Alexander Proudfoot ARSA, RSA
Born 1878
Died 10 July 1957
Active: 1911 - 1956
Sculptor
Born in Liverpool. In 1915 he enlisted in the Artists' Rifles and saw action in France. During an attachment to the machine Gun Coops, he invented a protractor for the Vickers gun. Also produced war memorials (inlcluding Greenock, Bearsden and Glasgow Cathedral) as well as portrait busts and ideal work. He married Ivy Gardner, his assistant two years before his death.
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.
Head of Faun
1914
Thais and Paphnutius
1938
Dreaming
1938
Locations
Address 319 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow | View on map
1912 (Circa) - 1913 (Circa)
Address 7 Woodside Place Lane Charing Cross Glasgow | View on map
1915 (Circa) - 1926 (Circa)
Address Lairgie Blanefield | View on map
1927 (Circa) - 1928 (Circa)
Address 7A Woodside Place Lane Charing Cross Glasgow | View on map
1929 (Circa) - 1940 (Circa)
Address 15 Woodside Terrace Glasgow | View on map
1941 (Circa) - 1956 (Circa)
Address 51 Larchfield Avenue Newton Mearns Glasgow | View on map
1943 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Attended The Royal Scottish Academy Life School
1843
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Eighty-Second Annual Exhibition, 1943
'Gran'
Exhibited at Artist Teachers Exhibition Society, Third Annual Exhibition (Glasgow), 1914
'Head of Faun'
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, 1861-1951
1910 - 1957
Exhibited 41 times (an average of three work per show)
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1912 - 1958
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 36 times: 1912 (1 work), 1913 (1 work), 1915 (2 works), 1919 (1 work), 1920 (4 works), 1921 (3 works), 1922 (1 work), 1923 (2 works), 1924 (1 work), 1925 (1 work), 1926 (2 works), 1927 (2 works), 1928 (1 work), 1929 (2 works), 1930 (1 work), 1931 (2 works), 1932 (2 works), 1933 (1 work), 1934 (1 work), 1935 (1 work), 1936 (1 work), 1937 (2 works), 1938 (1 work), 1940 (4 works), 1941 (1 work), 1942 (1 work), 1943 (2 works), 1944 (3 works), 1947 (1 work), 1948 (1 work), 1951 (1 work), 1952 (4 works), 1953 (2 works), 1954 (1 work), 1957 (1 work) and 1958 (3 works)
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1922 - 1947
Exhibited 6 times, usually one work each year.
Exhibited at Palace of Arts Empire Exhibition Scotland, 1938
1938
Institutional and Business Connections
Assistant teacher of sculpture at The Glasgow School of Art
1912 - 1913
Assistant Professor in Antique and Life
Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1923 - 1938 (Presumed)
Became associate in 1923; reinstated in 1930 after break in membership. Became fellow in 1938.
Elected ARSA The Royal Scottish Academy
March 1920
Elected RSA The Royal Scottish Academy
1932
Fellow of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1938 - 1949
Became honorary member in 1950.
Honorary member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1950 - 1957
Died in 1957.
Member of Artists Teacher's Exhibition Society
1911 - 1916
in Exhibition catalogue - no year given
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1922 - 1957
Died in 1957.
Member of committee at The Glasgow School of Art
Representing the Royal Scottish Academy on the Board of Governors.
Member of council The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
1951 (Circa)
President of The Glasgow Art Club
1924 - 1926
President of The Glasgow Art Club
1939 - 1941
p. 70
Professor of sculpture at The Glasgow School of Art
1918 (Circa) - 1924 (Circa)
Student at The Glasgow School of Art
1909 - 1910
Won the Haldane travelling scholarship in 1908
Worked with Gillespie Kidd & Coia
Personal and Professional Connections
Assistant was Ivy H. Gardner
1950 (Circa)
In same peer group as Archibald C. Dawson
1930 (Circa) - 1957
In same peer group as Benno Schotz
1930 (Circa) - 1957
Nominated by James Pittendrigh MacGillivray
1920
Nominator of Alexander Carrick
1928 (Presumed)
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Nominator of Norman John Forrest
1931
Portrayed in bust by James Gray
1912
Shared studio with Johan Keller
1914 - 1915 (Circa)
Proudfoot had been Kellers pupil at the Glasgow Scool of Art
Shared studio with Ivy H. Gardner
1940 - 1956
Wife/husband/spouse of Ivy H. Gardner
1955 (Circa)
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors The Glasgow Post-Office Annual Directory for 1920-1921 Ninety-Third Annual Publication
Sources
Annual Exhibition Catalogue for The Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1951
1951
Annual Report of The Glasgow School of Art 1918-19
1918
Annual Report of The Glasgow School of Art 1938-39
1938
Artist Teachers' Exhibition Society - Constitution & Rules and ephemera
in Exhibition catalogue - no year given
Glasgow Art Club 1867-1967 Glasgow Art Club, the first hundred years
1967
p. 69
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Palace of Arts
Empire Exhibition
Scotland
1938
The Fine Art Section of the Empire Exhibition
1938
Prospectus of The Glasgow School of Art, Session 1913-14
1913
Assistant Professor in Antique and Life
Prospectus of The Glasgow School of Art, Session 1923-24
1923
Prospectus of The Glasgow School of Art, Session 1943-44: War Issue
1943
Public Sculpture of Glasgow Public Sculpture of Britain Volume Five
2002
p. 495
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Annual Report of Council and Accounts For the Year ending 21 December 1922. To be Presented at the Eighteenth Ordinary General Meeting, 1923
26 February 1923
p. 3
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. 3.
The Glasgow Post-Office Annual Directory for 1920-1921 Ninety-Third Annual Publication
1920
p. 1442
The Royal Scottish Academy Nomination Book for Associateship, 1911
1911
1920, p. 58
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
2008
The Times, Thursday, Jul 11, 1957; pg. 15; Issue 53890; col A; Mr. Alexander Proudfoot; Category: Obituaries (accessed 22 March 2010)
Who was Who
December 2007
‘PROUDFOOT, Alexander’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U242018, accessed 23 Jan 2009]
Citing this record
'Alexander Proudfoot ARSA, RSA', 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=msib6_1208856984, accessed 02 Oct 2023]
