Girl gathering wood: M.14-2015

Titles

Girl gathering wood

Maker(s)

Sculptor: Wells, Reginald Fairfax

Entities

• Figure

Categories

• Sculpture

Description

Bronze sculpture of a girl holding an armful of wood

Legal notes

Sir Ivor and Lady Batchelor Bequest through The Art Fund

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (2015-04-27) by Batchelor, Ivor, Sir and Lady

Dating

19th Century-20th Century
Production date: circa AD 1907

Note

Reginald Fairfax Wells was a sculptor, studio potter, aircraft manufacturer and architect. Like the 19th-century painter, Jean-François Millet and sculptor Jules-Aimé Dalou, Wells was interested in depicting peasant workers in his sculpture. A magazine article in his life-time called him ‘the English Millet of Sculpture’. Wells became well-known for his small-scale bronzes, most of which were produced between 1900 and 1910. He cast his own bronzes, using the lost-wax casting method. From 1909 onwards, Wells began to focus more on studio pottery, having established the Coldrum Pottery in Wrotham, Kent in c. 1900. At the outset of World War I, Wells turned his efforts to designing and manufacturing aircraft. When this failed, he re-established his pottery business, the London Pottery Company, in Chelsea. In the census of 1911, Wells was recorded as ‘Sculptor, Bronze Founder, Art Pottery Manufacturer’ as well as a ‘Teacher of Bronze Foundry’.

School or Style

English