Prize for the best work of sculpture exhibited in London
Start Date: 1925
Type: Competition
Description: Sometimes referred to as 'The Annual Best Work Medal'. Between 1925 and 1951 only two medals were awarded in gold; these were presented to Charles Sargeant Jagger in 1926, and Alfred Frank Hardiman in 1946. The medal was not awarded, for the first time, in 1944.
Note that in May 1919, Paul Raphael Montford proposed that awards should be made annually 'to the sculptor or sculptors (other than members or associates of the Royal Academy ) exhibiting the finest work of the year' (see Minute Book No. 2, 1913-1922, 13 May 1919).
Policy: In 1925 it is recorded that Sir Otto Beit would provide the funds for the foundation of a medal 'to be awarded for the best work in Sculpture publicly exhibited in London in each year'.
Members of the society voted to select the best work from those works that were nominated by members (see 'Annual Report, 1925', 1926, pp. 4-5).
In 1940 the Council asked members of the society to nominate works for the annual award. The 1940 'Annual Report' notes that 'it now almost always devolves upon the Council to make the recommendations - a responsibility which they have no wish to assume'.
In 1945 the Council recommended that members should be reminded 'just before the Royal Academy opens, that voting for this medal will take place in the following Spring, so that if members desire to, they could record their vote immediately after the Royal Academy closes, and any such vote would be filed in readiness to be cast when the decission takes place'. The Council also reminded its members that only works exhibited in London during the previous twelve months were eligible for the award (see 'Annual Report, 1945', 1946, pp. 4-5).
No award was given in 1948. A sub-committee was formed by Gilbert Ledward, E. Wade, and George A. Holman, who made suggestions to revise the competition. The committee proposed that voting should not be open to all members, and that a sub-committee of the Council be responsible for awarding the prize. They also suggested that 'foreigners be eligible' for the award, and that works must have been exhibited in London during the last twelve months 'for the first time' (see 'Annual Report, 1948', 1949, p. 4).
No award was given in 1951.
Participants
Adjudicated by Estcourt James Clack
1947
Won the award in 1947 for his carving in yew entitled 'Daphne', which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1946.
Awarded prize to William McMillan
1925
Won the prize for a 'marble half-figure' entitled 'Syrinx' [sic]. Awarded a silver medal.
Awarded prize to Charles Sargeant Jagger
1926
Awarded for his 'Artillery Memorial, Hyde Park Corner'. The Council decided 'that owing to the exceptional importance and quality of this fine work, the Medal on this occasion should be struck in gold for presentation to Mr. Jagger' (see 'Annual Report, 1926', 1927, pp. 4-5).
Awarded prize to Gilbert Ledward
July 1927
Won the prize for his 'Guards Memorial', London. Ledward was presented with a silver medal.
Awarded prize to William Reid Dick
12 December 1928 - July 1929
Won the award for the best work in 1928 for 'a charming series of bas-reliefs of children round the main door-way of Selfridges in Oxford Street, placed in position during the year under review [1928]'. It was presented to him in July.
Awarded prize to Charles Leonard Hartwell
July 1929
Awarded a silver medal for his bronze group entitled 'The Goatherd's Daughter'.
Awarded prize to Alfred Frank Hardiman
28 March 1929
Won the prize for his 'Haig Memorial in Whitehall'.
Awarded prize to Gilbert William Bayes
June 1931
Bayes won the award for his frieze 'Drama Throughout the Ages', which was 'placed upon the Saville Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue', London.
Awarded prize to Charles Sargeant Jagger
1933
Won the award for his 'groups of Sculpture at Imperial Chemical House, Milbank, S. W.'.
Awarded prize to Ernest George Gillick
1935
Won the prize for his statues entitled 'Ex Tenebris Lux', and exhibited at the Royal Academy. Awarded a silver medal.
Awarded prize to Charles Leonard Hartwell
1936
Hartwell was awarded a silver medal for his statue of 'St George', on the Marylebone War Memorial, St John's Wood, London.
Awarded prize to Alfred Bertram Pegram
1939 - 2 April 1940
Awarded one of two silver medals for 1939, for his marble work entitled 'Serenitas in Turba', that was exhibited at the Winter Exhibition, Burlington House, 1939-1940.
Awarded prize to Alfred James Oakley
1939 - 2 April 1940
Awarded one of two silver medals for 1939, for his marble work entitled 'The Gazelle' in carved wood, that was exhibited at the Winter Exhibition, Burlington House, 1939-1940.
Awarded prize to William McMillan
1 April 1941
Won the medal for his 'Group of a Fountain in TRafalgar Square, London', which was exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1940.
Awarded prize to Robert Jackson Emerson
31 March 1942
Won the prize for his statue entitled 'Golden Youth', which was exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1941.
Awarded prize to James Wedgwood
1943
Won the prize for his stone groups entitled 'Pieta' and 'Adoration', that were exhibited at the United Artists' Exhibition, Royal Academy, Winter 1942-1943.
Awarded prize to Alfred Frank Hardiman
1946
Won the prize for his Fountain Group for the Council Hall at Bristol, which had been exhibited at the Royal Academy. The Council noted that the work was 'particularly fine' and therefore awarded the medal in gold.
Awarded prize to Hilda Littler
1949
Won the prize for her mahogany statuette group entitled 'The Infant St Francis', which had been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1949.
Awarded prize to William McMillan
1950
Won a gold medal for his bronze fountain group in the Queen Mary Garden, Regent's Park (commissioned by the Constance Fund).
Awarded to Richard Louis Garbe
June 1930
A silver medal for his ivory group entitled 'Autumn', that was currently being exhibited at the Royal Academy, having been purchased by the Academy through the Chantrey Bequest.
Participants included Gilbert William Bayes
1925 - June 1926
Bayes designed the award medal presented to winning sculptors. It was completed by 1926.
Sources
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Annual Report of Council, with Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 1926, to be Presented at the Twenty-Second Ordinary General Meeting, 1927
February 1927
pp. 4-5.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Annual Report of the Council, for the Year Ending 31 December 1949, to be Presented at the Forty-Sixth Annual General Meeting, 1950
February 1950
p. 4.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Annual Report of the Council, for the Year Ending 31 December 1950, to be Presented at the Forty-Seventh Annual General Meeting, 1951
February 1951
p. 4.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Annual Report of the Council, for the Year Ending 31 December 1951, to be Presented at the Forty-Eighth Annual General Meeting, 1952
February 1952
p. 6.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 2, 1913-1922
1922 (Presumed)
13 May 1919
Citing this record
'Prize for the best work of sculpture exhibited in London', 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/event.php?id=msib4_1270826649, accessed 22 Mar 2023]
