Henry Charles Fehr

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Henry Charles Fehr
Born4 November 1867
Died13 May 1940(1940-05-13) (aged 72)
London, England
NationalityBritish
EducationCity of London School
Alma materRoyal Academy Schools
Known forSculpture, public memorials

Henry Charles Fehr FRBS (4 November 1867 – 13 May 1940) was a British monumental and architectural sculptor active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He produced several notable public sculptures, war memorials and works for civic buildings. These included architectural sculptures for Middlesex Guildhall, for Wakefield County Hall and for Cardiff City Hall. Throughout the 1920s, Fehr created a number of war memorials, often featuring detailed bronze statuary, for British towns and cities. Notable examples of Fehr's war memorials include those at Leeds, Colchester, Keighley and at Burton upon Trent.

Biography[]

Fehr was born in Forest Hill in south-east London into a Swiss family, who had settled in England.[1] Fehr attended the City of London School and is thought to have trained as an apprentice in the studio of the sculptor and stone mason Horace Montford, who supported his application to the Royal Academy Schools in 1885.[1][2] Although Fehr won several prizes at the Academy, he was narrowly beaten to the 1889 gold medal in sculpture and a travelling scholarship by his fellow student Goscombe John.[2]

Leeds War Memorial, sculpted by Fehr

When he graduated from the Royal Academy, Fehr worked as an assistant in the studio of Thomas Brock.[2] There, Fehr created a monumental bronze sculpture, The Rescue of Andromeda, which is considered his first significant work and was subsequently purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for the Tate Gallery.[3] Fehr was greatly upset, and protested repeatedly, when the Tate moved the sculpture from an internal gallery to the position outside the building where it remains.[3] The success, and naturalistic style of The Rescue of Andromeda led to Fehr being, briefly, regarded as part of the New Sculpture movement.[2] Although the association didn't last, like the New Sculpture artists, Fehr's did receive several commissions from firms of architects keen to include decorative sculptures into the designs of their new buildings.[2] For the architect Charles Fitzroy Doll Fehr produced four life-size terracotta sculptures of British Queens for the Hotel Russell in London's Bloomsbury.[2] For the firm of Lanchester, Stewart & Rickards, he created architectural decorations for the dome of the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster and the Welsh dragon that sits above Cardiff City Hall.[2][4] J.S Gibson & Partners commissioned Fehr for decorative works on several buildings including the West Ham Technical Institute in London, for a school in Scarborough, for Walsall Central Library and, most notably, for the Middlesex Guildhall in Parliament Square.[2][5] For the same company, Fehr made a coloured plaster relief frieze of scenes from the Wars of the Roses for the interior of Wakefield County Hall in 1898.[6][7]

In October 1919, as World War I was drawing to a close, the Royal Academy in London held an exhibition of war memorial designs.[8] At the exhibition Fehr displayed statuettes of three figures, Peace holding a dove, a winged Victory and Saint George with a sword and shield.[8] Bronze statues of these figures appeared on several of the war memorials that Fehr created throughout the 1920s for British towns and cities. All three figures positioned on, or around, a stone obelisk, featured on the memorials Fehr created at Colchester, at Burton-upon-Trent, and, in different versions, on the Leeds War Memorial. Several other memorials, including those at Lockerbie and Langholm in Scotland, at Eastbourne and at Grangetown in Cardiff, only featured the figure of Victory, holding a laurel wreath and an inverted sword, on a pedestal or obelisk.[8] The memorial at Keighley has a version of Peace with bronze statues of an infantryman in battle dress and a sailor holding a telescope.[9]

Fehr first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887.[7] He was an original member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors in 1904, and was later elected a Fellow.[1] Throughout his career Fehr sculpted a number of portrait busts. These included several of William Morris, versions of which are in the Royal Academy collection, the William Morris Gallery and the Art Workers Guild collection while Fehr's marble busts of John Ruskin and Robert Browning are held by the South London Gallery. [1][2][10]

Public works[]

1891–1900[]

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
The Rescue of Andromeda front view, Tate Britain.jpg
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The Rescue of Andromeda Exterior of Tate Britain, London 1893 Sculpture group on pedestal Bronze [3]
James Watt Statue.jpg
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James Watt Leeds City Square 1898 Statue on pedestal Bronze and granite Grade II Q26655856 [11][12]
Fehr-russell-1.JPG Elizabeth I, Mary II, Queen Anne and Queen Victoria Hotel Russell, Bloomsbury, London 1900 4 statues in niches Terracotta [13]

1901–1910[]

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
David Garrick memorial plaque.JPG Memorial to David Garrick No. 27 Southampton Street, Covent Garden, London 1901 Relief plaque Bronze [11]
John Harrison (3013169329).jpg
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John Harrison Leeds City Square 1903 Statue on pedestal with plaque Bronze and granite Grade II Q26655861 [11][14]
Statue of Queen Victoria, Hull.jpg
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Queen Victoria Queen Victoria Square, Kingston upon Hull 1903 Statue and figures on pedestal with surround Bronze and Portland stone Grade II Q26492135 [11][15]
Dragon - geograph.org.uk - 408023.jpg Welsh Dragon Pinnacle of entrance hall, City Hall, Cardiff 1904 Architectural sculpture Bronze Grade I [4][16]
James Watt Statue - geograph.org.uk - 322300.jpg
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James Watt Former Watt Memorial School, Greenock 1908 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Category B [17]

1911–1920[]

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
John Hampden Statue.jpg
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John Hampden Market Square, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire 1911 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II Q26647298 [11][18][19]
Middlesex Guildhall entrance.jpg
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Historical figures Façade of Middlesex Guildhall, Parliament Square, London 1906–13 Reliefs, statues and freize Stone Grade II* [20]
Eastbourne War Memorial, Memorial Roundabout, South Street, Eastbourne (NHLE Code 1441521) (October 2010).JPG
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War memorial Eastbourne, East Sussex 1920 Statue on pedestal Bronze and granite Grade II Q61670643 [21][22]

1921–1930[]

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
War memorial, Grange Gardens, Cardiff.jpg War memorial Grange Gardens, Grangetown, Cardiff 1921 Statue on pedestal with panels Bronze and Portland stone Grade II Q29496527 [23][24]
War memorial in Langholm 2.jpg
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War memorial Langholm, Dumfries & Galloway 1921 Statue on pedestal Bronze and granite [25]
War memorial garden - Burton upon Trent - war memorial (26919668285).jpg
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War memorial Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire 1922 3 statues on pedestal Bronze and Portland stone Grade II* Q26577152 [26][27]
Leeds War Memorial (27th April 2018) 003.jpg
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Leeds War Memorial The Headrow, Leeds 1922 Obelisk with 3 statues Portland stone and bronze 7m tall Grade II Q26547390 [28][29]
Shepherd's Bush Green park sculpture.jpg
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War memorial Shepherd's Bush Green, London 1922 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II Q26487630 [30][31]
First World War monument Lockerbie.jpg War memorial High Street, Lockerbie 1922 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone [32]
Colchester War Memorial.JPG
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War memorial Colchester, Essex 1923 3 statues on pedestal with panels Bronze and Portland stone c. 10m tall Grade II* Q26671057 [8][33]
Lisburn War Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1763850.jpg
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War memorial Castle Street, Lisburn, County Antrim 1923 Statue on pedestal with panels Bronze and marble [34]
Graaff-Reinet, Karoo, Eastern Cape, South Africa (19889130524).jpg War memorial Graaff-Reinet, South Africa 1923 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone [8][35]
War Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 414753.jpg
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War memorial Town Hall Square, Keighley, West Yorkshire 1924 3 statues on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II* Q26600400 [9][36]

Other works[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d University of Glasgow History of Art / HATII (2011). "Henry Charles Fehr". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851–1951. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Susan Beattie (1983). The New Sculpture. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art / Yale University Press. ISBN 0300033591.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Heather Birchall (2003). "The Rescue of Andromeda". Tate. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Cadw. "Cardiff City Hall (13744)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  5. ^ Historic England. "Walsall Central Library (1422993)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  6. ^ Historic England. "County Hall (Offices of West Yorkshire County Council) (1242349)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Fehr, Henry Charles". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Historic England. "Colchester War Memorial (including lamp columns, walls, gates, piers, railings and posts) (1391704)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Historic England. "Keighley War Memorial (1313949)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Bust of William Morris (c. 1900)". William Morris Gallery. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Jo Darke (1991). The Monument Guide to England and Wales. Macdonald Illustrated. ISBN 0 356 17609 6.
  12. ^ Historic England. "Statue of James Watt (1375034)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Statues of Four Queens: Elizabeth, Mary, Anne, and Victoria". Victorian Web. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  14. ^ Historic England. "Statue of John Harrison (1375039)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  15. ^ Historic England. "Queen Victoria Statue and Public Toilets (1197686)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Welsh Dragon by Henry Charles Fehr". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  17. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Watt Memorial School, Dalrymple Street (Category B Listed Building) (LB34101)". Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  18. ^ Historic England. "Statue of John Hampden (1365631)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  19. ^ "War Memorials Register: J Hampden". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  20. ^ Historic England. "Middlesex Guildhall (1226369)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  21. ^ Historic England. "Eastbourne War Memorial (1441521)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  22. ^ "War Memorials Register: Eastbourne". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  23. ^ "War Memorials Register: Grangetown". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  24. ^ Cadw. "War Memorial in Grange Gardens including enclosure railings (19088)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  25. ^ "War Memorials Register: Langholm". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  26. ^ Historic England. "Burton upon Trent War Memorial (1288788)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  27. ^ "War Memorials Register: Burton upon Trent". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  28. ^ Historic England. "War Memorial (1255832)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  29. ^ "War Memorials Register: Leeds". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  30. ^ Historic England. "War Memorial (1192961)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  31. ^ "War Memorials Register: Hammersmith - WW1 and WW2". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  32. ^ "War Memorials Register: Lockerbie - Statue". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  33. ^ "War Memorials Register: Colchester". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  34. ^ "War Memorials Register: Lisburn". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  35. ^ "War Memorial in Graaff-Reinet, Oos-Kaap". pathfinda. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  36. ^ "War Memorials Register: Keighley". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  37. ^ Historic England. "The Former Westwood School (1272842)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  38. ^ "War Memorials Register: A Forbes". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  39. ^ "War Memorials Register: Dulwich College Memorial Library - Boer War". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  40. ^ Historic England. "The Old Library, Dulwich College (1385421)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  41. ^ Historic England. "Coggeshall War Memorial (1427514)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  42. ^ "Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)". Art UK. Retrieved 12 February 2021.

External links[]

16 artworks by or after Henry Charles Fehr at the Art UK site

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