Albert Toft

Albert Toft
File:George Clausen - Portrait Of Albert Toft (1862-1949) - 1947P17 - Birmingham Museums Trust.jpg Albert Toft by George Clausen
Born	(1862-06-03)3 June 1862 Handsworth, Staffordshire, England
Died	18 December 1949(1949-12-18) (aged 87) Worthing, Sussex, England
Alma mater	South Kensington Schools
Occupation	Sculptor

Albert Toft (3 June 1862 – 18 December 1949) was a British sculptor.

Toft's career was dominated by public commemorative commissions in bronze, mostly single statues of military or royal figures. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, Boer War to 1902, and then World War I to 1918, provided plentiful commissions. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Toft as one of the major figures of the "New Sculpture" movement following on from William Hamo Thornycroft and George Frampton. Toft described his work as 'Idealist' but he also said of himself that "to become an idealist you must necessarily first be a realist."

His father was a notable modeller in ceramics, and his brother was the landscape artist Joseph Alfonso Toft.

Biography

Toft was born in Handsworth, then in Staffordshire, and now a suburb of Birmingham. His parents were Charles Toft (1832–1909) and Rosanna Reeves. His father was a senior modeller at Mintons, and then the chief modeller at Wedgwood pottery. He had also taught modelling at Birmingham School of Art for some years to 1873.

Toft trained at Wedgwood, and attended art schools in Hanley, Staffordshire and Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1881 he won a scholarship to study sculpture at the South Kensington Schools under Professor Édouard Lantéri. He received silver medals in his second and third years.

From 1885 onwards Toft exhibited at the Royal Academy and some of his most notable works exhibited at the Royal Academy included Fate-Led (1890, now at Walker Art Gallery), The Sere and Yellow Leaf (1892), Spring (1897, now at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), The Spirit of Contemplation (1901; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle) and The Metal Pourer (1915). In 1915 his sculpture The Bather was purchased using the Royal Academy's Chantrey Fund. His 1888 bust of William Ewart Gladstone for the National Liberal Club was modelled from life and acclaimed as one of the best. In 1900 Toft received a bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.

He created monuments to Queen Victoria for Leamington Spa, Nottingham, and South Shields, and to Edward VII in Birmingham and Warwick. He designed the coronation medal of George V and Queen Mary (1911) and a statuette of W. S. Penley playing Charley's Aunt for Royal Doulton (1913). He also published a book, Modelling and Sculpture in 1911, which was reprinted in 1949.

He made a series of war memorials, starting with the South African War Memorial in Cardiff (1910), and then many after the First World War, including the Royal Fusiliers War Memorial in London (1922), and four statues for the Birmingham Hall of Memory (1923–24).

In 1891 Toft was elected to the Art Workers Guild and in 1938 he was elected a fellow to the Royal Society of British Sculptors.

He died in Worthing.

Public monuments and memorials

Image	Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Type	Material	Dimensions	Designation	Wikidata	Notes
File:Bust of George Wallis by Albert Toft.jpg	George Wallis	National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum	1889	Bust	Terracotta	61.5cm high
File:Memorial Bust - Major Jonathan White (cropped).jpg	Major Jonathen White	Nottingham Castle	1891	Bust on pedestal	Bronze and granite				Major White (1804–1889) served in the Robin Hood Rifles.
File:Statue of Henry Richard, Tregaron, Ceredigion - geograph.org.uk - 1435990.jpg More images	Henry Richard	Tregaron, Ceredigion	1893	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and granite	5.5m high	Grade II	Q29495968
File:Philip James Bailey - geograph.org.uk - 2721624.jpg More images	Philip James Bailey	Nottingham Castle	1901	Bust and panel	Bronze
File:Queen Victoria's Statue - geograph.org.uk - 107476.jpg More images	Queen Victoria	Town Hall, Royal Leamington Spa	1901	Statue on pedestal	Sicilian marble and Aberdeen granite	3 metres high statue on a 4 metres high pedestal	Grade II	Q26661547
File:Albert Toft (1862-1949) - The Spirit of Contemplation (bronze) (1901) (11340231214).png More images	The Spirit of Contemplation	Laing Art Gallery	1901	Statue	Bronze
File:Jarrow, Sir Charles Mark Palmer statue - geograph.org.uk - 595987.jpg More images	Charles Mark Palmer	Jarrow, Tyneside	1903	Statue on pedestal with panels	Bronze and Portland stone		Grade II	Q26637979
File:Nottingham Memorial Park Victoria 0391s.JPG More images	Queen Victoria	Memorial Park, Nottingham	1905	Statue on pedestal	Marble and granite		Grade II	Q26560473
File:Monument to Suffolk soldiers, Christchurch park - geograph.org.uk - 1223180.jpg More images	Boer War memorial	Christchurch Park, Ipswich	1906	Statue on pedestal with plaques	Bronze and stone		Grade II	Q26530640
File:South African War Memorial Statue - Cannon Hill Park - geograph.org.uk - 807866.jpg More images	Boer War memorial	Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham	1906	Sculpture group on tapered pedestal with reliefs and plaques	Bronze and granite	6M tall	Grade II*	Q26162445
File:The South African (Boer War) Memorial 2012.jpg More images	South African War Memorial	Cathays Park, Cardiff	1909	Sculptures on pedestal & base	Bronze and Portland stone		Grade II*	Q17741148
	Memorial to Alistair Mackenzie	St James's Church, Abinger Common, Abinger	1910	Wall tablet			Grade II*
File:King Edward VII statue Birmingham.JPG More images	King Edward VII Memorial	Centenary Square, Birmingham	1913	Statue on pedestal	Stone		Grade II	Q6411498
File:Statue Reine Victoria Hôtel ville South Shields South Tyneside 3.jpg More images	Queen Victoria	South Shields	c. 1913	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and granite		Grade II	Q26525766	Originally erected with four supporting figures, now located elsewhere in South Shields
File:The Bather by Albert Toft, V&A London 02.jpg	The Bather	Victoria and Albert Museum	1915	Statue	Marble				On loan from the Tate
File:London Joint City and Midland Bank war memorial 4.jpg More images	City and Midland Bank War Memorial	Upper Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London	1921	Two sculptures, 14 inscribed panels and pediment	Bronze and marble			Q112127933	Sculptures represent St George and the Recording Angel.
File:Stone 22.jpg More images	War memorial	Granville Square, Stone, Staffordshire	1921	Statue on pedestal with plaques	Bronze and stone		Grade II	Q26513651
File:Sandon 3.jpg More images	War memorial	Sandon Estate, Sandon, Staffordshire	1921	Statue on pedestal with plaques	Bronze and stone			Q104245206
File:Chadderton War Memorial.jpg More images	War memorial	Chadderton Town Hall, Greater Manchester	1921	Statue on obelisk and base	Bronze and granite		Grade II	Q26320858
File:Royal Fusiliers memorial.JPG More images	Royal Fusiliers War Memorial	Holborn, London	1922	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and Portland stone		Grade II*	Q7374415
File:Leamington Spa War Memorial.jpg More images	War memorial	Euston Place, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire	1922	Statue on inscribed pedestal	Bronze and Cornish granite		Grade II	Q26661550
File:War Memorial, Streatham - geograph.org.uk - 26524.jpg More images	Streatham War Memorial	Streatham, London	1922	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and stone		Grade II	Q32946115
	Savage Club war memorial	National Liberal Club, London	1922	Plaque	Stone
File:Benenden Monument - geograph.org.uk - 46330.jpg More images	War memorial	Benenden, Kent	1923	Sculpture on pedestal	Bronze and stone		Grade II	Q26371278
File:War Memorial, Thornton-Cleveleys (cropped).jpg More images	Thornton-Cleveleys War Memorial	Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire	1923	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and granite		Grade II	Q108695758
File:Oldham War Memorial.jpg More images	Oldham War Memorial	Grounds of St Mary's Church, Oldham, Lancashire	1923	Sculpture group on pedestal and base	Bronze and granite		Grade II*	Q22115519	Architect, Thomas Taylor
File:GKN War Memorial, Smethwick (geograph 6190503).jpg	GKN War memorial	Thimblemill Recreation Ground, Smethwick	1924	Statue on pedestal and steps	Bronze and stone		Grade II
File:Hall of Memory 2.jpg More images	The Armed Forces and Nursing Services	Hall of Memory, Birmingham	1923	4 Sculptures	Bronze		Grade I	Q5642705
File:Flers (Somme), monument à la 41e division britannique 3.jpg More images	41st Division, Royal Fusiliers War Memorial	Flers, Somme, France	1932	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and stone				Figure is a version of the Holborn memorial statue.
File:Bust of Frank Brangwyn, National Museum Cardiff 02.jpg More images	Frank Brangwyn	National Museum Cardiff	1937	Bust	Bronze	59.0cm
File:Midland Bank staff memorial for World War 2.jpg More images	World War II Midland Bank Staff Memorial	Canary Wharf, London	Unveiled 1950	Reliefs and panels	Stone and marble			Q112127933	Originally located in Poultry in the City of London

Other works

File:Saint George statue for London Joint City and Midland Bank war memorial.jpg

Saint George statue for London Joint City and Midland Bank war memorial

• Two figures for the Union Assurance war memorial
• Memorial to Charles Swinnerton Heap, unveiled 1901, relocated to Walsall Town Hall in 1905.
• Bronze study of the actress Ellaline Terriss, 1901, held in a private collection.
• Children of the Sculptor, 1904, this study by Toft of three of his children is held in a private collection.
• Tomb effigy in marble of Sir John Robinson, 1930, St Anne's Church, Worksop
• Maternity, held in a private collection, this work is said to show the influence of the Lantéri-Dalou tradition.
• Fate-led, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Gallery

• Royal Fusiliers War Memorial, Holborn, London
  Royal Fusiliers War Memorial, Holborn, London
• The Nursing Service, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
  The Nursing Service, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
• The Air Force, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
  The Air Force, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
• The Royal Navy, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
  The Royal Navy, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
• The Army, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
  The Army, Birmingham Hall of Memory.
• Antigone.[65]
  Antigone.
• Recording Angel statue for London Joint City and Midland Bank war memorial
  Recording Angel statue for London Joint City and Midland Bank war memorial

References

• Modelling And Sculpture by Albert Toft, Seeley, Service & Co. Limited London, 1949—A Full Account of the Various Methods and Processes Employed in These Arts

External links

• artworks by or after Albert Toft at the Art UK site
• Toft on The Victorian Web
• National Archives file