A Manchester-born sculptor of figures, animals and portraits, he trained at Manchester School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art, completing his studies in Milan under Marino Marini and Giacomo Manzù (1955–57). After working in Italy he taught sculpture in Nigeria (1960–63), then joined the staff of the Edinburgh College of Art. Casting most of his work himself, from 1963 he held several one-man shows and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, including works such as Mother and Child (1986) and Primogenito (1988). His public commissions include the Stations of the Cross, St Mark’s RC Church, Oxgangs Avenue, Edinburgh (1959), a cross for St Paul’s RC Church, Pennywell Road, Edinburgh (1968), and Springburn Heritage and Hope, Glasgow (1989). Winner of the Benno Schotz Prize for Portraiture in 1969, he was elected ARSA in 1972, and RSA in 1977.
Bibliography: P.J.M. McEwan, The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 2004; R. McKenzie, Public Sculpture of Edinburgh (2 vols), Liverpool, 2018, vol. 1, pp. 397–99, vol. 2, pp. 400–01.
Ray McKenzie 2018