Public Commemoration and Representation Post-1945: The Sculpture of Ivor Roberts-Jones (1913-1996)

This project seeks to enhance understanding of post-1945 public sculpture in Britain through the first in-depth critical study of the artistic production of Welsh-born sculptor Ivor Roberts-Jones RA (1913-1996): a founder member, in 1953, of the Society of Portrait Sculptors and a champion of traditional figurative sculptural forms. During his career Roberts-Jones was held in high esteem by his artistic peers, within the Royal Academy and by the public at large, for major public commissions in bronze such as: the Augustus John Memorial at Fordingbridge in Hampshire (1964-67), the full-length figure of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London (1970-73) and the full-length figure of Field Marshal Viscount Slim in Parliament Street, London (1987-1990).

His work regularly featured in prominent exhibitions of sculpture embracing a wide variety of media supported by the Arts Council and he received over 25 commissions from the National Museum of Wales to produce portrait heads and busts of prominent Welsh personalities over a quarter of a century. He, furthermore, proved an influential teacher: students of his have produced major UK public sculptures such as: the National Women's Memorial, London by J.W. Mills (2005) and Sir John Betjeman, St. Pancras Railway Station by M. Jennings (2007). In spite of his sculptural achievements and legacy, Roberts-Jones's significant contribution to post-1945 British art and accompanying debates on nation, commemoration, and the purpose of public art, has received surprisingly little scholarly attention.

Based upon extensive original archival research, including unpublished artist's letters, drawings, annotated photographs and sculpture models, this project will examine the view widely aired at his death that Roberts-Jones produced some of the most impressive and memorable examples of major commemorative public sculpture in bronze in post -1945 Europe. For the first time, his portraiture - in the collections of the National Museum of Wales, the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Gallery, London - and his public memorials will be properly assessed within a Western European modernist sculptural tradition that embraces such distinguished practitioners as: Maillol, Epstein, Frink, Marini and Belsky. In addition, the series of subtle heads of blind subjects Roberts-Jones produced in bronze and plaster between the 1960's and '80's, will be related to a 20th Century tradition of portraiture developed by Fautrier as well as to contemporary debates exploring how the unsighted, or partially sighted, imagine their facial appearance: - what Roberts-Jones termed their 'private geographies.'

The project examines Roberts-Jones's portraiture and public commemorative work in relation to current debates surrounding: the nature of 'Britishness'; the evolution of Welsh national identity; the problematic relationship between public art and Britain's imperial past (especially with respect to his imagining of Winston Churchill), and the contribution his monumental figuration made to the formulation of an officially sponsored discourse of supposedly 'heroic' normative masculinity such as his figures of WWII Field Marshals Slim and Alanbrooke. The impact Roberts-Jones had on the future development of representational trends within British sculpture, in his capacity as Head of Sculpture at Goldsmith's College, will also be explored. An assessment will be provided of the artist's legacy and his continuing relevance in relation to the public commemorative sculpture through such contemporary practitioners as N. Boonham, E. Milner, J.W. Mills and M. Jennings.

The project will include a series of national and regional exhibitions and displays with accompanying texts, public talks and 2 one-day conferences, It will culminate in a display at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. Through this means, maximised by media coverage, research will be disseminated to an exceptionally broad audience.

Designed to benefit an unusually wide range of audiences through a carefully managed programme of ongoing dissemination and engagement, this project will ensure maximum impact through 5 public exhibitions and displays of Roberts-Jones' work with accompanying catalogues/leaflets and public talks, alongside 2 accessible conferences, a major publication on the artist, and 2 journal articles. Key beneficiaries beyond academia are the museum and gallery sector, archivists and librarians, further education staff and students, and the wider public interested in art, national and local history, heritage, and visiting museums and galleries.

The ongoing programme of research dissemination and impact is centred on 5 public exhibitions/displays proposed from October 2011 to February 2013 at Fordingbridge Museum (Hampshire) Churchill College (Cambridge), Henry Moore Institute (Leeds), Society of Portrait Sculptors (London) and National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth). Specific benefits are as follows:

- Teaching staff and school/college students will be directly engaged through exhibitions/displays designed to appeal to Higher and Secondary Education sectors. Working with each institution as already agreed, the PI and RA will co-ordinate accompanying display/exhibition material (leaflets and catalogues), a series of public talks and educational visits which focus on aspects of Roberts-Jones's work that directly relate to curricula content in history, art, politics and media studies, and two one-day conferences in Leeds and Aberystwyth exploring respectively the changing nature of portrait sculpture in the 20th Century, and public art and Welsh national identity c.1900-present day..

- museums, galleries, librarians and archive staff will directly benefit from the new knowledge and research expertise generated through collaborating with the PI and RA on curating of exhibitions/displays on specific aspects of their collections which profile their rich local and national importance. These will engage diverse communities through accompanying public talks by the PI and RA, the production of leaflets/illustrated catalogues, the co-organisation of two conferences, and audience evaluation. The Robert-Jones publication, 2 refereed articles, online published talks, and the depositing of archival material at each institution will ensure a continuing legacy and impact beyond the project's lifetime.

- the wider public interested in art, national and local history and heritage will have access to the research generated during the ongoing phrases of the project from the initial webpages announcing the project; the different exhibitions/displays held in 5 UK venues (including the display of Robert-Jones portraiture at Society of Portrait Sculptors' annual exhibition in Cork Street, London), accompanying display leaflets/illustrated catalogues, public talks and conferences. All events will be supported by media publicity developed in close collaboration with Kingston University's Press office. Target audiences will include local societies, library and museum users, and gallery visitors. The PI and RA will collaborate with each institution to ensure the widest possible audience engagement and evaluation.

Ongoing impact post-award with be ensured by depositing of archival material at each institution, online publications, and the publication and promotion of Roberts-Jones Monograph/Catalogue Raisonné in spring 2013 by Philip Wilson Publishers London (agreement in place if grant awarded). A publisher of well-designed and well-received studies of British 20th-Century artists/ art movements available through on-line outlets and principle booksellers.

During the past 5 years the PI has curated a number of high-profile exhibitions of 20th-Century art/artists within a variety of venues and has an established publications record. Throughout, t