Althea Wynne

Althea Kathleen Wynne (6 October 1936 – 24 January 2012), also known by her married names of Dresman and Barrington Brown, was an English sculptor and art teacher, and a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. She specialised in creating large figurative work for gardens and public open spaces.

Althea Wynne FRBS
Born
Althea Kathleen Wynne

6 October 1936 (1936-10-06)
Died24 January 2012 (2012-01-25) (aged 75)
Upton Lovell, Wiltshire
NationalityEnglish
EducationRoyal College of Art, London
Known forsculpture
Notable work
Public art, 1950s – 2010s
AwardsFRBS

Early life

Born at Biggleswade,[1] Wynne was the daughter of Group Captain Frederick Robert Wynne by his marriage in 1926 to Kathleen Anne Pole Stuart, and had an older brother and sister.[2] Her grandparents were Dr and Mrs F. E. Wynne, of Sheffield, and Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs Reginald Pole Stuart, of Folkestone.[3] Her Stuart grandfather was the grandson of Sir William Stuart (1798–1874), himself the son of William Stuart, Archbishop of Armagh, and grandson of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, sometime Prime Minister, and his grandmother was Henrietta Maria Sarah, a daughter of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Morice Pole, Governor of the Bank of England.[4]

At the time of Wynne's birth, her father was an officer in the Royal Air Force, and Wynne was educated at North Foreland Lodge, Farnham School of Art (1953–1955), Hammersmith College (1955–1957), and the Royal College of Art (1957–1960).[5][6]

Life and career
Group of three horses at Minster Court, City of London

In 1959 Wynne gained an early commission from London County Council for a ciment-fondu group of swimmers,[5] and in 1960 she won an open competition to design a new silver horse-racing trophy.[7] However, the same year she married Philip Dresman, and with him had a son and two daughters. For some years she spent most of her time bringing up her children, before returning to work as a teacher of art and the history of art.[5] In 1982 she married secondly Antony Barrington Brown, a photographer,[8] and at about the same time became active as a sculptor again.[5]

Wynne settled at Upton Lovell in Wiltshire, where several pieces of her work were displayed in her garden.[5] In Who's Who in Art her recreations were stated as "riding, sailing, talking".[9]

She died suddenly in January 2012, killed with her husband in a road accident on the A36 near her home while returning from the foundry that was to cast her last commission, two large bronzes of Windsor Grey horses for Windsor Great Park.[5] Both Wynne and Barrington Brown were killed instantly in a collision between their car and a truck carrying aggregates.[8] In February it was reported that there were plans to proceed with the Windsor project, finding another sculptor to complete the work by June 2013.[10]

Work

As a sculptor, Wynne's chief inspirations were the natural environment and classical (especially Etruscan) art.[5] Most of her work was figurative, showing various forms of animal and female human figures.[7] In 1988 her fountain Doves Rising was added to the Peace Park in Hounslow.[5][11] A lifelong rider, she made a number of equine statues, and in 1989 Prudential Property gave her a commission for three bronze horses to stand by the steps at Minster Court in the City of London.[5] Since nicknamed Sterling, Dollar and Yen,[12] the group is ten feet high, weighs fourteen tonnes, and has been compared with the horses of St Mark's Basilica in Venice.[5] In 1991 her Family of Goats, for the London Docklands Development Corporation, was erected at Rotherhithe.[7][11] Other work includes a group called White Horses, at the centre of a restaurant on RMS Queen Elizabeth II, which shows four horses riding the waves,[13] "Europa and the Bull", a full-size bronze figure, and the three huge obelisks rising through the Bluewater shopping centre at Greenhithe in Kent. She held solo exhibitions in Salisbury in 1988 and 1991, at Broadgate in 1993, and in Winchester in 1997.[5][11] In 2012 her bronze Penelope Waiting was the signature piece for an exhibition of sculpture at Avebury Manor.

Wynne wrote of the inspirations for her work

My work is deeply influenced by my love of early classical sculpture, the calm poise and harmony of which I try to emulate. The Greeks also had an understanding of animals from which I draw some of my inspiration, and my equestrian subjects owe much to my love of riding.[7]

Professional associations
  • 1960: Associate of the Royal College of Art[7]
  • 1986: Full member of the Society of Equestrian Artists[7]
  • 1990: Associate of the Royal British Society of Sculptors[7]
  • 1994: Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors[7]

See also

Notes
  1. "WYNNE, Althea K, mother's maiden name Stuart", in Register of Births for Biggleswade Registration District, vol. 3b (1936), p. 400
  2. Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families: From The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, vol. 2 (Pennsylvania: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1982), p. 651
  3. Flight International, Volume 17 (1926), p. 528: "An engagement is announced between Flight Lieut. Frederick Robert Wynne, M.B.E., R.A.F., eldest son of Dr. Frederick Edward Wynne, M.B., D.P.H., and Mrs. Wynne, of 327, Fulwood-road, Sheffield, and Kathleen Anne Pole, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel and Mrs. Reginald Pole Stuart, of 29, Westbourne Gardens, Folkestone."
  4. Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage (1969), p. 190
  5. Althea Wynne (obituary) in The Daily Telegraph dated 14 February 2012, online at telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2012
  6. George Thomas Noszlopy, Fiona Waterhouse, Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country (2005), p. 294: "Althea Wynne (b. 1936) Althea Wynne trained at Farnham Art School (1953–5), Hammersmith College (1955–7) and the Royal College of Art (1957–60)."
  7. Althea Wynne ARCA, FRBS, profile at artparks.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2012: "Winner of open competition to design the TOPHAM TROPHY for a race at Aintree. Cast in silver."
  8. Antony Barrington-Brown Killed in Car Crash at lro.com. Retrieved 3 June 2012
  9. Charles Baile de Laperrière, ed., 'Wynne, Althea' in Who's Who in Art: Biographies of Leading Men and Women in the World of Art Today (Hilmarton Manor Press, 31st edition, 2004)
  10. Francis Batt, Tragedy overshadows horse statue plan dated 14 February 2012, from Windsor and Eton Express" online at windsorexpress.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2012
  11. David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 2, M to Z. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 953260 95 X.
  12. Herbert Wright, London High (London: Frances Lincoln Ltd, 2006), p. 158: "Three buildings are grouped around a glass-covered courtyard, which is behind three horse statues by Althea Wynne nicknamed Sterling, Dollar and Yen."
  13. Kay Showker, Bob Sehlinger, The Unofficial Guide to Cruises (John Wiley & Sons, 1997), p. 339: "The room has two commissioned works of art: the centerpiece, White Horses, a sculpture by artist Althea Wynne, depicts four horses riding waves, emblematic of the British seamen's term for white caps".
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