Object Details

Three decorative heads

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Location
Makers
General Information
Classification
Object Parts
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Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright for Photograph:

Creative Commons

Location

Street:Stoke Abbott Road
Town:Worthing
Parish:Worthing
Council:Adur District Council
County:West Sussex
Postcode:BN111HE
Location on Google Map
Object setting:On building
Access is:Public
Location note:North elevation, facade of Assembly Hall
In the AZ book:West Sussex
Page:171
Grid reference:H2
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.

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Makers

Name : D.J. Brandon Jones
Name : C. Cowles Voysey
     Role:Architect
     Qualify:and
Name : Laurence Henderson Bradshaw
     Role:Sculptor

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General Information

Construction period:Town Hall and Assembly Rooms erected in 1933-4
Unveiling date:1935
Work is:Extant
Owner custodian:Worthing Borough Council
Description:Three medallions with wave-shaped bases depicting heads in relief modelled on antique tragic masks
Iconographical description:Based on classical masks depicting tragedy.

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Classification

Categories:Sculptural, Architectural
Object type1:Medallion
Object type2:Relief
Object type3:Sculpture
Subject type1:Figurative
     Subject subtype1:Head
Subject type2:Symbolic

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Object Parts

Part 1:Decorative heads
     Material:Empire stone (artificial stone)

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Object Condition

Overall condition:Good
Risk assessment:No known risk
Date of on-site inspection:06/11/2007

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History

History:Laurence Henderson Bradshaw Archive (1899-1978) Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Laurence Henderson Bradshaw was born in April 1899 at Wallasey. He was a sculptor, engraver and painter. Bradshaw was involved with the British Soviet Friendship Society, the Royal Society of British Sculptors, and was elected Master of the Art Workers Guild, 1958. He was the official war artist for the Norwegian government in World War Two and was rewarded for his contribution to the arts with a civil list pension from the British government. Laurence Bradshaw’s major, but also the most controversial work, is the Karl Marx Memorial of 1956. He also made many portrait busts and carried out public commissions, particularly in conjunction with architects. His designs for theatre scenery are housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The material in the archive was presented by Mrs Eileen Bradshaw, Lawrence Bradshaw’s widow, in October 1994. There have been a number of small additions to the archive up to August 1995, including the Karl Marx Memorial maquette. The archive now includes correspondence, drawings, photographs, newspaper cuttings, and other printed material relating to his work.

Architect of Worthing Town Hall and Assembly Hall (erected1933-4) was Charles Cowles Voysey (1889-1981), with detailing by John Brandon-Jones http://eng.archinform.net/arch/7109.htm
Bradshaw also worked with Voysey on Cambridge Guild Hall (see Bradshaw archive)

Laurence Bradshaw archive, Henry Moore Institutue,Leeds
Fawn Cuttings Book no. 13
53/1994/A/1/4
Letter dated March 21st 1935 from Norman Longley- payment to LB for Worthing Assembly Hall:
3 Empire stone heads North Elevation £120
Buffet decorations (Mr Voysey’s order) £250
Mr Voysey’s order for 2 bronze bas-reliefs £135
Listing details ‘The Assembly Hall to the rear derives from the Scandinavian Modernist style with Art Deco overtones. 2 storeys red brick. Cornice of bricks set endwise. 5 bays, the 3 centre ones projecting with 3 Art Deco style stone tragic masks over waves above 1st floor windows.’ ‘Listed Buildings in Worthing’ Worthing Borough Council www.worthing .gov.uk/cgi-bin/htm 22/11/07
Sources: Henry Moore Institute, Laurence Henderson Bradshaw archive BR/C1/1 Work at assembly hall, Worthing Jul.1935; BR/P1 photograph Roundel, Worthing Town Hall, 1931-2; BR/P3 photographs Worthing Town Hall n.d.

Bradshaw, a politically active Communist, also won the commission for sculpting the Karl Marx Monument in Highgate Cemetery. He had begun his career as an assistant of Frank Brangwyn in the early 1920s and was later a member of the Art Workers Guild.

On March 18, 1978, ''Soviet Weekly'' (London, G.B.) published the following
sorrowful news titled ''Laurence Bradshaw'':
''SOVIET WEEKLY deeply regrets to report the death in London last week of the noted sculptor Laurence Bradshaw, a long standing friend of our paper and for many years a prominent leader of the movement for friendship with the USSR. Mr Bradshaw was chairman of the British-Soviet Friendship Society. A fellow of British Sculptors, he was perhaps best known for his monumental statue of Karl Marx in Highgate Cementry. Mr Bradshaw was 78.''
(http://www.tween.org/IgorMikhailusenko.html)

Sources:
Laurence Henderson Bradshaw Archive (1899-1978) Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Interview with Mrs Eileen Bradshaw, Braintree, Essex 4.10.08
Lindey, Christine, ‘The Man who Moulded Marx’ The Morning Star, 4 April 2007, p.9

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References


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Photographs





Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons

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