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 (1849-1938, born in Ashburton, Devon), tailor. John served a five-year apprenticeship (from 14 June 1897 to 1 November 1902) as a carver with the Exeter firm of J. Wippell Co, church and school furnishers then under the ownership of Henry Hugh Wippell (1842-1912). John studied at Exeter College of Art, then South London Technical School of Art (Lambeth) and finally at the Royal Academy Schools, London from 1907-12. 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. However he did not, at least initially, sever his connections in the UK. In 1930 Angel exhibited a statuette group in bronze of a mother and child called 'Achilles and Thetis' at the Leicester Galleries. He wrote to the gallery on 5 March 1930 to request the return of the sculpture, also mentioning that he was ordering more casts.
Angel's numerous commissions in the USA include: most of the statuary for the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York (Ralph Adams Cram Architect); statuary on the Altar, a life-size marble statue of Saint Patrick in the choir, and the tympanum and six figures for the bronze doors of the Central Portal, West front for St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City; St Paul at Concord, NH; Last Supper group in marble for East Liberty Church, Pittsburgh; Crucifixion group, St Louis, Mo.; Majestas group, the Baptism of Christ, and The Annunciation at Princeton University Chapel; marble panel of Christ in the Temple, St Paul’s School, Concord, NH; marble panel of the Madonna and Child, Chatham Hall School, Chatham, Va; bronze statue of Christ the Teacher for Catholic Central High School, Braintree, Mass; statuary for the reredos, St John’s Church, Youngstown, Ohio; seven tympana for the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC; and four twelve-foot marble statues of the Apostles for the 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 Angel married Elizabeth Day Seymour daughter of Professor Thomas Day Seymour, Yale University. They lived in Fairfield, Connecticut where Angel died in 1960.
This entry includes information about Angel's apprenticeship and career as a sculptor submitted by Carol Morris. The information about exhibiting a work at the Leicester Galleries in 1930 was submitted by Dr. Evelyn Silber based on information in the Ernest Brown & Phillips Archive (private).
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.
David
1915
p. 61
Vintage
1917
VAD Nurse
1923
Mother and child
1924
The vintage
1924
Locations
Address 22 Buller Road Exeter England | View on map
1901 (Circa)
Address 12 Croxley Road Paddington London England | View on map
1911
Address 47 Okehampton Road St Thomas Exeter England | View on map
1912 (Circa)
Address 68A King Henry's Road South Hampstead London NW England | View on map
1914 - 1916
Address 89A King Henry's Road South Hampstead London NW England | View on map
1916 - 1917
Address 4 Greville Place London NW6 England | View on map
1917 - 1927
Used this address in 1917,1919 and 1921-27
Address 87 Clifton Hill St. John's Wood London NW England | View on map
1920
At 87A Clifton Hill
Address Apartment 7C 419 West 119th St New York United States | View on map
1926 (Presumed)
Studio located at Eaton Studios Eaton Terrace London England | View on map
1913 (Circa) - 1916 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Fifty-Fourth Annual Exhibition, 1915
'David'
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Sixty-Second Annual Exhibition, 1923
'VAD Nurse'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1912 - 1927
Exhibited 13 times, eighteen works in all (statuettes, busts, and several studies for the Exeter and Bridgwater war memorials)
Speaker at Wells and Fountains (Art Workers Guild), 1920
Speaker at Sculpture (Art Workers Guild), 1924
Speaker at European Bronzes (Art Workers Guild), 1925
Won prize Landseer Scholarships (Royal Academy of Arts), 1884-1950
1907
Won prize Landseer Scholarships (Royal Academy of Arts), 1884-1950
1910
Institutional and Business Connections
Elected to membership of Art Workers Guild
November 1913 - 1960 (Presumed)
Member of committee from 1923-1925
Fellow of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1923 - 1936
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1919 - 1936
Angel's application for membership was proposed by W. R. Stephens, and seconded by R. Colton.
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
30 July 1907 - July 1912
Awarded a one year Landseer Scholarship for sculpture in 1907. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1907', (1908), p. 30. The following year, Angel won a first prize silver medal for a model of a bust from the life, and a £20 first prize and silver medal for a set of four models of a figure from the life. See 'Annual Report, 1908', (1909), p. 32. In 1910, he was awarded a one year Landseer Scholarship for sculpture. See 'Annual Report, 1910', (1911), p. 37. In 1911, Angel won a £200 prize and travelling studentship for a composition in sculpture. See 'Annual Report, 1911', (1912), p. 40.
Unsuccessful in ballot for election to Royal Academy of Arts
Personal and Professional Connections
Nominated by William Ernest Reynolds-Stephens
For membership of the RSBS
Nominated by William Robert Colton
For membership of the RSBS
Nominated by Frederick William Pomeroy
19 March 1924
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by William Hamo Thornycroft
19 March 1924
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by William Goscombe John
19 March 1924
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of Phyllis Muriel Cowan Archibald Clay
1923 (Presumed)
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Wood Carver - Appren[tice]' worker
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor' worker
Sources
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1913-1933
1913, p.15; 1920, p.5; 1924, p.7; 1925, p.6.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
Class: RG13; Piece: 2037; Folio: 100; Page: 3
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
Class: RG13; Piece: 2037; Folio: 100; Page: 3
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN16 RG78PN1 RD1 SD1 ED16 SN203
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1906-1927
1927
p.224.
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1927-1938
1938
p.111.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 2, 1913-1922
1922 (Presumed)
25 March 1919
Who was Who
December 2007
‘ANGEL, John’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U234076, accessed 13 June 2012]
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 24 Sep 2023]