Sir (Edgar) Bertram Mackennal RA, MVO, HRSA, KCVO
Born 12 June 1863
Died 10 October 1931
Active: 1883 - 1929
Country of birth and death: Australia
Sculptor, modeller, designer
Born in Melbourne. His parents were from Ayrshire. His father, John Simpson MacKennal was also a sculptor. Bertram studied in Paris, trained in Edinburgh, and later settled in London.
Wealth at death: £17,208 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 20 November 1931
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Silence
1908 (Circa)
Diana Wounded
1921
Locations
Address 87 Clifton Hill St. John's Wood London NW | View on map
1898 (Circa) - 1902 (Circa)
In 1897 gave '87a Clifton Hill' as his address
Address 38 Marlborough Hill St John's Wood London | View on map
1905 (Circa) - 1925 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Second Exhibition of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (London), 1899
'Goodnight'
Exhibited at Exhibition of International Art (International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London), 1898
'Bronze Head, Mrs. Phil May'
Exhibited at Seventh Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (London), 1907
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1897
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1909
Multiple works
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1921
'Diana Wounded'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1886 - 1929
Exhibited 31 times (gaps between 1886-94 and 1898-1903 when he was in Australia or Paris), from 1896 usually exhibited 3-5 works each year.
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-sixth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1896
1896
Truth (cat. no. 1197, bronze statuette, £45); Salomé (cat. no. 1224, bronze statuette, £35).
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1902 - 1925
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 7 times: 1902 (1 work), 1908 (2 works), 1913 (1 work), 1918 (3 works), 1920 (2 works), 1924 (1 work) and 1925 (2 works)
Exhibited at Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings of the British School 1878-1903, and Sculpture (Nottingham Castle Museum), 1903
September 1903
Mackennel exhibited two sculptures (both works were undated).
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Dublin, 1907
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II: 'Glory', p. 24 (167), lent by the sculptor; 'Madonna and Christ Child', p. 25 (185), lent by the sculptor.
Exhibited at Festival of Britain, London: Ten Decades, a Review of British Taste, 1851-1951, 1951
1951
Mackennal's 'The Earth and the Elements' was exhibited posthumously, and lent by the Tate Gallery.
Selection committee member of Chantrey Bequest (Chantrey Fund; Royal Academy of Arts), 1875-1948
1911 - 1922
Served on the selection committee for sculpture in 1911, 1914, 1921 and 1922 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1911', 1912, p. 26).
Institutional and Business Connections
Committee member of Royal Academy Schools
1921 - 1925
Served on the Selection Committee (one of six elected members), and on the Hanging Committee in 1921. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1920', (1921), p. 32. Served on the Schools Committee in 1922 and 1923. See 'Annual Report, 1921', (1922), p. 31. Served on the Selection Committee (junior half of the Council) in 1925. See 'Annual Report, 1924', (1925), p. 30.
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
27 January 1909 - 23 November 1922
Elected RA in 1922
Elected honorary member of The Royal Scottish Academy
1920
Elected RA Royal Academy of Arts
23 November 1922 - 10 October 1931
Died in 1931. Mackennal's Diploma Work was entitled 'The Dawn of a New Age' (bronze group). See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1924', (1925), p. 64.
Managed donation to Royal Society of British Sculptors
5 November 1906
MacKennal recieved several small donations to pass on, to contribute to the cost of the Society's proposed sculpture exhibition. When it was decided that the exhibition was to be abandoned in favour of the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908, the monies were returned with thanks to the donors [5 November 1906, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]
Member of Art Workers Guild
May 1905 - 1912
Resigned 1912.
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1905 - 1922
Amongst those 'Invited to join without the formality of proposal and seconding' [January 10 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I].
Had been council member but asked in 1909 that his name should not be forwarded for re-election [4 January 1909, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Member of council Royal Academy of Arts
1922 - 1926
Served as a Member of the Council from 1925 to 1926. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1924', (1925), p. 29.
Note that in 1922, Mackennal served on the 'Recommending Committee for Sculpture'. See 'Annual Report, 1922', (1923), p. 76.
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
4 December 1883 - 1909 (Circa)
Elected A.R.A. in 1909. See Popp and Valentine, 'Royal Academy of Arts Directory of Membership', (1996), pp. 78-79.
Visitor at Royal Academy Schools
1910 - 1911
Listed as a visitor to the School of Sculpture from 1910. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1909', (1910), p. 32.
Personal and Professional Connections
Apprenticed William Birnie Rhind
1880 (Circa)
Friends with Charles Douglas Richardson
Richardson and Mackennal studied together in Australia and London. They also shared a studio for some of the time they were attending the Royal Academy Schools.
Nominated by Harry Bates
12 December 1895
For RA.
Nominated by James Pittendrigh MacGillivray
1920
For HRSA
Nominator of David Burns Brown
13 January 1908
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Nominator of Stanley Nicholson Babb
1912
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of Mortimer John Brown
1912
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of Ernest George Gillick
1912
For RA.
Nominator of Alexander James Leslie
1912 (Presumed)
For RA; cancelled nomination at an unspecified date.
Nominator of Charles Web Gilbert
30 April 1917 (Presumed)
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of Leonard Stanford Merrifield
26 April 1917
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of Paul Raphael Montford
1918
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of Alfred Turner
22 April 1920
For RA.
Nominator of Edwin Whitney-Smith
22 April 1920
For RA; unsuccessful.
Seconded by Edward Onslow Ford
12 December 1895
For RA.
Seconder of Harold Parker
15 January 1906
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed as medallist Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin, Gem, and Seal-Engravers, Mint Masters, &c., Ancient and Modern with References to their Works, B.C. 500 - A.D. 1900, Volume VIII, 1930 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Forrer notes that the artist was trained at the Melbourne Art School. In 1882 he came to London and studied at the Royal Academy, London, from 1883. Forrer notes that shortly after this Mackennal went to Paris and worked there and also in Italy. In 1881 he left Paris for Australia. He returned to Paris in 1884. Mackennal first exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1866. Forrer lists a number of sculptures by the artist. Mackennal exhibited plaster models and medallic works at the New York International Medallic Exhibition in March 1910. See Forrer, vol. 8, (1930), pp. 2-3.
Listed under Sculptors Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin, Gem, and Seal-Engravers, Mint Masters, &c., Ancient and Modern with References to their Works, B.C. 500 - A.D. 1900, Volume III, 1907 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Listed as a contemporary sculptor who exhibited a portrait plaque and a bronze relief at the 1894 Paris Salon. See Forrer, vol. 3, (1907), p. 524.
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
Sources
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Seventeenth Exhibition of Works of Modern Masters, 1921
November 1921
p. 48
Annual Report from the Council of The Royal Academy to the General Assembly of Academicians for the Year 1924, 1925 Royal Academy Annual Reports
20 February 1925
pp. 29-30, 64
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1901-1912
All lists of members' addresses 1905-1911.
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
2006
Noel S. Hutchison, 'Mackennal, Sir Edgar Bertram (1863 - 1931)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 301-302 and http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100295b.htm?hilite=mackennal (accessed 8 February 2010)
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-sixth, 1896 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1896
pp. 45-48.
Catalogue of the Exhibition of International Art of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers 1898
1898
p.42, p.45.
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1897
1897
Cat. Nos. 811, 864, pp. 76, 82, 102
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1909
1909
Cat. Nos. 531, 532, 536, pp. 47, 80
International Exhibition, Dublin 1907, Fine Art Catalogue
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II
p. 24, no. 167:'Glory'.
Lent by the Sculptor.
p. 25, no. 185:'Madonna nad Christ Child'.
Lent by the Sculptor'.
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Charles Marriott, ‘Mackennal, Sir (Edgar) Bertram (1863–1931)’, rev. Juliet Peers, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34746, accessed 30 Aug 2009]
Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1895.
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1906-1927
1927
p.42, pp.43-45, p.86, p.97, pp.177-178.
Royal Academy of Arts. Directory of Membership from the Foundation in 1768 to 1995 including Honorary Members, 1996
1996
pp. 78-79.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
10 January 1905; 15 January 1906; 5 November 1906; 13 January 1908; 4 January 1909.
The One Hundred and Fourth Annual Report of the Council of The Royal Scottish Academy, 1931
1931
Obituary p. 13
The Scottish Modern Arts Association; Thirtieth Annual Report for year 1936
1936
Citing this record
'Sir (Edgar) Bertram Mackennal RA, MVO, HRSA, KCVO', 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_1203102638, accessed 24 Mar 2023]
