- William Bloye
William James Bloye (1890 - 6 June 1975) was an English sculptor, active in
Birmingham either side ofWorld War II .He studied, and later, taught at the
Birmingham School of Art , where his pupils includedRaymond Mason andGordon Herickx . He also studied stone-carving and letter cutting underEric Gill around 1921.In 1925 he became a member of
the Birmingham Civic Society , having, at about that time, a studio on Golden Hillock Road,Small Heath , Birmingham. As Birmingham's unofficial civic sculptor he worked on virtually all public commissions including libraries, hospitals and the University. He often carvedbas-relief plaques, typically forpublic house s in Birmingham.He became a member of the
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1930 (the two 1919 bronze plaques on the RBSA are the earliest known work by Bloye in Birmingham), and theRoyal British Society of Sculptors : ARBS in 1934, and FRBS in 1938. Retiring from the School of Art in 1956 he moved toSolihull . He died inArezzo , Italy in 1975.Works
*
Boulton, Watt and Murdoch onBroad Street, Birmingham , 1956
* Interior bas-relief carvings in the Hall of Memory, Birmingham, 1925
* Mermaid fountain and also stone mermaid sculpture on wall, both at theUniversity of Birmingham Guild of Students
* Recast in bronze the bust ofJosiah Mason from a former marble statue by Francis Williamson. Now at the junction of Chester Road & Orphanage Road inErdington , 1952
* Recast in bronze the statue of Queen Victoria inVictoria Square, Birmingham , 1951
* Sculpture "Allegories of Art and Industry", c 1919, over the north-west door ofBirmingham Museum & Art Gallery (The Feeney Gallery extension), Great Charles Street
* Bas-relief on the Mechanical Engineering Building at the University of Birmingham, 1954
* Bas-relief pub signs on The Bear, The Antelope, and The Mermaid,Sparkhill
* Bas-relief runningstag onPerry Barr Stadium (1929, attributedPublic Sculpture of Birmingham, George T. Noszlopy, Liverpool University Press, 1998, ISBN 085323-682-8] )ources
*"Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield", George T. Noszlopy, edited Jeremy Beach, 1998, ISBN 0-85323-692-5
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