William Goscombe John (1860-1952) Oliver Fairclough, 10 December 2011 Morpheus Sir William Goscombe John (1860 - 1952) Icarus Sir Alfred Gilbert (1854 - 1934) In 1881, William Goscombe John assisted in creating the sculptures for Cardiff Castle's Animal Wall Edwardian Wales, newly wealthy from coal, iron and steel, provided rich opportunities for a sculptor. William Goscombe John's public monuments can be found all over Wales, but nowhere more than in his native Cardiff. He also modelled the prize medals still awarded by the National Eisteddfod today. Making his way He was born William John in Cardiff in March 1860. He assumed the name Goscombe from a Gloucestershire village near his mother's old home. His father Thomas John was a woodcarver in the workshops set up by Lord Bute for the restoration of Cardiff Castle. William joined his father at the age of 14, while also studying drawing at Cardiff School of Art. In 1881 he went to London as a pupil assistant to Thomas Nicholls, the sculptor responsible for the Castle's Animal Wall. He continued his studies at the Kennington School of Art and, from 1884, at the Royal Academy Schools, where he was taught naturalistic modelling in clay in the French manner introduced in London in the 1870s by Jules Dalou. He was an outstanding student, and travelled widely. He spent a year in Paris, including a period in Rodin's studio. In 1890 he returned to London and settled in St John's Wood. His sculpture Morpheus, shown in the Paris Salon of 1892, clearly shows Rodin's influence. The 'New Sculpture' British sculptors of John's generation were trying to make sculpture more dynamic through the vigorously naturalistic representation of the human body. They represent the final flowering of a sculptural tradition that had its roots in the Renaissance, and was revitalised by Rodin and his contemporaries in mid nineteenth-century France. John followed the success of Morpheus with a statue of John the Baptist for Lord Bute, and by a group of life-size nudes including Boy at Play and The Elf. These show complete mastery of anatomical form. By the end of the 1890s Goscombe John had firmly established himself, exhibiting his work both nationally and internationally. He was beginning to win big public commissions and in the years leading up to the First World War he was extremely busy. Wales and the Empire Although based in London, John was careful to position himself as Wales's national sculptor. In 1916 he contributed the central marble figure St David Blessing the People to a group of ten figures made for Cardiff City Hall. He also received commissions for portraits from the leading Welshmen of the day. John may have built his career on local patronage, but he attracted work from across the Empire, such as his tomb in Westminster Abbey to Conservative Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, and his equestrian statue of King Edward VII in Capetown. His first major public sculpture was the King's Regiment memorial (1905) in the centre of Liverpool, incorporating soldiers from the regiment's history, including the vast Drummer Boy, which is his best-known work. The Welsh and the Imperial came together in the commission for the regalia for the investiture of the future Edward VIII as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1911. John designed a crown, a ring, a sceptre and a sword that contained a 'Welsh' iconography of dragons, daffodils and Celtic interlace. John had little sympathy with what he termed the 'Easter Island' style of modern sculpture, with its emphasis on direct carving in stone. Critical opinion was already beginning to leave him behind by 1914, but the First World War tragically brought new commissions for memorials, including many in Wales. Goscombe John and the National Museum Goscombe John was one of the founding fathers of Amgueddfa Cymru. He served on the governing Council for over forty years, and played a major role in establishing the future direction of the art collection. As well as a complete representation of his own work, his gifts to the Museum included work by many of his fellows in the New Sculpture movement, among them the primary cast of Alfred Gilbert's Icarus, and by many other artists he admired.
Polychaete research in the Falklands by Teresa Darbyshire - day 25 Peter Howlett, 9 December 2011 Wow, what a glorious day! It’s a bank holiday here but unlike most in the UK, a bank holiday with fantastic weather. The temperature is 18degC, that may not sound that high but it feels very warm and the burn factor is quite high. It’s been strange driving along listening to the radio reporting the weather in the UK which I hear is particularly bad right now. I am very thankful for being where I am!This morning’s sampling site was Sand Bay, near Port Harriet, about a half hour drive out of Stanley. The bay opens out quickly to a wide area of sand (photo 1). The sand varies quite widely across the bay from very coarse to fine, sometimes with gravel or rocks and in other places just sand. The animals themselves also seemed to change accordingly so it was worth dotting my sampling sites around the bay.Although at first this bay didn’t seem that much different to several of the other sites I’ve been to, a couple of the samples turned up some very different animals.The most interesting was in a patch of the ‘solid’ sand, no stones but with some layers of old plant material as you dug down. Burrowing into those layers were a different sort of ragworm to any of those I’ve seen in any of my other samples, with striking red and white colours along its body (photo 2). I spent a while collecting several of these as they were obviously a different species to those I already had.There was also a different type of paddleworm, the longest yet (photo 3), from one of the other sample spots. I only found one of these though.By the time the tide turned, I had a large collection of pots from the different sites around the bay and a few animals that I already knew would be new to my list. As I wanted to get some photos of the ragworm with its colours I decided to go back into Stanley to the Fisheries lab rather than head straight out towards Darwin. I wasn’t that far away and it was worth the time. After a quick photo session I then got back on the road again, back out past where I had already been that morning and on to Darwin which would be nearly a 2 hour drive.As it was such a warm and dry day I had the window open slightly but wasn’t prepared for just how much dust was created driving along the gravel roads. It was only when I arrived here at Darwin that I realised that the car, both inside as well as out, and myself, were coated in the dust.I have been given instructions on how to get to the two creeks I want to sample tomorrow and hopefully they will also provide some interesting finds to end the week.
christmas decorations part two. Sian Lile-Pastore, 9 December 2011 In my last post I mentioned that I would be running a drop in arts and crafts session on the 17th december in Oriel 1, St Fagans: National History Museum. We will be taking inspiration from 1950s decorations, and to get some good ideas I went around the site with my camera the other day and took these photos. Do you have anything similar at home? don't forget to let me know your memories of Christmas decorations in your house when you were growing up too!
Polychaete research in the Falklands by Teresa Darbyshire - day 24 Peter Howlett, 8 December 2011 Back out to the shore this morning with Freya for company once again. We were only going a short distance outside of Stanley to an inlet called Mullet Creek (photo 1). This was a stream flowing down towards a sea inlet surrounded by coarse gravelly sand at the higher end, changing to a medium sand further down towards the sea. It was surprisingly less soft than I expected but still had a similar fauna to the site I sampled up at Mount Kent that had been much softer. It wasn’t quite as far down to the sea as it had been at Mount Kent, where I never even got close to finding where the sea had gone to).I collected more of the Boccardia species (photo 2) that I thought might be different to the first one I had found which burrows into hard places such as the calcareous algae. These are very small and require a long time spent kneeling on the sand teasing them out of the surface layers (photo 3). There were also more paraonids, including more whole specimens, which is always good to find as opposed to small pieces!The sea did still go out a long way as the inlet was very shallow. We were still heading down it when we came up to a fence that came part way out into the inlet. This was a minefield warning fence and so that was the end of our journey down the inlet. We still managed 6 separate sampling spots spaced out ranging from what would be ‘high shore’ to what was virtually ‘low shore’ so we didn’t do badly.The sun didn’t come out for most of our sampling which kept it a little cool but also meant we were less likely to burn. It did come out as soon as we were finished though to warm us up.A few hours back at the lab going through the samples and then a bit more formaldehyde to alcohol changing finished off the day.The next couple of days will be quite busy. I’ll be sampling at Port Harriet tomorrow morning, a little further out from Stanley than I went today and then from there I’m heading west to Darwin for the night. Darwin is a couple of hours away on a narrow strip of land that connects the two sections of East Falkland, one northeast the other southwest, together. With sea on both sides but from completely different sides of the island, I’ll be able to sample two sites on Friday morning which have tides nearly two and a half hours apart. I’ll then head back to Stanley where I can sort the samples out in the evening. That will then be the last of the shore sampling!
Your Questions & comments Danielle Cowell, 8 December 2011 Questions from schools taking part in the Spring Bulbs for Schools Investigation www.museumwales.ac.uk/scan/bulbsWoodplumpton Primary SchoolQ: We heard on the radio that someone had seen crocus bulbs that had begun to grow. They said it was very early and a sign of global warming. We were very interested and talked about how we probably would not have taken any notice if we weren't part of the project. We were also a bit worried because there is no sign of life with our bulbs!Ans: I'm delighted to hear that you are discussing global warming and linking it to the bulbs you are growing in your school and the reports you hear on the radio. Global warming can seem like something far awar and remote, but by studying our wildlife and flowers carefully we can see that it is happening in our gardens and very relevant to us all. Don't worry about your bulbs, they shouldn't be coming up yet. Thanks Prof. P.Bishop Childs C.I.W Primary. Q:How are we doing? Ans: You are doing really well Bishop Childs - keep up the good work! Prof P.Ysgol Bro Cinmeirch. Pawb yn mwynhau! Falch i clywed! Athro'r Ardd.Stanford in the Vale Primary SchoolThird week....crazy week of observations...warm,cold, warmer!Woodplumpton Primary SchoolQ: We are very surprised at how little rain we are getting and are a bit worried about the bulbs getting enough water. Ans: If the soil becomes very dry please water them. Thanks Prof. PSherwood Primary SchoolWe have just had a terrential downpour just before we sent the records - that is why Friday's rain may seem high!Westwood CP SchoolVery mild since started recording. It won't be long before the crocuses start pushing through! Ans: They should start to appear in January. Prof. PSherwood Primary SchoolSchool was shut on Wednesday for the National Strike, so Thursday's rainfall results may be inflated. We planted a few spare daffs and they have begun to shoot! The children are excited! Ans: Wow this is early - many flowers are appearing across the country. Prof P.
