james butler·1931 -

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use the down arrow to view option ========================= link to further material not in books ========================= ---------- section b ---------- bacon, john [BWM] baily, edward hodges [BWM] baker, sir herbert [Rem] behnes, william [BWM] bell, john [BWM] belsky, franta [BWM] binyon, laurence [Rem] blomfield, sir reginald [Rem] blunden, edmund [Rem] boehm, sir edgar [BWM] brock, sir thomas [BWM] butler, james [BWM] burdett-coutts, william [Rem] burnet, sir john james [Rem] ========================= ---------- section c ---------- chantrey, sir francis [BWM] churchill, sir winston [Rem] cockerell, professor charles [BWM] comper, sir ninian [BWM] ========================= ---------- section d ---------- derwent wood, professor francis [Rem] dick, sir william reid [BWM] drury, alfred [BWM] ========================= ---------- section e ---------- epstein, sir jacob [BWM] ========================= ---------- section f ---------- flaxman, professor john [BWM] frampton, sir george [BWM] ========================= ---------- section g ---------- gill, eric [BWM] gleichen, count victor [BWM] goscombe john, sir william [BWM] gotto, captain basil [BWM] ========================= ---------- section h ---------- haig, field marshall earl douglas [Rem] hepworth, philip [Rem] holden, charles [Rem] hutton, john [Rem] ========================= ---------- section j ---------- jackson, philip [BWM] jagger, charles sargeant [Rem] jones, captain adrian [BWM] ========================= ---------- section k ---------- kennington, eric [BWM] kenyon, colonel sir frederic [Rem] kipling, joseph rudyard [Rem] ========================= ---------- section l ---------- lafontaine, colonel cart de [Rem] lantéri, professor édouard [BWM] ledward, professor gilbert [BWM] lewis, sir robert [Rem] lloyd george, earl dwyfor - om [Rem] lorimer, sir robert [Rem] lutyens, sir edwin - om [Rem] ========================= ---------- section m ---------- mackenall, sir bertram [BWM] mallock, vivien [BWM] marochetti, baron carlo [BWM] marsh, sir edward howard [Rem] maufe, sir edward [Rem] mcmillan, william [BWM] melchett, lord [Rem] millington, major tasman [Rem] mills, john w [BWM] mond, sir alfred [Rem] ========================= ---------- section n ---------- nash, john [BWM] nightingale, florence - om [Rem] ========================= ---------- section 0 ---------- orpen, sir william [Rem] owen, wilfred [Rem] ========================= ---------- section p ---------- pegram, henry alfred [BWM] poole, henry [Rem] ========================= ---------- section r ---------- reid dick, sir william [BWM] roberts-jones, ivor [BWM] rosenburg, isaac [Rem] ========================= ---------- section s ---------- sassoon, siegfried [Rem] shepheard, sir peter [Rem] singer sargent, john [Rem] soissons, louis de [Rem] spencer, sir stanley [BWM] ========================= ---------- section t ---------- thornycroft, sir (william) hamo [BWM] toft, albert [BWM] turner, alfred [BWM] tweed, john [BWM] ========================= ---------- section w ---------- wade, george [BWM] ware, major general sir fabian [Rem] webb, sir aston [BWM] westmacott, sir richard [BWM] wheeler, sir charles [BWM] winter, faith [BWM] wood, francis derwent [BWM] worthington, sir hubert [Rem]

James Butler was born on 25 July 1931 in London. He studied at Maidstone School of Art from 1948 to 1950 (where he was introduced to modelling and carving), St Martin's School of Art from 1950 to 1952 and subsequently at the Royal College of Art, London. After two year's National Service in the Royal Corps of Signals, in 1955 he began an association with the City and Guilds of London Art School.

“he gave up teaching and devoted his time to numerous public commissions, as well as to commissions for private collections throughout the world”

Simultaneously he worked for the Giudici Brothers' firm of master stone carvers, working on sculptural features such as The Queen's Beasts at Kew Gardens and the restoration work on the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gore. He spent ten years working as a professional stone carver. In the period 1960 to 1975 he taught drawing and sculpture at the City and Guilds of London Art School. He was also visiting tutor to the Royal Academy Schools.

In 1972 he was awarded his first major commission by the Kenyan Government and produced the twice life-size statue President Kenyatta (1973) for Nairobi. This commission marked a major turning point in his career and he gave up teaching and devoted his time to numerous public commissions, as well as to commissions for private collections throughout the world.

His prolific output would include: The portrait statue of James Greathead, Engineer at Cornhill in London, the portrait statue Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis outside the Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London, the World Cycling Champion, National Cycling Centre, Manchester, the bronze portrait bust Sir Nicholas Bacon at St Albans School, Hertfordshire, the portrait statue Thomas Cook at London Road, Leicester, the bronze portrait bust Sir Frank Whittle at the RAF Club, Piccadilly, London, the portrait statue Billy Wright at the Molyneaux Stadium, Wolverhampton, the D Day Memorial for the Green Howards at Crepon in Normandy, the memorial statue King Richard III Castle Gardens, Leicester, the Leicester Seamstress Hotel Street, Leicester, the bronze sculpture The Burton Cooper at Burton on Trent, the portrait statue Sir John Moore with attendant figures of a Rifleman and Bugler at Sir John Moore Barracks, Winchester, the portrait statue James Brindley, Canal Engineer at Canal Basin, Coventry the memorial portrait statue of Duncan Edwards at Dudley town centre, England, the Fleet Air Arm Memorial Victoria Embankment, London, the sculpted tribute to Thunder Gulch winner of the Kentucky Derby, the sculpture for the National Guard Sports Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Anniversary Fountain Dolphin Square, London, the Cippico Fountain, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, the portrait statue John Wilkes at New Fetter Lane, London and a second casting produced for Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA, the bronze sculpture Skipping Girl at St Ann's Road, Harrow and The Royal Seal of the Realm commissioned by the Royal Mint for Queen Elizabeth II.

He has executed a number of sculptures in Singapore and these include: the Seagull Sculpture at Anchorpoint, the sculptures Girl and Teddy Bear and Child and Whale at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, the life size figures Ondine, Reclining Figure and Young Dancer at Avalon, Pidemco Land.

He sculpted Scramble in bronze to mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain for the RAF Benevolent Fund, ten of which were produced in a limited edition 24 inches tall and a further ten in an edition 12 inches tall.

James Butler has cited Classical Greek sculpture, the Italian Renaissance and Andrea Pisano, Donatello, Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, Aimeé-Jules Dalou, Georges Seurat, Hamo Thornycroft and Charles Sargeant Jagger as being important influences on his work. Warwickshire based, - as can be seen from the list above, much of his work may be seen in the Midlands. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1972, a Member of the Royal West of England Academy in 1980 and Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1981.