Helen Biggar
Born 25 May 1909
Died 28 March 1953
Active: 1925 - 1953
Country of birth and death: Scotland
Sculptor, film maker, costume designer
Born in Glasgow. She initially studied textiles at Glasgow School of Art c.1925-9 and then went on to make sculpture. Biggar was politically active and during the 1930s used film and then theatre (she was closely involved with the Glasgow Workers' Theatre Group from 1938) to express her radical views. One of her more important collaborations was 'Hell Unlimited', a short co-produced with Norman McLaren in 1936. Biggar later moved to London where she continued to work in film and theatre design. She died of a brain haemorrhage in St Mary Abbot's Hospital, Paddington, London.
A documentary about Biggar's life and work was produced by the Birmingham Film Workshop. It was based on an unpublished biography by her niece, Anna Shepherd called 'Traces Left' (available through the British Film Institute, London). In 2014 a detailed account of Helen Biggar's life was published by Anna Shepherd entitled 'Helen Unlimited: a Little Biggar', Billie Love Historical Collection, Ryde, Isle of Wight, 2014 (ISBN 978-0-9518410-7-5).
Works
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Bailie John M. Biggar
1935 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Seventy-Fourth Annual Exhibition, 1935
'Bailie John M. Biggar'
Citing this record
'Helen Biggar', 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_1222162579, accessed 23 Mar 2023]
