like books. The panels have been severally presented by Miss Davenport-Bromley and Mrs. Talbot Airey, the Dowager Lady Hatherton, Colonel Haygarth on behalf of the Society for the Relief of the Poor, and Mrs. Bromley-Davenport." Since these memorial panels were erected, Mr. Tinworth's whole energies have been concentrated upon an enormous piece of sculpture, in which he has at last carried out a long-contemplated, long-cherished idea of working out life-size one of his smaller panels. The one chosen for this experirnent is entitled " Christ before Herod," a panel which is full of incident and dramatic power. It is an illustration of what, according to the sculptor's idea, might have occurred when the Saviour was led before Herod; the king would perhaps send out his soldiers to bring in sick persons that Jesus might be asked to show his power by healing their diseases. The panel measures 23 feet in length by nearly 9 feet high, and is perhaps as regards size the most ambitious production in Terra- Cotta of modern times, Messrs. Doulton & Co. are at present executing- in Terra Cotta and Doulton-ware from the designs of A. W. Blomfield, Esq., M.A., the Reredos, Pulpit, and Font for the English Church of St. Alban, at Copenhagen, a building in which H. R. H. the Princess of Wales is '5 taking much interest. Mr. Tinworth is now engaged upon the sculptured panels for this work, and has chosen as subjects for the reredos— THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD. THE BETRAYAL BY JUDAS. THE APPEARING TO THOMAS. And for the font— THE FINDING OF MOSES. SAMUEL BROUGHT TO ELI. THE FINDING OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. JESUS BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. In the intervals of his more serious labours, Mr. Tinworth finds vent for his humour and ingenuity in the production bf numerous ideas for decoration, grotesque groups, vases, pedestals, and so on. For the 1884 Exhibition of Inventions and Music, he modelled a highly comical set of Mice ]\Iusicians—little figures of mice gravely blowing into huge trumpets, or playing stringed instruments. A complete set of .Mice Chess pieces, a set of ^sop's Fables illustrated by groups of birds, frogs, and other animals, travesties of popular amusements, such as a frog astride a bicycle, a party of frogs driving to Epsom, frog cricketers and canoeists, a boatload of mice entitled " Cockneys at Brighton," a menagerie of frogs and mice, a party of mice attired as negro minstrels, frogs and mice pulling against each other in a "Tug of War "—these and many other little groups are interesting as showing .Mr. Tinworth's versatility. It must not be supposed, however, that Mr. Tinworth's recreative work (if such a term may be used) always takes the form of grotesques. He possesses a peculiarly characteristic feeling for ornament of a style that can only be described as the " Tinworth Style." He is particularly fond of decorating the clay vases while still quite soft, by incising over their surfaces a profusion of graceful scrolls and volutes. Mr Tinworth's decorated vases formed always one of the prominent features of the various exhibition displays of Doulton Ware which have from time to time secured so many awards of honour. It only remains to add that photographs can be had of the most important of Mr. Tinworth's sculptures. Being unglazed and in high relief, the sculptures photograph extremely well, and make very effective wall decorations. 16 730.942 T59Zd 3 5556 005 758 743 tjsiiii'i Uiislii! I'^r L HiaiHK ruiij ilHjSiH