John Angel

Born 1 November 1881
Died 16 October 1960

Active: 1901 - 1960

Country of birth: England

Country of death: United States

Sculptor, architectural and ecclesiastical sculptor, medallist, lecturer

Born in Newton Abbot, Devon. He was the son of Samuel Angel (born c.1850, Ashburton, Devon), tailor. John served a seven year apprenticeship carving wood, stone and marble. He studied at Exeter College of Art, then South London Technical School of Art (Lambeth) and finally at the Royal Academy Schools, London from 1906. Angel won several prizes at the RA Schools and then travelled in Italy during 1912. For four years he worked as an assistant to Sir George Frampton. Angel's works from this date include: the Exeter and Bridgwater War Memorials; and a statue of St George at Rotherham. A number of statuettes and busts are located in various collections, including in Glasgow and the Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. These include busts of Sir John Biles and Sir Philip Watts.

In 1925 Angel emigrated to the USA where he had a lengthy and successful career principally as a sculptor of ecclesiastical carvings and sculptures. His numerous commissions include: most of the statuary for the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York (Ralph Adams Cram Architect); statuary on the Altar of St Patrick's Cathedral, New York and a marble statue of Saint Patrick in its choir; St Paul at Concord, NH; Last Supper group (marble) for East Liberty Church, Pittsburgh; Crucifixion group, St Louis, Mo.; Majestas group, and The Annunciation group, Princeton University Chapel; Christ in the Temple (marble panel), St Paul's School, Concord, NH; Madonna and Child (marble panel), Chatham Hall School, Chatham, Va.; Bronze Doors, Central Portal, West Front, St Patrick's Cathedral, New York; statue Christ the Teacher (bronze) for Catholic Central High School, Braintree, Mass; statuary reredos, St John's Church, Youngstown, Ohio; sculpture for National Shrine of Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC; and four twelve-foot marble statues of Saints for Cathedral of St Paul, St Paul, Minnesota.

Angel also made a number of statues and busts including William M. Rice, Rice Institute, Texas; Francis Vigo, (granite) at Vincennes, Ind.; Alexander Hamilton, Chicago; Stephen Fuller Austin, (bronze) for Austin, Tex., and a bust of Judge John Munro Woolsey, Phillips Acadamy, Andover, Mass. Angel also designed the William Edward Parsons Memorial Medal for Yale University and the 1956 medal for the Medallic Art Society.

He received a number of distinguished awards and honours, among them Hon. LittD, Columbia University (1936) and Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters (1956). Angel was a member of the Mediaeval Academy of America, the Architectural League, the National Sculpture Society of America, and the National Academy of Design. In 1942 he married Elizabeth Day Seymour daughter of d of Professor Thomas Day Seymour, Yale University. They lived in Fairfield, Connecticut where Angel died in 1960.

Citing this record

'John Angel', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1206480763, accessed 19 May 2013]