Albert Toft (3 June 1862 – 18 December 1949)[1] was a British sculptor.[2]
Toft's career was dominated by public commemorative commissions in bronze, mostly single statues of military or royal figures. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, Boer War to 1902, and then World War I to 1918, provided plentiful commissions. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Toft as one of the major figures of the "New Sculpture" movement following on from William Hamo Thornycroft and George Frampton. Toft described his work as 'Idealist' but he also said of himself that "to become an idealist you must necessarily first be a realist."
His father was a notable modeller in ceramics, and his brother was the landscape artist Joseph Alfonso Toft.
Biography
Toft was born in Handsworth, then in Staffordshire, and now a suburb of Birmingham. His parents were Charles Toft (1832–1909) and Rosanna Reeves. His father was a senior modeller at Mintons, and then the chief modeller at Wedgwood pottery. He had also taught modelling at Birmingham School of Art for some years to 1873.[3]
From 1885 onwards Toft exhibited at the Royal Academy and some of his most notable works exhibited at the Royal Academy included Fate-Led (1890, now at Walker Art Gallery), The Sere and Yellow Leaf (1892), Spring (1897, now at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), The Spirit of Contemplation (1901; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle) and The Metal Pourer (1915). In 1915 his sculpture The Bather was purchased using the Royal Academy's Chantrey Fund. His 1888 bust of William Ewart Gladstone for the National Liberal Club was modelled from life and acclaimed as one of the best. In 1900 Toft received a bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.
He created monuments to Queen Victoria for Leamington Spa, Nottingham, and South Shields, and to Edward VII in Birmingham and Warwick. He designed the coronation medal of George V and Queen Mary (1911) and a statuette of W. S. Penley playing Charley's Aunt for Royal Doulton (1913). He also published a book, Modelling and Sculpture in 1911, which was reprinted in 1949.
^'Charles Toft', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 accessed 10 Nov 2018
^Remembrance and British war memorials Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Sourced 1 September 2007
^Toft's biography at the Henry Moore Institute website
^"George Wallis FSA (1811-1891)". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
^Diane Bilbey with Marjorie Trusted (2002). British Sculpture 1470 to 2000 A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. V&A Publications. ISBN 1851773959.
^ a bA User's Guide to Public Sculpture. English Heritage / PMSA. 2000. ISBN 185074776-8.
^ a b"Nottingham Castle" (PDF). English Heritage. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
^ a b c d eJo Darke (1991). The Monument Guide to England and Wales. Macdonald Illustrated. ISBN 0-356-17609-6.
^"War Memorials Register: Oldham". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^Historic England. "Oldham War Memorial, including memorial wall, piers, gates and steps to St Mary's churchyard and forecourt walls, steps and bulstrade (south side) and railings to St Mary's Churchyard (west side) (1210137)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^Anthony McIntosh (7 November 2018). "Remembrance in bronze and stone: memorials of the First World War". Art UK. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
^"War Memorials Register: Guest, Keen and Nettlefords Works Serviceman". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
Modelling And Sculpture by Albert Toft, Seeley, Service & Co. Limited London, 1949—A Full Account of the Various Methods and Processes Employed in These Arts
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Albert Toft.
51 artworks by or after Albert Toft at the Art UK site