Life of Gilbert Bayes

Gilbert Bayes Life

Gilbert Bayes was born in North London on 4 April 1872, the second son of a professional artist Alfred Walter Bayes and Emily Ann Fielden. He was interested in sculpture from an early age and made his debut at the Royal Academy of Arts with two wax models when he was 17 years old in 1889. For the next 55 years, he was a regular exhibitor at the annual Royal Academy shows.

During the 1890s, Gilbert studied at the City & Guilds School in Finsbury and the Royal Academy Schools where he was influenced particularly by the sculptor George Frampton who became a life-long friend. Gilbert won the Armitage prize, the Landseer Scholarship, silver and gold medals, and a £200 travelling scholarship which enabled him to study in Italy and France for a year. An early bronze relief received an honourable mention at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900.

In 1906, Gilbert married fellow student, Gertrude Smith, and they set up home at 40 Boundary Road in St. John’s Wood where their children Jean and Geoffrey were born. His equestrian statue of Sigurd attracted considerable interest when it was first shown at the Royal Academy in 1909 and a version was acquired by the Chantrey Bequest for the Tate Gallery. It was later acclaimed by Herbert Maryon in his book Modern Sculpture 1933 as “unsurpassed by any other equestrian group in existence.”

Gilbert’s commission to design the Great Seal for King George V in 1911 brought official recognition and it was followed by his commission for two equestrian statues for the Australian War Memorial in Sydney which exempted him from military service during the First World War. In the years following the war, Gilbert worked on several war memorials for British towns as well as the National War Memorial in Newfoundland, Canada.

Bayes Home & Garden

Gilbert supplemented his income by teaching at Camberwell School of Art and the Sir John Cass School. He became a member of the Art Workers Guild which provided many congenial friendships and professional contacts and in 1925 he served as Master of the Guild. Gilbert, Gertrude and their family moved into 4 Greville Place in 1929 where they built two large studios. Gilbert particularly enjoyed the spacious garden which he designed with imaginative water features to show off his garden sculptures, many of which were made in a resilient stoneware by the Royal Doulton Potteries in Lambeth.

Inter-Wars & Bayes Awards

During the inter-war years, Gilbert accrued critical acclaim and many honours including a Gold Medal and diploma of honour at the Paris Exhibition of 1925 for his stoneware fountain figure. He won a Bronze Medal at the Paris Salon in 1929, a Gold Medal in 1939 and became an Honorary member of the Societé des Artistes Francais. Gilbert was awarded the Royal Society of British Sculptors Medal for the Saville Theatre frieze in 1931 and he later served as the society’s President. In 1933, he was given the Freedom of the City of London and became a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers following his successful designs for stained glass windows.

fter the Second World War, Gilbert’s artistic ideals fell out of favour and he felt alienated from the new avant-garde movement in sculpture. Throughout his career, he had advocated sculpture which is accessible to the man in the street. In a 1935 lecture he asked, “What is the function of sculpture today? Is it to give added interest and beauty to our surroundings, to our streets, or is to give passers by a headache wondering why and wondering what it felt all means.”

Bayes Death

With little demand for representational sculpture, Gilbert spent his last years caring for his wife, Gertrude, who was bedridden after a stroke. After her death in 1952, Gilbert’s own health deteriorated and he died on 10 July 1953. His daughter, Jean, continued to live in the family home and she was a great source of information when Gilbert’s ceramic work was being researched for the 1979 Doulton Story exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Gilbert’s monumental frieze depicting Pottery through the Ages was rescued from the façade of Doulton House in Lambeth and in 1988 it was donated by Royal Doulton to the V & A where it can be seen at the entrance to the Ceramics Gallery. Interest in Gilbert’s work grew and the Gilbert Bayes Charitable Trust was formed by his children in 1996. A book about Gilbert’s work was published by the Trust in 1998 to coincide with two exhibitions at the Fine Art Society in London and the Henry Moore Centre in Leeds where the Bayes archives reside. The Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Gallery opened at the V & A in 2004 in collaboration with the Trust.

Documentary made by Tom Tremayne. For more films, information or to contact him please visit www.tomtremayne.com or email [email protected]

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