Albert Toft
Albert Toft was an English sculptor.
Toft's career was dominated by public commemorative commissions in bronze, mostly single statues of military or royal figures. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, Boer War to 1902, and then World War I to 1918, provided plentiful commissions. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Toft as one of the major figures of the "New Sculpture" following on from William Hamo Thornycroft and George Frampton. Toft described his work as 'Idealist' but he also said of himself that "to become an idealist you must necessarily first be a realist."
His father was a notable modeller in ceramics, and his brother was the landscape artist Joseph Alfonso Toft.
Life and career
Toft was born in Handsworth, then in Staffordshire, and now a suburb of Birmingham. His parents were Charles Toft and Rosanna Reeves. His father was a senior modeller at Mintons, and then the chief modeller at Wedgwood pottery. He had also taught modelling at Birmingham School of Art for some years to 1873.Toft trained at Wedgwood, and attended art schools in Hanley and Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1881 he won a scholarship to study sculpture at the South Kensington Schools under Professor Édouard Lantéri. He received silver medals in his second and third years.
From 1885 onwards Toft exhibited at the Royal Academy and some of his most notable works exhibited at the Royal Academy included Fate-Led, The Sere and Yellow Leaf, Spring, The Spirit of Contemplation and The Metal Pourer. In 1915 his sculpture The Bather was purchased using the Royal Academy's Chantrey Fund. His 1888 bust of William Ewart Gladstone for the National Liberal Club was modelled from life and acclaimed as one of the best. In 1900 Toft received a bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.
He created monuments to Queen Victoria for Leamington Spa, Nottingham, and South Shields, and to Edward VII in Birmingham and Warwick. He designed the coronation medal of George V and Queen Mary and a statuette of W. S. Penley playing Charley's Aunt for Royal Doulton. He also published a book, Modelling and Sculpture in 1911, which was reprinted in 1949.
He made a series of war memorials, starting with the South African War Memorial in Cardiff, and then many after the First World War, including the Royal Fusiliers War Memorial in London, and four statues for the Birmingham Hall of Memory.
In 1891 Toft was elected to the Art Workers Guild and in 1938 he was elected a fellow to the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
He died in Worthing.
War Memorials
Other works
| Name | Location | Comments |
| Statue of Charles Mark Palmer | Jarrow, Tyneside | Erected in 1903 this monument consists of a bronze statue of Palmer atop a Portland stone pedestal with bronze panels. Palmer was a shipbuilder, colliery owner and iron master who served as the first mayor and MP of Jarrow. |
| Bust of Philip James Bailey | Nottingham Nottinghamshire | Toft created this bronze bust and panel which stands on a pedestal within the grounds of Nottingham Castle. |
| Memorial to Mr. Jonathan White | Nottingham Nottinghamshire | This bust was sculpted by Toft in 1891 and also stands in the Nottingham Castle grounds. |
| The Bather | Victoria and Albert Museum London | This 1915 work is held in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London to whom it was lent by the Tate Gallery. |
| Study of the actress Ellaline Terriss | Held in a private collection | This bronze by Toft dates to 1901. |
| The Spirit of Contemplation | Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne | This work dates to 1906. See photograph in gallery below. |
| Children of the Sculptor | Held in a private collection | This study by Toft of three of his children was executed in 1904. |
| Frank Brangwyn | Cardiff | This study by Toft is held in the Amgueddfa Cymru Caerdydd National Museum of Wales, Cardiff Accession number: NMW A 2988. |
| Maternity | Held in a private collection | This is one of Toft's works said to show the influence of the Lantéri-Dalou tradition |
| The King Edward VII Memorial | Birmingham | This statue by Toft is located in Centenary Square, Birmingham, England. It is made of Carrara marble and was unveiled in 1913. |
| Statue of Queen Victoria | Nottingham Nottinghamshire | This statue dates to 1905. Toft also created sculptures of Queen Victoria for Leamington Spa and South Shields. |
| Fate-led | Liverpool Merseyside | This work by Toft is held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. |
| Statue of Henry Richard | Tregaron | This statue by Toft was unveiled on 18 August 1893. It is located in Tregaron Square, Tregaron. |
| Memorial to Charles Swinnerton Heap | Walsall | This panel by Toft was unveiled in 1901. It was moved to Walsall Town Hall in 1905. |