philip blacker - farewell leicester square

15 New Cavendish St, London, W1G 9UB Tel: +44 (0)207 935 3595 Email: [email protected]

175 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. IP15 5AN Tel: 01728 453 743 Email: [email protected]

www.thompsonsgallery.com

The horses show him nobler powers;O patient eyes, courageous hearts’

‘Into Battle’ Julian Grenfell 1915Bronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 2/3 33.5 x 23.5 inches (front cover)

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15 New Cavendish St

London, W1G 9UB

Tel: +44 (0)207 935 3595

Email: [email protected]

www.thompsonsgallery.co.uk

Monday to Friday: 10:00 - 18:00

Saturday:10:30 - 17:30

Sunday:11:00 - 17:00

All Works are for sale on receipt of this catalogue. Please visit our website to view the entire exhibition online.

www.thompsonsgallery.com

PhiliP Blacker Farewell, leicester Square

a Perspective From One hundred Year On.

an exhibition of Bronze Friezes.

5th – 16th November 2014

Please join Philip and the Thompson’s Team at the Private View,

Tuesday 4th November from 6pm – 8pm

Please RSVP to [email protected]

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Thompson’s Gallery London has the honour of presenting, on the centenary of the

beginning of the First World War, this sensitive and astonishing tribute of bronze friezes

by renowned sculptor Philip Blacker.

Philip Blacker, born in 1949 and educated in Dorset, became a jockey on leaving school

and rode professionally for 13 years. After being placed in the Grand National on

several occasions and riding 340 winners, he retired in 1982 to concentrate full time on

sculpture. Since then, Blacker has carried out countless commissions and successfully

exhibited with London galleries. This time the entire exhibition of bronze friezes related

to the subject of World War One will be held at Thompson’s Gallery.

Inspired by poems, letters, songs and books from World War One, Philip Blacker’s

strikingly original bronze friezes are a highly personal interpretation of the words of the

people who were really there.

To do this he has created a compelling new concept in bronze sculpture. His interpretation

involves wall hung friezes which are essentially scenes from life in 1914 and then cast

in fragments of metal, as if from a larger picture. Colour is integral to the composition

to give the pieces intensity and depth and this is achieved by the traditional method of

heating the bronze and applying chemicals and dyes. However the colours he achieves

are anything but traditional and contain a subtle unpredictability that do not just

enhance the sculpture, as most patinas do, but are fundamental to the work.

This fusion of colour and the three dimensional compliment the subject they depict.

The colouring process involves a spectacular visual process, after the work has been cast.

PhiliP BlackerFlanders Mud Bronze with steel base Edition 3/6 57 x 22 x 70 inches

Marcus Hodge, Philip Blacker Portrait (detail)

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“The inspiration for my WW1 friezes comes from a variety of sources. A couple are inspired by paintings, notably by CRW Nevinson and Paul Nash, but mostly they come from poems, letters, songs and books. These words allowed my imagination to perceive them through the medium of my bas relief panels. They may well not be an accurate depiction. That is not really the point. They are just my interpretation, inspired by the words of those who were there. I have not focussed on the tragedy of the war itself, that having been well chronicled, but more of life behind the lines. The bronze friezes have been coloured with the application of chemicals and dyes applied to the hot bronze. This gives them a unique and random quality, bringing colour and depth to the work while complimenting the underlying form. Only three will be cast from each mould, but every one of them is essentially a one off as the patination on all of them is inevitably and wonderfully different”.

Philip Blacker

‘There were about twenty of us all told when I halted Warrior and looked round to give final orders. I turned in my saddle and told my comrades that the faster we galloped the more certain we were of

success,…. But I could hardly finish my sentence before Warrior again took charge.He was determined to go forward, and with a great leap started off. All sensation of fear had vanished

from him as he galloped on at racing speed. He bounded into the air as we passed our infantry,….’

‘Warrior’ General Jack Seely on the Attack on Moreuil WoodBronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 22 x 29.5 inches

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‘What gave the scene a particularly sinister aspect was the way the roads were clearly visible, like a network of white veins in the moonlight, and there was no living being on them’.

‘Storm of Steel’ Ernst JungerBronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 22 x 28 inches

‘I saw high in the sky a concentrated blaze of searchlights...’Michael Macdonagh 1916

Bronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 19 x 33 inches

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‘A week since, I was lying out in no-man’s- land. A little German dog trotted up and licked my British face. I pulled his German ears and stroked his German back. He wagged his German tail. My little

friend abolished no-man’s land, and so in time can we.’Lt Melville Hastings 1918


‘….then through a hole in the wall I had a glimpse of an abandoned road, where no man might live’ ‘An Eye Witness to War’ Arnold Bennett

Bronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 22.5 x 22.5 inches

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Admiralty Arch, London Oil on board 12 x 16 inchesBronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 26.5 x 20 inches

Un Maison Tolérée‘Kiss the maid and pass her round,Lips like hers were made for many.Our loves are far from us tonight,But these red lips are sweet as any.’

Francis Edward Ledwidge 1916


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‘These civilians had their world stacked on top of a horse or bullock

drawn cart; precious possessions were piled high on prams, or

carried in shawls. Pets not already pressed into service, pulling or

carrying, padded alongside their owners…..’

‘Tommy’s Ark’ Richard Van Emden


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‘….. Colinette with the sea-blue eyes,She is watching and longing and waiting, where the long white roadway lies.’

‘Roses of Picardy’ Frederick Weatherly 1916

‘Dear Madame, I regret to have to break this sad news to you regarding your husband... Yours truly, Sergeant Brammer and Sergent Halpin’

Bronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 22 x 25.5 inches Bronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 22 x 29 inches

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‘I wanted to beg you to stay; instead I smoothed my apron and watched you walk away.

I wanted to fall down on my knees and plead and plead and plead,

Instead I boiled water, made tea while you fastened braces, polished boots, shone buttons.

“I’m more likely to die down that bloody pit” you said, we both knew it wasn’t true.

I knew you all my life, loved you since you were fifteen, and now I had to say goodbye.

“It’s not for long love” you said, “we will all be home by Christmas love.” You kissed me, held my gaze with those

blue, blue eyes and turned and walked away.

I held that image in my mind till this day, you striding down the street, proud to be in Khaki, prouder still of the

red cap covering your sandy blond hair.

Sixty five years to the day I watched you stroll down our street round the corner, gone.’

Samantha Kelly


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‘At one place where we crossed a lovely clear small river, like one of the chalk streams at home, the horses were unharnessed and ridden into the water. There was no difficulty in getting the horses in, but a good deal in

getting them out, as they were enjoying it so thoroughly. I should have liked a swim myself, and I don’t really

know why some of us didn’t go in.’

Diary of Medical Officer Travis Hampson MCBronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 1/3 22 x 30 inches

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‘…there was this endless waste of mud, holes and water, miles and miles of it, but with a

noble dignity of its own.’ ‘War Scenes on the Western Front ‘Arnold Bennet.


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‘And there we joined the refugees, with all their goods in barrows and carts,white and drawn and beyond emotion.’

Rupert Brooke


Bronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 2/3 10 x 19 inchesFlanders Mud Maquette Bronze Edition 3/6 16.5 x 5.5 x 15 inches

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‘The horses show him nobler powers; o patient eyes, courageous hearts’

‘Into Battle’ Julian Grenfell 1915Bronze wall mounted sculpture Edition 2/3 23.5 x 33.5 inches

philip blacker - farewell leicester square

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