John Macallan Swan RA
Born 9 December 1847
Died 14 February 1910
Active: 1878 - 1909
Country of birth and death: England
Painter, sculptor, medallist
Born in Brentford, Middlesex. His father Robert Swan (born c.1816 in Scotland) was a carpenter at a distillery in Brentford (c.1851) and then the manager of a distillery in Worcester (c.1861). John Swan studied painting at Worcester School of Art, and then, from around 1872, at Lambeth School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. Disatisfied with the teaching in London he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, c.1874 where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) with Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-88) and P.A.J. Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1919).
Swan had already developed an interest in animal subjects and Gérôme introduced him to the animal sculptor, Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910). Inspired by the work of Frémiet, Antoine-Louis Barye (1796–1875) and Auguste-Nicolas Cain (1821–1894) Swan began modelling animal sculptures. For the remainder of his career, he would divide his time equally between painting and sculpting. He principally created small bronze statuettes but later in his career worked in silver. On his return to London, Swan continued an earlier practice of drawing directly from animal subjects by working in Regent's Park Zoo. He also used the animal photographs of Eadweard Muybridge.
Swan came from an artistic family. He trained his sister Alice Macallan Swan (1864-1939) in painting and another sister, Margaret, married the artist W.R. Symonds (Swan and he were fellow students at Lambeth School of Art). John Macallan married Mary Ann Rankin, who was an artist specialising in portraits of children who also made some sculpture. Their daughter Mary Ann became sculptor.
Swan was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy, an academician from 1905, a member of the Vienna and Munich secessions, the Art Workers Guild and several painting societies. He lectured on various technical subjects and in 1906 published a treatise on metal work (prepared with Walter Gilbert) in the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (3rd series, vol. XIII, pp. 145-175).
In 1907 Swan was commissioned to model eight lions and an over life size portrait bust of Cecil Rhodes for a memorial at Groote Schuur, Cape Town. The memorial was completed posthumously after Swan's sudden death at Thatches, Niton, Isle of Wight in 1910.
Wealth at death: £4,459 4s. 2d.
Probate date: 1 April 1910
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.
A Tiger
1896 (Presumed)
£60
Lioness Drinking
1898
Leopard Eating
1901
Fata Morgana
1901
Small Cub
1901
Lioness Drinking
1901
Leopard and Tortoise
1903 (Presumed)
Young Himalayan Tiger
1906 (Circa)
Lioness Drinking
1906 (Circa)
Lioness in Repose
1906 (Circa)
Locations
Address 24 Rue Bonaparte Paris | View on map
1878 (Circa) - 1879 (Circa)
Address 5 Rue Bourdaloue Paris | View on map
1879 (Circa)
Address Abinger Mill Wotton | View on map
1882 (Circa)
Address 171 Stanhope Street London NW | View on map
1884 (Circa)
Address 3 Acacia Road St John's Wood London NW | View on map
1889 (Circa) - 1910
The lived next door to the painter Leonard Pownall.
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Franco-British Exhibition of Science, Art and Industries (London), 1908
'Boy and Bearcubs'
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1898
'Lioness Drinking'
Exhibited at The Seventy-Seventh Autumn Exhibition at the Rooms of the Society, New Street (Royal Birmingham Society of Artists), 1903
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1897
'Leopard'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1901
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1909
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Special Loan Exhibition, 1911
'Lioness in Repose'
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirtieth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1900
'Puma and Macaw'
Exhibited at City of Manchester Art Gallery, Exhibition of Drawings & Examples of Craftsmanship, 1911
Multiple works
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1906
'Young Himalayan Tiger'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1878 - 1909
Exhibited 24 times (plus posthumously in 1910), about 52 works in all (he began showing sculptures in 1889 and thereafter about half the works he exhibited were bronze or silver statuettes)
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1879 - 1917
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 11 times: 1879 (2 works), 1890 (1 work), 1891 (2 works), 1899 (5 works), 1903 (1 work), 1904 (2 works), 1905 (2 works), 1906 (1 work), 1909 (1 work), 1912 (1 work) and 1917 (1 work)
Exhibited at Cardiff Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition, 1896
2 May 1896 - 30 September 1896
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Glasgow, 1901
1901
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures & sculpture: the thirty-second (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1902
1902
Wounded Leopard (cat. no. 1393A, plaster, not for sale); Polar Bears (cat. no. 1400, silver piece, lent by Edward Davis, Esq., not for sale).
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Dublin, 1907
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II:
'A Lioness', p. 23 (159); 'A Lioness' (bronze), p. 28 (232); 'A Lioness Drinking' (bronze), p. 28 (234). All lent by the sculptor.
Speaker at The pickling, colouring and lacquering of metals, including patina (Art Workers Guild), 1890
Institutional and Business Connections
Committee member of Cardiff Scheme Committee of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Arts
1905
Served as a Member of the Council. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1905', (1906), p. 30.
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
16 January 1894 - 22 March 1905
Elected R.A. in 1905. Note that Swan's category of membership is listed as 'painter'. See Popp and Valentine, 'Royal Academy of Arts Directory of Membership', (1996), p. 116.
Elected RA Royal Academy of Arts
22 March 1905
Note that Swan's category of membership is listed as 'painter'. See Popp and Valentine, 'Royal Academy of Arts Directory of Membership', (1996), p. 116.
Employee of Bousson, Valadon & Co.
Member of Art Workers Guild
1887 - 1901
Resigned 1894, rejoined 1900; honorary member 1901, resigned 1901.
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1905 - 1910
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]. Died in 1910.
Member of council Royal Academy of Arts
1906 - 1907
Served as a Member of the Council. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Reports'.
Descriptions of Practice
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 V, 1912 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Listed as a contemporary sculptor who exhibited a portrait medal at the Royal Academy, London, in 1900. See Forrer, vol. 5, (1912), p. 717.
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Painter & Sculptor (Artist)' and his wife, Mary Ann is also a 'Painter & Sculptor'
Sources
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Twelfth Exhibition of Works of Modern Masters, 1906
September 1906
p. 51
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1885-1900
1890, p.6.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirtieth, 1900 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1900
Cat. No. 1431, p. 39
Autumn exhibition of pictures & sculpture: the thirty-second, 1902 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1902
pp. 42-47.
Cardiff Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition
1896
Catalogue of the Exhibition of Drawings & Examples of Craftsmanship, Spring 1911
1911
Cat. Nos. 220-225, p. 31
Catalogue of the Special Loan Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1911
1911
Cat. No. 268, p. 29
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1897
1897
Cat. No. 841, pp. 79, 109
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1901
1901
Cat. No. 196, pp. 23, 65
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1909
1909
Cat. Nos. 494, 495, pp. 43, 88
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2004
Class: HO107; Piece: 1699; Folio: 187; Page: 5; GSU roll: 193607
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2004
Class: RG 9; Piece: 2089; Folio: 91; Page: 21; GSU roll: 542916
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2001
RG13 piece 118 folio 16 page 24
International Exhibition Glasgow, 1901,
Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Section
1901
International Exhibition, Dublin 1907, Fine Art Catalogue
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II
p. 23, no. 159:'A Lioness'.
p. 28, no. 232:'A Lioness'. Bronze.
p. 28, no. 234:'A Lioness Drinking'. Bronze.
All lent by the sculptor.
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Walter Armstrong, ‘Swan, John Macallan (1847–1910)’, rev. Jennifer Melville, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36381, accessed 24 Sept 2010]
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
10 January 1905; 3 February 1908.
Citing this record
'John Macallan Swan RA', 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=msib4_1239723696, accessed 01 Apr 2023]
