Sculptor, coin designer and printmaker born John William Mills in south London. He trained at Hammersmith School of Art, 1947–54, where his teachers included Leon Underwood and Keith Godwin, and (after two years in National Service as a PT instructor) the Royal College of Art, 1956–60, where his teachers included John Skeaping, Robert Carruthers and Ralph Brown; he graduated as an Associate (ARCA) and decided to devote himself to figure sculpture, with a special interest in physical dynamics, movement and balance. Married since 1953 (to Josephine Demarne, a dancer), he at first earned his living in teaching posts: he was senior lecturer at St Albans School of Art, 1962–70, and principal lecturer at Hertfordshire College of Art and Design, 1970–77; and was visiting associate professor at the University of Eastern Michigan, visiting lecturer at the Detroit School of Creative Arts, and visiting professor and artist-in-residence at the University of Michigan. He stopped teaching in the summer of 1977 to take up sculpture fulltime. He showed at the Royal Academy on a regular basis, 1952–88, 24 works in all, comprising mainly portrait heads and historical figures. From 1962 to 1966, he resided at Digswell House, Hertfordshire, as a Fellow of the Digswell Arts Trust. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors (RSB) in 1982 (President in 1986 and 1997) and in 1983 was awarded the RBS Otto Beit medal for his sculpture, Curved Neck Grace. In 1993, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and in 2000 was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts Degree by University College Northampton. He published several books on sculptural processes, including Sculpture in Ciment Fondu (1959); The Technique of Sculpture (1965); The Technique of Casting for Sculpture (1967); Sculpture in Concrete (1968); Encyclopaedia of Sculpture Techniques (1990); and Sculpting the Human Figure (2006). He won several Royal Mint design competitions, including those for a 50p piece commemorating the 50th anniversary (1994) of the D-Day landings and a £2 coin commemorating the 50th anniversary (2003) of the discovery of DNA. His public sculptures include the William Blake Memorial (a triptych in aluminium and bronze), Blake House, Westminster (1964); Jorrocks, George Street, Croydon (1982); London River Man, Marsh Wall, Isle of Dogs, east London (1987); Blitz – The National Firefighters Memorial, Carter Lane, City of London (1990-91; RBS silver medal 1991); Chinese Dynamic, Church Langley, Harlow, Essex (1992; installed 1994); statue of Jackie Milburn, Ashington Leisure Centre, Northumberland (1995); Buster Keaton, The Playhouse, Harlow, Essex (1981–82; unveiled 1996); The Meeting, Bedford (1996); statue of Alan Turing, University of Surrey, Stag Hill campus, Guildford (2004); and Memorial to the Women of the Second World War, Whitehall, London (2001-05). He died 24 October 2023, a month to the day after the death of his wife.
Bibliography: D. Buckman, Artists in Britain since 1945 (2 vols: A–L, M–Z), Bristol, 2006; Digswell Arts: ‘John Mills’; F. Lloyd et al, Public Sculpture of Outer South and West London, Liverpool, 2011, pp. xx, 6, 13–14, 365; John W. Mills, Sculptor and Printmaker, London, 1994; P. Usherwood et al, Public Sculpture of North-East England, Liverpool, 2000, pp. xviii, 11–12, 329–30; P. Ward-Jackson, Public Sculpture of the City of London, Liverpool, 2003, pp. 392–94, 471; P. Ward-Jackson, Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster. Volume 1, Liverpool, 2011, pp. 32, 272, 428–30, 459–60.
Terry Cavanagh, July 2024
