James Nesfield Forsyth
Born 1864
Died 10 January 1942
Active: 1876 - 1927
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, medallist
Born in London. He was the son of the Scottish carver and sculptor, James Forsyth (1827-1910). James Nesfield studied at the Royal Academy Schools and assisted his father in the family business. He went on to develop a practice centred on portraiture. William Hesketh Lever, first Lord Leverhulme, acquired two works by Nesfield a 'Head of a Baby' from an exhibition of British sculpture at Waring and Gillow in 1916 and its companion piece, 'Age' (marble) shown in Manchester in 1895 and at the Royal Academy in 1901. (Only the latter remains in the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool).
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.
Virgin and Child
1876 (Presumed)
£52 10s.
The virgin
1876
Crabbed Age
1891 (Presumed)
£31 11s. 6d.
The Topspinner
1891
Study of a Head
1895
£25
Statuette - The Top Spinner
1900
Bust - 'Youth'
1900
A Boy's Head
1902 (Presumed)
£33
The Top Spinner
1902 (Presumed)
£57 10s.
The Founder of the Fletcher Bursary Architectural Association, London
1902 (Presumed)
April
1902 (Presumed)
Available in Plaster and Marble:
Plaster - £10.10.0
Marble - £26.6.0
Cecilia
1903 (Presumed)
Produced in Bronze and Marble:
Bronze - £52.0.0
Marble - £85.0.0
Medallion
1903
The Late Miss Perceval
1904 (Presumed)
The Late Cannon Jeffreys
1904 (Presumed)
A Northern Shepherd
1907
Locations
Address 8 Edward Street Hampstead Road London | View on map
1862 - 1891 (Circa)
Address 23 Baker Street Portman Square London | View on map
1876
Address 110 Goldhurst Terrace Hampstead London | View on map
1901 (Circa)
Address 11 Collingham Road London | View on map
1902 (Presumed)
Address 57 Abbey Road London NW8 | View on map
1921 (Circa)
Address 18 Lymington Road Hampstead London NW8 | View on map
1924 (Circa) - 1927 (Circa)
Studio located at The Studios, 325 Finchley Road Hampstead London NW | View on map
1885 (Circa) - 1910 (Circa)
Studio located at 1 Studio, 335 Finchley Road Hampstead London NW | View on map
1906 (Circa) - 1913 (Circa)
Studio located at Church Row Studios Heath Street London NW | View on map
1914 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1900
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1897
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1902
'Medal'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1903
'Head of an Old Woman'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1910
Multiple works
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Thirteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1895
Multiple works
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirtieth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1900
'Crabbed Age'
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Fifteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1897
'The Top Spinner'
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Twenty-Fifth Autumn Exhibition, 1907
'Sketch Design for Memorial in Charnock Richard Church, Chorley, Executed in Marble to the Memory of the Late Mrs Frances Darlington'
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Nineteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1901
'An Old Woman's Head'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fiftieth, 1876
'The virgin'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Sixty-Fifth, 1891
Multiple works
Exhibited at Thirty-Fourth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1895
'Study of a Head'
Exhibited at Forty-Second Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1903
'Medallion'
Exhibited at Forty-Sixth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1907
'A Northern Shepherd'
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Thirty-First, 1876
1876
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1885 - 1927
Exhibited 23 times, thirty works in all (primarily portraits but also statuettes and medals)
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Forty-Sixth, 1891
1891
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-second (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1892
1892
Crabbed Age (cat. no. 1317, bronze, £31 10s., plaster £15 15s.); A Boy's Head (cat. no. 1341, £31 10s.).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-third (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1893
1893
Percival Gaskell, Esq. (cat. no. 1158, bronze bust, not for sale).
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Annual Spring Exhibition for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, The Fifty-Seventh, 1902
1902
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures & sculpture: the thirty-second (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1902
1902
Medal given with the Fletcher Bursay, Architectural Association, London (cat. no. 1462, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures & sculpture: the thirty-second (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1902
1902
Medal given with the Banister Fletcher Bursay, Architecture Association, London (cat. no. 1474, not for sale).
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Annual Spring Exhibition for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, The Fifty-Eighth, 1903
1903
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Annual Spring Exhibition for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, The Fifty-Ninth, 1904
1904
Institutional and Business Connections
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1908 - 1910
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
1887 (Presumed)
In 1887, Forsyth was awarded a second prize silver medal of model of a figure from the life. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1887', (1888), p. 32.
Personal and Professional Connections
Cousin of Adam John Forsyth
Daughter/son/child of James Forsyth
Niece/nephew of William Forsyth
Nominated by George James Frampton
2 March 1908
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Nominator of Cecil Hew Brown
4 May 1909
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors [4 May 1909, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Seconded by William Goscombe John
2 March 1908
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 VII, 1923 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Listed as a contemporary sculptor and medallist who exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1903, and at the New York International Medallic Exhibition in March 1910. See Forrer, vol. 7, (1923), p. 314.
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Sculptor' and employer
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
'Sculptor' and his father, James Forsyth (1827-1910), 'Sculptor Employing 18 Men and Eight Boys'
Sources
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirtieth, 1900 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1900
Cat. No. 1434, p. 39
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-second, 1892 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1892
pp. 47-8
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-third, 1893 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1893
pp. 42-45.
Autumn exhibition of pictures & sculpture: the thirty-second, 1902 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1902
pp. 42-47.
British Sculpture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery
1999
pp. 33-4
Catalogue of the Fifteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1897
1897
Cat. No. 420, pp. 43, 50
Catalogue of the Nineteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1901
1901
Cat. No. 283, pp. 49, 54
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1897
1897
Cat. Nos. 829, 852, pp. 78, 80, 96
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1902
1902
Cat. No. 385, pp. 37, 62
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1903
1903
Cat. No. 543, pp. 55, 72
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1910
1910
Cat. No. 396, pp. 34, 72
Catalogue of the Thirteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1895
1895
Cat. Nos. 624, 628, pp. 53, 59
Catalogue of the Twenty-Fifth Autumn Exhibition, 1907
1907
Cat. No. 272, pp. 49, 54
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
2004
RG11 piece 169 folio 21 page 36
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 114 folio 53 page 9
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
Class: RG13; Piece: 125; Folio: 6; Page: 4.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN7124 RG78PN349 RD130 SD3 ED23 SN252
England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2007
2007
Name: James N Forsyth
Death Registration Month/Year: 1942
Age at death (estimated): 78
Registration district: Surrey Mid Eastern
Inferred County: Surrey
Volume: 2a
Page: 289
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
London, England, Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1538-1812
2010
Name: James Nesfield Forsyth
Record Type: Baptism
Estimated Birth Date: abt 1869
Baptism Date: 26 Sep 1869
Father's Name: James Forsyth
Mother's Name: Eliza Forsyth
Parish or Poor Law Union: Hackney
Borough: Hackney
Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
2 March 1908.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
4 May 1909.
Citing this record
'James Nesfield Forsyth', 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=msib5_1208221818, accessed 09 Jun 2023]
