James White (sculptor)

James White (2 December 1861 – 14 July 1918) was an Australian sculptor, winner of the Wynne Prize in 1902.

White was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, the son of Robert White, journeyman shipwright, and his wife Janet, née Dunn. He was apprenticed to a plasterer and studied modelling at South Kensington.cite web |url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120525b.htm |title=White, James (1861 - 1918) |accessdate=2007-08-12 |author=Noel S. Hutchison |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 12 |publisher=MUP |year=1990 |pages=p.470]

White came to Sydney around 1884. He won the Wynne prize at Sydney in 1902 and executed a large number of statues and memorials in Australia, including the Queen Victoria memorial and the Fitzgibbon statue at Melbourne, statues of George Bass, Daniel Henry Deniehy, Sir John Robertson and William Bede Dalley at Sydney, the John McDouall Stuart statue at Adelaide, South African war memorials at Perth and Ballarat and statues of Queen Victoria and George Lansell at Bendigo. In spite of this long list White was by no means a distinguished sculptor. He came to Australia when there were few sculptors there of ability, and it must be presumed that his sketch models were better than his finished works, as in later years he more than once obtained important commissions in competition with better men. His head of an Australian aboriginal is at the national gallery at Sydney.

White died of cancer on 14 July 1918 and was survived by his wife, son and two daughters.

References

Additional resources listed by the "Australian Dictionary of Biography":
*K. Scarlett, "Australian Sculptors" (Melb, 1980)
*"Australasian Builder and Contractor's News", 12 Nov 1892, p 238
*"All About Australians", 2 Mar 1903
*"Australasian Art Review", 1 Apr 1899, p 20, 1 July 1899, pp 18, 21, 1 Sept 1899, p 12
*"Lone Hand", Aug 1907, p 380
*"Observer" (Adelaide), 21 Nov 1903
*"Sydney Morning Herald", 11 May 1904
*"Advertiser" (Adelaide), 6 June 1904
*"Age" (Melbourne), 25 May 1907
*"Argus" (Melbourne), 27 Sept, 29 Nov 1910, 20 July 1918, and camera supplement, 1 Dec 1928
*Annual exhibition catalogues, Art Society of New South Wales, 1892, 1894, and Society of Artists, 1896, 1897