Benno Schotz

Benno Schotz (28 August 1891 Arensburg – 11 October 1984 Glasgow) was an Estonian-born Scottish artist.

Biography

Early life

Schotz was the youngest of six children of Jewish parents, Jacob Schotz, a watchmaker, and Cherna Tischa Abramovitch. He was educated at the "Gymnasium", Pärnu, Estonia, then at the Grossherzogliche Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany.

In 1912, he emigrated to Glasgow, where he gained an engineering diploma from the Royal Technical College. From 1914-1923 he worked in the drawing office of Messrs John Brown, a Clydebank shipbuilders, while attending evening classes in sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art.

Artistic career

Schotz became a full time sculptor in 1923. From this point onwards his reputation grew and he became a full member of the Royal Scottish Academy, head of sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art (a post he held from 1938 until his retirement in 1961), and eventually was appointed the Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland in 1963. His pupils included the artists Hannah Frank and Inge King.

His homes at West Campbell Street and later Kirklee Road were a focus for meetings of artists, writers, actors, and politicians. He also helped refugees such as Jankel Adler and Josef Herman.

He was a committed Zionist, and also proud of his adopted Scotland. He worked until a few weeks before his death at the age of 93. He was buried in Jerusalem.

He was made a Freeman of the City of Glasgow in 1981. In that same year, he published his autobiography, "Bronze In My Blood".

Work

During his career, Schotz produced several hundred portraits and compositions including figure compositions, religious sculptures, semi-abstracts and modelled portraits. His bust of James Maxton is on public display at the Maxton remembrance garden in Barrhead near Paisley. Other publicly-accessible work includes:
* "The Psalmist" (1974) in the JT Honeyman Memorial Garden of Kelvingrove Park,
* the "Joseph Black Memorial" (1953) at the University of Glasgow ,
* the "Painting" and "Sculpture" reliefs on the Mercat Building (1928-9) and
* the Stations of the Cross sculptures in St. Charles' Parish Church North Kelvinside. These works were all in Glasgow. He was responsible for the repair on the bridge sculpture at Kelvingrove Park beside the now refurbished art gallery and museum.

References

Further reading

* Jonathan Blackwood, "Benno Schotz: Unknown Estonian Sculptor", kunst.ee. Autumn 2007, Tallinn
* Benno Schotz, "Bronze In My Blood" (Edinburgh: Gordon Wright, 1981)
* Hugh T. Stevenson, "Schotz, Benno (1891–1984)", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/40362 accessed 29 July 2007]