Gilbert Bayes

The Queen of Time, Selfridges, London, 1928

Destiny, war memorial, Albion Gardens, Ramsgate, Kent, 1920

Prehistoric Period

Classic period

National Museum Cardiff, 1914–1915

Gilbert William Bayes (4 April 1872 – 10 July 1953) was an English sculptor.^[1]

Career

Bayes was born in London into a family of artists, his father being Alfred Walter Bayes, an established artist at the time. He was one of four children and brother to the well-known artist and critic Walter Bayes, and to the Arts & Crafts designer Jessie Bayes. Bayes' lengthy and illustrious career began as a student under Sir George Frampton and Harry Bates,^[2] and so became associated with the British New Sculpture movement and its focus on architectural sculpture.

Bayes is perhaps best remembered for his interest in color, his association with the Royal Doulton Company, and his work in polychrome ceramics and enamelled bronze. His major ceramic frieze at the Doulton Headquarters of 1938 was removed in the 1960s when the building was razed, and re-located to the gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum which bears his name. He also designed a number of war memorials, with public works throughout the former British Empire, from New South Wales to Bangalore.

Bayes served as President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, PRBS, from 1939 through 1944. He died in London in 1953. Bayes' home at 4 Greville Place in St. John's Wood bears a blue plaque placed by English Heritage in 2007.^[3]

Personal life

In 1906, Bayes married Gertrude Smith, a fellow sculptor, in Farnham, Surrey. They had two children:

• Eleanor Jean Gilbert Bayes (1908–1999), also an artist
• Geoffrey Gilbert Bayes (1912–2001)

Works

• Exterior work at the Victoria and Albert Museum under Sir Aston Webb, London, circa 1909
• Prehistoric Period and Classic Period, architectural sculpture at the National Museum Cardiff, 1914–1915^[4]
• Destiny, Albion Gardens, Ramsgate, Kent, dedicated 1920
• Todmorden War Memorial, West Yorkshire, 1921
• The Offerings of Peace and The Offerings of War at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1923^[5]
• The National War Memorial, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, 1924
• The Queen of Time bronze group above the Oxford Street entrance to London Selfridges, 1928
• Drama Through the Ages, polychrome ceramic frieze for the Saville Theatre (now the Odeon Covent Garden cinema), London, 1931
• Exterior bas-reliefs and interior work at the BBC Broadcasting House, London, 1931 ^[6]
• Six allegorical relief panels, Commercial Bank of Scotland, Bothwell Street, Glasgow, 1934-35
• A series of sporting figures outside Lord's cricket ground, 1934^[1]
• History of Pottery through the Ages, polychrome ceramic frieze for the London headquarters of the Royal Doulton Company, 1938
• Two memorial bronzes at the St James' Church, Warter
• Statue of J.N. Tata at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
• Blue Robed Bambino fountain at the Centre William Rappard, Geneva (also known as Child with Fish)
• Reliefs featuring musicians on a building in Cavendish Square, London. The house had been the showroom of Brinmeads, the English piano manufacturer.

References

1. Ian Chilvers (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 19 860476 9.
2. Public sculpture of Glasgow By Raymond McKenzie, Gary Nisbet
3. "BAYES, GILBERT (1931-1953)". English Heritage. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
4. Newman, John (1995). Glamorgan. The Buildings of Wales. London: Penguin. p. 228.
5. AGNSW Catalogue references Offerings of Peace and Offerings of War
6. BBC Broadcasting House reliefs

External links

• National Archives article
• Gilbert Bayes Trust