Biographical Introduction
The list of his works is so long that — the expression is used in no uncomplimentary sense — it is surprising that they are so good. . . . There is such a "setness" and a solidity about Mr. Bruce-Joy's statues that they never suggest the possibility of their stepping down from their plinths. They are invariably very like the persons they represent — a quality of which committees and subscribers throughout the country have frequently shown their warm appreciation. . . The feature of his work lies in his securing the everyday look of the sitter so that all may recognise him instantly; and his rejection of the occasional look which many artists would seize upon as the most characteristic has won him no little popularity. It thus comes about that not a few of Mr. Bruce-Joy's largest statues are highly successful without being absolutely "great" in the fuller accceptation of the word. — M. H. Spielmann (1901)
In his own time, the Irish sculptor Albert Bruce-Joy was "probably one of the best-known sculptors in Great Britain if not in all the British dominions" (Thomas 1688). Although born in Dublin, he was educated at King's College, London, trained at the South Kensington and Royal Academy Schools, and was a pupil of John Henry Foley. Like so many other young sculptors, he completed his artistic education in Rome, where he spent three years. He also visited America twice, which was less common.
Bruce-Joy was particularly admired for his naturalistic style, and for his focus on the personality of his sitters: "It is probably because Bruce-Joy and his art are separate and distinct things that his portraits are so successful," says T. D. L. Thomas. He came to prominence with his first work, the huge statue of John Laird at Birkenhead. In all, he was responsible for "over 150 busts in marble and bronze, and nearly 20 over-lifesize public statues, besides other works such as statuettes and medallions" (Thomas 1688). In his ideal works, such as Sunshine, he is said to have "surpassed the art of his master, Foley" (Masters of Achievement, 516). In 1891, Bruce-Joy built Bramshott Chase Lodge in Shottermill, on the Surrey/Sussex border, and became an enthusiastic member of the local community there. He described Shottermill, where George Eliot had spent the summer of 1871 while working on Middlemarch, as "the most perfect place for living that I have ever seen," adding that all it needed for complete perfection was a Californian climate in winter (see Turner 290). His burial was recorded in the register at St Stephen's Church there, though according to Thomas his grave has no name or date on it, simply a bronze laurel-wreath (1689). — Jacqueline Banerjee
Works
- Alexander Balfour (1905)
- James Whiteside (1880)
- John Bright
- Oliver Heywood
- Lord Salisbury
- Memorial to Robert Montgomery C.C.S.I. K.C.B. LLD. of the Bengal Civil Service
- Archbishop Cranmer
- Memorial to The Right Honorable Gerald Fitzgibbon, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
- Queen Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
- William Harvey, Discoverer of the Circulation, Folkestone, Kent
Bibliography
Masters of Achievement: Greatest Leaders in Literature, Art, Religion, Philosophy, Science, Politics and Industry. Part II. Buffalo: Frontier Press (Kessinger), 2004.
Spielmann, Marion Harry. British Sculpture and Sculptors of Today. London: Cassell, 1901. Internet Archive. Web. 22 December 2011.
Thomas, T. D. L. "Devotion to Natural Form: The Work of Albert Bruce-Joy (1842-1942)." Country Life, 3 June 1982, Vol. 171: 1688-9.
Turner, Greta. Shottermill — Its Farms, Families and Mills, Part II: 1730 to the Early Twentieth Century. Headley Down, Hamps.: John Owen Smith, 2005.
Last modified 16 April 2020